[ON LOCATION] REGINA BARABAN
Immersive activities and learning sessions for body and soul. Attendee badges and daily letters printed on handmade paper embedded with wildflower seeds to plant and recycle. Delicious, nutritious food from vegan to gluten free and everything in-between. This is a snapshot of what we experienced at Caesars Entertainment’s inaugural Global Wellness Summit held June 4-7 at Caesars Palace and Nobu Hotel Las Vegas.
The event gave meeting planner attendees tons of takeaways to apply to their conferences and events. “I was very impressed,” says Sheena Majette, Chief Learning Officer, NACAS, a non-profit membership association for professionals who work in auxiliary services in higher education. She cites fun onsite experiences with aromatherapy and aura-readings and inspirational wellness excursions with yin yoga, hiking and river rafting. Her association’s 2025 annual conference for roughly 1,200 attendees will be held at Paris Las Vegas, a Caesars Entertainment property in 2025, and Majette plans to include offsite activities like these to motivate attendees to come to the conference early. As well, “the healthy and very tasty meal selections were inspiring and will definitely be incorporated in our 2025 event at Paris Las Vegas. We will leverage all of these strategies to highlight our intentions to promote mental, physical and spiritual health.”
Over the past several years, wellness has become a big focus for Caesars Entertainment’s internal community, says Reina Herschdorfer, Director of Marketing, National Meetings & Events. “I personally started yoga about two years ago and quickly realized how much more centered and calm I am after practicing,” she says. “We had been sponsoring Wellness Challenges by Heka Health for quite some time and it became obvious that launching wellness options for planners would be the way to move forward, especially with Gen Z and Millennials driving the demand.”
Among the highlights from our deep dive into wellness:
And just like that, we left the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas behind for nearby outdoor excursions. Our first morning took us to the spectacular Nevada mountains for gentle yoga and breakfast at Mt. Charleston, followed by easy, guided hiking in the nearby Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, administered by the U.S. Forest Service. Here, the environment is so pristine that no mechanical tools are used to clear debris; all trail maintenance is done by hand. Under the bluest of blue skies and accompanied by bird song, we strolled the trail and stopped in shady spots to hear stories from our guide.
On our second warm and sunny morning, we traveled to a serene section of the Colorado River under the mighty Hoover Dam. An engineering tour de force, it was the highest dam in the world when completed in 1935. We enjoyed a leisurely raft ride on crystal-clear water with Hoover Dam Rafting Adventures while learning the history and ecology of this beautiful area and made a few stops to dip our toes or more into the 53-degree water.
Every element of our itinerary reflected an attention to wellness, including meeting space setups that invited comfort and relaxed attention. Cushiony floor pads with back support for our sessions at MR CHOW restaurant were surprisingly comfortable, and there were also sofas for those who preferred to not sit on the floor. At sessions in Caesars Palace’s Milano Ballroom, a varied set-up of plush upholstered chairs and settees encouraged conversation and listening. Our spaces for meditation, yoga and breathing practices were pre-set with yoga mats, so we didn’t have to scramble to grab a mat and make a space.
In two afternoons of onsite sessions, speakers not only shared wellness takeaways, but they also guided us in wellness practices. Speakers included Dami Kim, Director, Body and Brain Wellness on stress management and brain boosting; Kristine Iverson, Founder, Crow Practice LLC on calm in the chaos; Sepideh Eivazi, Founder, Dawn of the Earth on emotional freedom techniques and an additional session of somatic breathwork practice; Nolan Nichols, Keynote Speaker and Founder, A Million Dreams on infusing more wonder and celebration into your life; and Pandit Dasa, CEO, Work Mindful Corp., on creating a mindful and positive workplace culture. A magical sound bath meditation at Garden of the Gods (at Caesars Palace) pool with Desert Moon Yogi Dani Kilpatrick concluded the Summit sessions.
Food throughout the event was both tasty and thoughtful. From the elegant welcome reception at Nobu Villa to beautifully boxed breakfasts and from buffets to family-style meals, the cuisine confirmed that healthy dining can also be flavorful and distinctive. There were always choices suitable for dietary restrictions and preferences, and clearly marked ingredient information. “I liked all the options, including vegan and gluten free,” says Zenia Henderson, Chief Program Officer, National College Attainment Network (NCAN). “The F&B was mindful about meeting people’s different needs.”
The healthy and delicious cuisine wasn’t a one-off for the Summit. A new Caesars Entertainment Catering and Wellness Menu has been rolled out for group dining in Las Vegas and is coming soon to Atlantic City and Reno/Tahoe, says Herschdorfer. Healthy items on the menu that are nutrient-rich and wellness-focused are marked with a leaf symbol. There are multiple choices for meals and breaks, sometimes but not always vegan or vegetarian. Plated lunch entrees, for example, include vegetarian options such as grilled butternut squash steak with chimichurri marinade, edamame, farro pilaf and chickpea salsa as well as non-vegetarian items such as citrus-mirin marinated whitefish with grilled shishito, scallions, Jasmine rice, soy-ginger marinated eggplant, garlic long beans, burnt orange and chili oil.
“At Caesars Entertainment, our ethos revolves around wellness, ingrained deeply within our culture,” says Kelly Gleeson Smith, VP of Sales, Meetings and Events, Caesars Entertainment. “We’ve now extended this to empower conference planners, making wellness easily accessible when planning events by adding this to our menus. As an industry, we’re just scratching the surface in integrating wellness into events, but I strongly believe it will play an even more significant role in the future. With the wellness sector booming into a multi-billion-dollar industry, companies are increasingly investing in their people, aligning with our own dedication. Wellness is quickly becoming an anticipated standard at events.”
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