By Lisa Simundson
This year’s IMEX America is all about responding to a maturing and continuously expanding marketplace, the team behind the show has revealed. Coming to Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas Oct. 8-10 and taking its cue from this year’s talking point—“Impact”—the show will address and respond to shifts in the business events sector, in which rising costs, resource limitations and a fast-changing geopolitical landscape are all in play.
Attendees saw first-hand the industry’s evolution at IMEX Frankfurt in May, as new destinations and venues announced themselves. The same pattern is continuing into IMEX America, which is seeing growth across the board but particularly in the Caribbean (12 percent) and North America (13 percent), compared to the same time last year. Among the destinations increasing their presence at this year’s show are Detroit, the Dominican Republic, Philadelphia, Miami and Vancouver, while China, Guatemala and Saint Lucia are some of the new names to look out for.
In addition, incentive suppliers at the show have increased by 30 percent so far compared to the same time last year, an uptick predicted by a recent SITE report forecasting growth through 2024 and into 2025.
According to an Event Tech Insight Report, event apps, A/V and live streaming are among the most widely used technology for event professionals, so it’s essential for planners to both understand their usage and how that usage can save them time while minimizing risk.
Accordingly, a new Tech Zone has been added to IMEX America, where suppliers will deliver a series of “show and tell” sessions explaining recent examples of their technology in use, alongside one-to-one tech coaching clinics from industry experts.
Technology is one of seven learning tracks at the show with sessions dedicated to AI, data and future innovations. Other tracks collectively covering 150+ learning sessions are:
• Business Practices
• Impact
• Trends/Research
• Wellbeing
• Experience Design
• Event Marketing
With many organizations looking for unique and engaging ways to promote their brand, product or service, IMEX America features a number of immersive activations designed to inspire and spark the imagination. These include a glitzy Mirror Box, sponsored by Toronto; a large-scale paint by numbers where attendees can pick up a paint brush and contribute to a giant mural; and a Resilience Room, curated by Google Xi, which offers a peaceful space to rest and recharge. Attendees also may encounter a poet or a rapper roaming the show floor.
IMEX America is the largest trade show for the global meetings, events and incentive travel industry, and includes Smart Monday, a pre-show education day, powered by Meeting Professionals International (MPI) on Oct. 7. The award-winning show brings every sector of the meetings industry together to do a year’s worth of business under one roof, offering specialist education, networking and more, on and off the trade show floor.
As IMEX CEO Carina Bauer noted in her IMEX announcement, “We know people invest time and resources to attend our events, so each year we take a fresh look at the show experience to ensure it continues to deliver maximum value. This means looking at global market shifts and responding accordingly with offerings to meet the new needs of buyers from across business sectors and the challenges they’re encountering.”
Ahead of this year’s IMEX America, organizers have once again published a Sustainability Report detailing the successes, experiences and knowledge gained from last year’s show (landing.imexexhibitions.com/imex-america-2023-sustainability-report). Following are three key sustainability efforts detailed in the report along with top tips for planners:
• The show was classified as a zero-waste event—the fifth edition in a row—with 93 percent of event waste diverted from landfill into compost, material recycling and donation channels. This includes nearly five tons of recovered event materials, office supplies and furniture donated to those in need in Clark County.
• Top Tip for Planners: Work with your host location to find local charities who need and can benefit from surplus materials, be it food, furniture or plants.
• About 90 percent of all signage and banners were saved to use again over the next three-plus years.
• Top Tip for Planners: Consider what materials you can reuse and how. Remove specific dates from your signage to make it evergreen and reusable year after year.
• The show was powered by an estimated 132,000-kilowatt hours of renewable solar energy, reducing approximately 95.5 metric tons of event emissions.
• Top Tip for Planners: Opt for LED lights, solar energy and energy-efficient equipment. Ask your suppliers—many venues can offer renewable energy at the flick of a switch.
In a small but significant change for IMEX America 2024, the team has successfully sourced a new craft paper material to replace the plastic badge holders for all 15,000+ participants, marking another step for IMEX’s goal to reduce single-use plastic. Lanyards continue to be made of organic cotton, a sustainable material that uses less water in production than regular cotton. At the end of the show, the badges and lanyards are shipped to TerraCycle, where they are separated for recycling.
Join Prevue Meetings + Incentives at IMEX America 2024. We’ll be at Booth D2910, where you’ll be able to “spin the wheel” for fabulous prizes. We also have a lounge space where attendees can relax and refresh, not to mention charge up their devices.
Giveaways include an array of TUMI luggage—the Alpha Continental Expandable 4 Wheeled Carry On; the Voyageur Celina Backpack; the Alpha Bravo Navigation Backpack; and the Voyageur Leger Continental Expandable Exp Carry-On—as well as a Bulova timepiece from the “Classic Collection”—a stainless steel piece with two-tone gold and silver finish, 12 diamonds individually hand-set on a patterned white mother-of-pearl dial, sapphire crystal, white enamel bezel inserts, luminous hands, second hand and double-press fold-over clasp.
Be sure to stop by and say hello!