Maritz Global Events brought together 500 planners, suppliers and team members for its first face-to-face conference in nearly two years.
The event, which was held Aug. 17-19 at the Hyatt Regency Seattle, brought the attendees together “to talk about the challenges facing the industry from a variety of perspectives,” said Greg Bogue, the company’s enterprise vice president of brand, experience and innovation ecosystems.
The agenda included three 45-minute sessions, based on three concepts: people, the business of events, and creating next and new experiences. Attendees were then broken into groups of 12-15 participants, at which point they delved deeper into the session topics.
“Laying a challenge in front of a small group of people who are passionate about what they do, you’re going to get some really good conversations,” noted Bogue. “That's what we hoped for and that's what occurred.”
Bogue and Maritz Global Events president David Peckinpaugh shared further insights and takeaways from the Next& event with Northstar’s editor, incentives & destinations, Lisa Grimaldi.