Photo Credit: IMEX Exhibitions
IMEX America, the international events-industry
trade show that took place Oct. 7-9 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in
Las Vegas, recorded its largest attendance in the event's
14-year history, welcoming 17,000 participants to the show floor.
The record number of visitors
came despite the U.S. federal government's shutdown, which is slowing
down air traffic and customs. Kevin Hinton, CAE, managing director of group
travel for the U.S. Travel Association who was recently named a Meetings Industry Influencer, told NMG that he had not heard of any
international IMEX attendees experiencing customs issues in getting to Las Vegas.
[Note: Look for Hinton's full take on the government shutdown and how it
is affecting the U.S. economy and its global perception next week.]
"This has been a record-breaking week
where we've seen firsthand how transformative it is for our industry to meet
face to face, to shake hands, do business and build bonds," said IMEX CEO
Carina Bauer. "The strength in numbers across the board is a sign of a sector
that's both purposeful and powerful right now."
Looking at the future of the industry
A number of significant announcements by events industry organizations and
leaders were made during the show. The Society for Incentive Travel Excellence
and the Incentive Research Foundation revealed highlights of the 2025 Incentive Travel Index; Maritz, Freeman and American Express released trends reports, all of
which the NMG team will cover in-depth in upcoming content. Overall, the trends
point to high costs being the biggest headache for event planners; budgets are
keeping pace with these costs; the economic outlook for hotels, aside from the
luxury sector, is slowing down. An eye-popping takeaway came from the incentive
research: Younger generations would prefer to see Taylor Swift in concert than see
Hawaii.
IMEX offered a full roster of education sessions that
included more than 150 options. The learning began the day before the trade
show opened, on Oct. 6, when Smart Monday, powered by Meeting Professionals International, took
place. The show also featured dozens of activations attendees experienced in
and around the exhibit hall, including a railway station, VR baseball, an F1
simulator and a graphic wall with giveaway seed packets.
Welcoming the neurodiverse
In other news, the IMEX Group, the American Psychological Association and the
Australian Psychological Association worked together to launch a new
standardized framework for including neurodivergent participants' needs in event design. As a result,
IMEX achieved the organizations' Level III Comprehensive Neurodivergent
Accommodation, the highest level of endorsement, signifies a fully
inclusive event, with design strategies that ensure
accessibility for all attendees, integrating it into
every stage of planning, execution and feedback.
IMEX America 2026 will take place Oct. 13-15 at Mandalay Bay; Bauer
announced at the close of the show that IMEX will continue to hold the show at the property through to 2030.