Northstar Meetings Group's IPEC 2020 wrapped up on Tuesday at the beautiful Don CeSar in St. Pete Beach, Fla. The exclusive three-day, hosted-buyer conference united leading independent meeting planners with top hotels, CVBs, DMCs, cruise lines and venues from across the nation for education, networking, one-on-one appointments, unique experiential activities and more.
Held annually, IPEC is the first and only such event tailored to the unique needs of independent planners that are not associated with any third-party organizations. And to celebrate its success, here's a look at all of the fun had at IPEC 2020 in photos.
Event profs kicked off IPEC on Sunday, Jan. 26, at Florida's "Pink Palace" -- the Don CeSar. After registration and mingling, attendees were treated to a site tour of the iconic property.
Adding corporate social responsibility into the mix, attendees enjoyed making stuffed animals for Johns Hopkins Children's Hospital. The CSR activity, which was sponsored by Disney Meetings & Events, produced 150 stuffed toys for children.
Dianne Devitt, founder of the DND Group, Inc., a full-service events company, pumped up IPEC attendees with an experiential workshop on creative design planning. Participants worked together to examine and discuss the creative experience as being essential to the events they plan and execute. This session focused heavily on one's senses and building a more acute awareness for how planners work.
Independent planners took advantage of prescheduled, one-on-one appointments with top hotels, venues, cruise lines, CVBs and DMCs from across the nation.
Rosemarie Rossetti, Ph.D., speaker, trainer, consultant, author and publisher, talked to the audience about every meeting planner's and supplier's legal, social and professional responsibility to accommodate speakers and attendees with disabilities.
Rossetti, who is paralyzed from the waist down with a spinal cord injury, spoke from her wheelchair about this imperative -- as well as on why ADA compliance doesn't go far enough to provide a truly inclusive environment.
Eric Rozenberg, CMM, CMP, CEO, SecuTix, helped independent planners take a step back to define their businesses. Working on your business, he said, sets a critical foundation for success and growth. Rozenberg and Devitt also treated IPEC attendees to a workshop on pricing meeting planner services. Together, they answered questions such as how to assign a dollar amount to various meeting services.
Of course, IPEC 2020 wouldn't have been complete without networking. Attendees met, chatted, engaged, danced the night away, stuck their toes in the sand, delighted in live music and even dined aboard a boat.
Thank you to all of the hosted buyers and suppliers for making the independent meeting planner education conference such a success. Northstar Meetings Group is already gearing up for IPEC 2021. Learn more here.