LAS VEGAS
At a time when Las Vegas is still feeling the sting of an economic downturn, the city welcomed a commitment from IMEX Group to host a major recurring meetings industry show at the Sands Expo Center.
Ray Bloom, chairman of the IMEX Group, which hosts an annual meetings and incentive travel exhibition in Frankfurt, announced today at a press conference the launching of IMEX America, a new show in which MPI will serve as the strategic partner.
The new show will take place at the Sands Expo Convention Center at the Venetian/Palazzo Oct. 11-13, 2011 and will become a permanent fixture at the center, according to Bloom.
“IMEX America will benefit from the largest-scale hosted buyer program to be delivered in North America, where top meetings and incentive buyers from across the U.S. and the world travel and stay free as our guests,” Bloom says. “For the inaugural show IMEX is predicting 1,500 hosted buyers, of whom 80 percent will originate from within North America.”
As the exhibition’s strategic partner, MPI will create education options for IMEX attendees, as it does for the IMEX Frankfurt annual event.
“Right now the industry is going through a shift and it is thirsty for high level education,” says Bruce MacMillan, president and CEO of MPI.
He noted that the partnership is an extension of an already strong relationship between the two organizations. MPI is a long-time partner of IMEX and was one of the first partners of IMEX Frankfurt. Since 2003, they have worked together with the IMEX-MPI Future Leaders Forum, which concentrates on motivating and encouraging high potential students to enter the industry.
Earlier this year, IMEX and MPI entered into a global partnership for the first time, expanding the outreach of both organizations, especially for its Future Leaders Forum.
IMEX, which became MPI’s first-ever European Foundation donor in 2004, also announced earlier this year that it will fund a series of new MPI Foundation Scholarships that will include entrance to a series of MPI educational events across Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East; all linked to MPI’s Global Knowledge Plan.
The partnership resulted in a new initiative for 2009‑the Future Leaders University Challenge, in which universities from around the world were invited to compete against each other in an international challenge with the pinnacle taking place at the Future Leaders Forum at IMEX in May in Frankfurt. Students were judged on presentations given at the forums, and finalists attended the IMEX gala dinner where the winner received the MPI Foundation Student Scholarship Award. The award included an invitation to attend an MPI conference in Singapore, North America, Europe, or the Middle East, with flights, accommodation and registration paid for by the MPI Foundation.
Other industry trade associations showing support for IMEX America include SITE, which will hold its 2011 annual conference immediately following IMEX America. The ICCA will officially support the show as well as DMAI. ASAE will hold an association-led educational event on the day preceding IMEX America.
“We expect to work closely with all of the industry associations and will be announcing further partnerships in the coming months,” Bloom says.
To support the show, Bloom announced a new office will be opening in Chicago, managed by IMEX America’s U.S.-based president, Kimberly Meyer.
“Ray launched IMEX Frankfurt during a recession and it was a catalyst to get our industry going,” MacMillan says, adding that he predicts similar results for IMEX America.
The news is also a boost to Las Vegas itself. The IMEX commitment comes at an appropriate time when the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (CVA) is attempting to grow its international visitation and when the MGM MIRAGE CityCenter complex is set to open, boosting the city’s numbers to in excess of 150,000 rooms.
“In the current economic environment, this is a tremendous announcement for the Las Vegas trade show meeting industry,” says Rossi Ralenkotter, president and CEO of the Las Vegas CVA. “It speaks to the value of our reputation as a serious place to conduct business.”
