One of the meetings world’s most-notable tech experts got her start in the event planning industry in perhaps one of the most unlikely ways.

“My career started in hospitality when I was doing marketing for a property on the Red Sea in Egypt,” remembered Dahlia El Gazzar, Tech Evangelist + Idea Igniteur of DAHLIA+ and Empowerment+, a new entrant in the meetings tech world that aims to educate attendees about event technology on-site at conferences. “I started creating these events where I would meet with the Bedouins in the Sinai to create camel races. I took the mattresses from the chaise lounge swimming pool chairs and shipped them to the middle of the desert to rent them to Italian tourists for $150 per night to see the stars.”

After 30 years in the meetings industry, Gary Schirmacher has witnessed his share of change.

Gun for hire may be a bit bold for a job description, but for travel directors such as Scott Carlan, the label fits. Like that Old West staple of a gunslinger who wanders the land decisively solving other people’s problems, travel directors are on-site liaisons who take care of business. Carlan has worked Super Bowls, FIFA World Cups and the last five Olympic Games.

Pat Schaumann is arguably the meetings leader on the topic of healthcare compliance.

Senior Planners Industry Network named Rod Abraham as its executive director.

After a decade-long stint at Microsoft, Chen was itching for a career change.

Eric Rozenberg is the type of guy that isn’t content with standing still.

It’s often said there’s an association for everything, but no matter how far from mainstream an association may seem, the duties of its officers are typically, non-remarkably, similar.

Take Dan Whicker, the new executive director of the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR). Although the organization may not quite be considered mainstream—even if what its stands for is really quite “natural,” after all—Whicker still wrestles with issues any association exec faces.

While some find themselves in the hospitality industry by chance and then learn to make it a career, Bill Reed is one of those rare birds that has been in it since graduating from college, and his dedication has only grown.

Reed’s work for the 16.000-member American Society of Hematology (ASH), which serves researchers and clinicians who battle blood-related disorders and diseases such as leukemia and sickle cell anemia, lets him see the very tangible results meetings provide.

After running a meetings and events company for 20 years, Howard Givner developed a keen eye for the trials planners at all levels face.

“The challenge that we had as an event and meeting agency, and a lot of my colleagues had, was there were so many different facets to organizing meetings,” Givner says. “You might have someone from your organization that’s, say, good at logistics but doesn’t know audiovisual, and vice versa.”