Industry thought leaders, hotel professionals and key users of Lanyon’s meetings events and travel software convened for three days of inspiring addresses, roundtable discussions, product demonstrations from tech suppliers, educational sessions and cowboy-boot-tapping networking events Oct. 25-27 at the Renaissance Dallas Hotel.
Carrying the theme “Better Together,” Lanyon Live was a celebration of recent successes from the company.
“We expect to finish this year, 2016, at an all-time high in employee satisfaction,” said Lanyon CEO David Bonnette in his opening address. “Our customer satisfaction will be at an all-time high, our customer retention will be at an all-time high, and the profitability of our company will be at an all-time high.
“This group will have more than 20 million attendees that will be running on Lanyon software, becoming more valuable, more productive, more educated,” Bonnette added.
Anthony Miller, Lanyon’s CMO, took the stage next to describe key new features of the event itself, including the industry tech suppliers and others that held fort in The LINX.
“What was important is that we think differently about this event,” Miller told the crowd. “So we’re going to try several new things. We’re going to have a new innovation experience outside, The LINX. You’ll see drones, robots and walls you can interact with—even down to the little bracelets on your table, which are crowd-sync technology. We’re going to think differently to try and create something unique.”
Highlights of main stage keynotes included an enthralling address by Phil Keoghan, host of the Emmy award-winning series The Amazing Race, who spoke about how travel has the power to reshape the world and used experiences he’s had traveling the globe taping the show to encourage attendees to adopt his personal motto, “No opportunity wasted,” which stemmed from a near-death experience at age 19. During her keynote address, Dallas CVB CMO Noelle LeVeaux similarly inspired attendees via her history as a cancer survivor, telling the crowd that “When life gives you lemons, how do you not only make lemonade, but a lemonade stand?”
High points of main stage discussion panels included Marriott’s Chief Digital, Distribution, Revenue Solutions and Global Sales Officer Brian King, who detailed the global hospitality giant’s recent acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide; and an industry panel featuring Michael Dominguez, senior vice president and chief sales officer for MGM Resorts International and co-chair of the Meetings Mean Business Coalition, MPI President and CEO Paul Van Deventer, PCMA COO Sherrif Karamat and Michael McCormick, executive director and COO of the Global Business Travel Association.
On the educational session roster, media partner Meetings Today and Vice President and Chief Content Director Tyler Davidson were honored to moderate the “Tech Innovations and Trends” panel, featuring leaders from meetings industry technology suppliers redbutton.tv, Catchbox, brightbox and CrowdSync Technology, who spoke about creating attendee engagement and tech trends that are reshaping the way we meet.
Turn to the next page for a photo spread spotlighting the exciting networking events at Lanyon Live, its community project Friends of Wednesday’s Child, which helps foster children, and its Luminaries awards, honoring planners who have excelled in certain areas.
For info about Lanyon Live 2016 and its educational programming and activities, visit lanyon.com/lanyonlive.