Schedule

Cleveland Planner Tours | also offered post-conference on Wednesday

Add on during registration, or email educon@executivevents.com to add to an existing registration.

With the addition of a new downtown convention center campus, Cleveland has the meetings and convention infrastructure covered. But Cleveland has more to offer attendees than just a great meeting space. Nightlife, social-media worth culinary offerings and a thriving arts & culture scene – the city has all of that and more. Join the team from Destination Cleveland for an afternoon trolley tour of major attractions, unique venues, entertainment districts and convention assets.

This one-of-a-kind experience combines behind-the-scenes hackathon design strategies through an actual hands-on hackathon, where teams will select and solve a challenge from one of these categories:

1. Learning Experience Design (LXD)
2. Marketing & Attendance/Revenue Growth
3. Recruiting & Fostering High-Performing Teams

Kicking off with an interactive discovery/challenge creation session on Saturday at 5 pm – and ending with a fun hackathon competition Sunday, participants will come away with case studies, checklists, and tips to help them design hackathons that attendees rave about and that solve problems that matter to their members, attendees, and their organization.

For full details click here.

Learner Outcomes:

• Outline the core mission for hackathons and five mindsets that must be embraced to ignite more vibrant and meaningful innovation exchanges
• Explain how "wildcard hackers" can help diffuse cognitive biases to reveal breakthrough ideas
• Create an event design road map, with preparation steps, touch points and outcomes that occur before, during and after the hackathon

Brought to you by Visit Austin and Austin Convention Center

This one-of-a-kind experience combines behind-the-scenes hackathon design strategies through an actual hands-on hackathon, where teams will select and solve a challenge from one of these categories:

1. Learning Experience Design (LXD)
2. Marketing & Attendance/Revenue Growth
3. Recruiting & Fostering High-Performing Teams

Kicking off with an interactive discovery/challenge creation session on Saturday at 5 pm – and ending with a fun hackathon competition Sunday, participants will come away with case studies, checklists, and tips to help them design hackathons that attendees rave about and that solve problems that matter to their members, attendees, and their organization.

For full details click here.



Learner Outcomes:

• Outline the core mission for hackathons and five mindsets that must be embraced to ignite more vibrant and meaningful innovation exchanges
• Explain how "wildcard hackers" can help diffuse cognitive biases to reveal breakthrough ideas
• Create an event design road map, with preparation steps, touch points and outcomes that occur before, during and after the hackathon

Brought to you by Visit Austin and Austin Convention Center

Brought to you by Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau

Party like a Rockstar in the company of music’s greatest innovators and influencers on your first night in Cleveland. You’ll experience a legendary evening of networking with hors d’oeuvres and cocktails while wandering all 7 levels of unique exhibits tracking the evolution of the musical and cultural phenomenon of rock and roll – including the new Power of Rock Experience!

Brought to you by Destination Cleveland

Wake up and rock your way through downtown Cleveland!! The 5K route is along Cleveland’s scenic lakefront, kicking off at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Make sure you jump start your week and join your industry peers Monday morning for a 5k run/walk. Registration fee is non-refundable.

Location: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Brought to you by Westin Hotels & Resorts

Don't let Monday morning fly by without getting in some healthy protein and carbs to start you off right! Meet up with old friends or make new ones during the first breakfast of the conference.

You know how great brands dominate their fields. You experience it every time you pay a premium for a certain type of jeans, or see a line of people camping out to catch the newest smartphone release. Brand expert Denise Lee Yohn shows you how to achieve rock star brand status for your events. Drawing from case studies, analyses, and interviews with brand leaders from the world’s leading brands, she shows you what great brands do and how to achieve the kind of brand leadership that everyone – from participants to staff to sponsors — wants a piece of. 

Learner Outcomes:

• Learn how a strong brand addresses the unique challenges that associations and organizations face today
• Identify the seven brand-building actions that all great brands take to increase their competitive advantage, inspire truly loyalty, and grow profitably
• Attract the right attendees, sponsors, partners, and employees
• Increase the perceived value of your organization by using emotional appeals
• Design and manage experiences for attendees that bring your unique brand to life 

Brought to you by Tourism Vancouver and Vancouver Convention Centre

Speaker arranged by SpeakInc

Whether you're reaching a medical, corporate or trade show audience, smart content marketing can build the credibility of your brand while gaining the loyalty of your audience. In an ever more saturated media landscape, your content needs to break through the noise and provide real value to your audience in order to tie back to your business goals. In this session, digital marketing expert Zontee Hou shares case studies that demonstrate the four types of content that engage your audience, and she shows how to translate that engagement into business results. Learn key takeaways that will allow you to start planning and deploying more effective content marketing today.

Learner Outcomes:

• Develop a framework for brainstorming engaging, effective content
• Describe how to tie content to your business goals and calls-to-action
• Discuss how to develop persuasive content that works for channels from social media to experiential events

Brought to you by Visit Fort Worth

Success, especially in today’s fast-changing business environment, depends on our ability to make "creativity and innovation" a continuous process. Leaders want to know how their teams can rise above any challenge and succeed no matter what comes their way. Whether it’s to embrace change, overcome obstacles, sustain growth or take their success to the next level, they want to “Embrace the Shake.” Artist Phil Hansen’s “Embrace the Shake” has become a motto for many businesses to approach their limitations in a new way. 

Learner Outcomes:

• Identify preconceived assumptions that cause us to believe obstacles have the power to limit success
• Break down resistance to limitations by recognizing their role in driving, not stifling, creativity
• Explore ways to view problems with a fresh perspective by activating internal resources, the most important being creativity

For more from Phil Hansen, click here.

Brought to you by Synchronicities

Speaker arranged by SpeakInc

Vulnerability often has a negative connotation. No one wants to reveal the "ooey-gooey" side of themselves—especially in the workplace. But vulnerability actually is a key ingredient to success at work. It promotes curiosity, creativity, innovation and authentic connections with others. This session will explore the different shapes vulnerability can take and will provide ways that employees and managers alike can create environments where people can bring their whole selves to work.

Learner Outcomes:

• Embrace vulnerability as a crucial leadership skill to promote a learning environment
• Identify what you can do to contribute to a risk taking organizational culture
• Resist simply maintaining the status quo and open the door to an innovative mindset

Brought to you by Visit Seattle

For the first time in history, healthcare has surpassed manufacturing and retail as the largest source of jobs in the U.S. Experts predict there will be more than 1 million medical meetings in the U.S. in 2018. As this industry grows, it is critical that medical meeting professionals stay up to date on changes within the industry. Government regulations, enforcement, privacy and compliance are among the leading issues in the medical meeting management process. This session goes beyond legal analysis to basic understanding of how to resource and react to change while ensuring you are in compliance with all regulations and working most efficiently.

Learner Outcomes:

• Explore the best and leading-edge training and practices for those involved in regulatory compliance
• Identify and discuss the latest trends in regulatory changes
• Explore updates on government initiatives specific to data collection processes, food and beverage caps, MedTech Europe Code of Ethical and Reasonable Business Practices, General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR ) and others

Brought to you by VisitDallas

What can an event professional like you learn from Coachella, mega-churches, and great retail shopping plazas? Everything. 

Traditional association events—conferences, trade shows, and annual meetings—are exactly that. Traditional. The old model of content, community, and commerce has given way to a new era of insight, intimacy, and inspiration. It’s time to rethink your approach to designing and delivering events so that you stand out from the competition and attract more of the right people.

Learn the six things you must do to turn your next meeting into an irresistible, live media experience that sells out.

Learner Outcomes:

• Shift your thinking to see your event as a product
• Identify what you need to know about your audience to attract them
• Understand how to create a roadmap for reinventing your event

Brought to you by Destination DC and Events DC

We are bringing the outdoors in with a variety of fabulous food trucks to tempt and treat you! Enjoy the best the locals have to offer and beat the heat by staying indoors.

Brought to you by IMEX Group

We negotiate every day: with our boss, with our customers, with our vendors and with our colleagues. Whether you are negotiating price with customers and vendors, or seeking the resources needed to complete a project, this program offers the tools and techniques to enable you to influence others and get what you want. The goal of this program is to get you to think about negotiating differently, improving your negotiating skills by using the three Cs: convince, collaborate and create. This highly interactive program is designed to teach you how to apply these skills to everyday dealings both internally and externally.

Learner Outcomes:

• Identify and harness the power of the U Perspective—seeing things from the individual’s POV—to gain their agreement 
• Determine when and how to make a powerful initial offer
• Increase the perception of the value of your proposals
• Gain project legitimacy through an aura of authority
• Prepare and influence stakeholders virtually as well as face-to-face

For more on influential negotiating, click here.

Brought to you by Synchronicities

Experience Design is about taking events to their full potential, transcending the routine to create transformational moments. Behavioral science reveals insights into the psychology of events, and how our holistic experience of them is so much more than the moment itself. Join Charlotte Blank, Chief Behavioral Officer of Maritz, to learn about the psychological framework of the three types of experience utility, and how to apply behavioral insights to design memorable moments for the anticipating self, the experiencing self, and most importantly – the remembering self.

Learner Outcomes:

·     Explore the psychological framework of the three types experiences

·     Discuss how to apply behavioral insights to experience design

·     Develop ways to design memorable moments for the experience

Brought to you by Destination DC and Events DC

Stories move people—not only to feel an emotion but to take action. When you use a well-crafted story in your presentations and pitches, you sell more effectively, get more commitment, cultivate greater camaraderie, inspire deeply and have more fun. Finding the "glory in the story” means finding the golden nugget of compelling content and structuring it to deliver the greatest impact so you will move your audience in ways that data and facts alone cannot.

Learner Outcomes:

• Identify how to catalog your experiences so you can develop a list of stories to enchant any audience in any setting
• Recognize the litmus test needed to determine if a story has the potential to change listeners’ perspectives and behavior
• Develop your story to create a mesmerizing and compelling message to your audience
• Prepare steps to help encourage your audience to take action after being inspired by your story and its message

Click here to learn how others have used storytelling to convey their message. Read on.

Brought to you by Visit Seattle

Producing an event is like building a campfire. A well-built fire will attract and retain people who will share what they have for the betterment of the group. The stories of those who gather are the stars, while your job is to maintain the fire. This session will show you how engagement tools including digital engagement platforms, intentional design, fulfilling stakeholder missions, fear of missing out, attendee psychographics and influencer marketing can all work together to empower everyone contributing to your event. Done well, they will help grow its reach and resonance.

Learner Outcomes:

• Discuss examples of intentional experience design that provide the context attendees need to tell their personal truths
• Explain how to make attendee and stakeholder values your most important engagement tools
• Explore ways to inject more vulnerability, authenticity and an overall increase in humanity in every message your event shares

Brought to you by Visit Fort Worth

Hands-on learning or experiential learning is one learning method that can have a dramatic impact on the participant's skills and training. This session will explore new methods to include hands on training in your medical event to provide a safe learning environment, link theory and practice, increase engagement levels of both participants and those producing the training, and deliver exceptional ROI. This session will also explore ways to bring together stakeholders from events, education, marketing, and other areas to work collaboratively toward producing a hand on training session.

Learner Outcomes:

• Identify and discuss the latest trends in hands on training at medical meetings
• Develop new methods to incorporate hands on training in your medical meeting
• Explore ways to provide hands on training that is scaleable to different size meetings
• Discuss ways to utilize sponsors and support to make the hands on training cost effective

Brought to you by VisitDallas

We’ve just begun the longevity revolution that may be the next great disruptor. We’ve gone from a life expectancy of 47 in 1900 to 77 in 2000 to 83+ today. For those who take care of themselves, life expectancy now exceeds 95. We’re making progress on not just illness treating, but on life-extension, too, and it is expected that people will be able to live past 110 by the year 2030. Aging is now progressing to an unprecedented achievement: the extension of human life expectancy by thirty years. 

Society has not yet adapted to this change. We must examine our personal and societal approach to aging so that the baby boomers and the generations that follow may have a financially secure, vigorous, and healthy final chapter life.

Learner Outcomes:

• Identify ways to maximize health and wellness to help nurture your body so that it can repair itself expeditiously when it breaks.
• Discover approaches to boost your power and resilience and keep your body healthy longer.
• Understand how science is learning to make your physical repair systems work much better.
• Identify the opportunities and challenges of how to reap the benefits of these additional years of life.

Brought to you by VisitDallas

Experience Design is about taking events to their full potential, transcending the routine to create transformational moments. Behavioral science reveals insights into the psychology of events, and how our holistic experience of them is so much more than the moment itself. Join Charlotte Blank, Chief Behavioral Officer of Maritz, to learn about the psychological framework of the three types of experience utility, and how to apply behavioral insights to design memorable moments for the anticipating self, the experiencing self, and most importantly – the remembering self.

Learner Outcomes:

·     Explore the psychological framework of the three types experiences

·     Discuss how to apply behavioral insights to experience design

·     Develop ways to design memorable moments for the experience

Brought to you by Destination DC and Events DC

What is all the talk about implicit bias? Do you wonder how to make your organization more just and welcoming? Implicit biases or subconscious biases influence how we respond to others. To create equitable work environments, event organizers must acknowledge their own biases and take steps to confront them. Through a mixture of presentation and interactive discussion, participants will explore the sources and impacts of unconscious biases as well as some concrete steps for reducing them.

Learner Outcomes:

• Discuss what implicit bias means and how it may influence our decisions
• Explain that being implicitly biased does not necessarily mean we act in explicitly biased ways
• Recognize some behaviors that may suggest bias or differential treatment
• Apply techniques that help remove biased perceptions and improve interactions

For more from Paulette Brown, click here.

Brought to you by Visit Seattle

You've done your research and know the next steps that would be most beneficial for your organization. Now you have to get everyone on board. Instead of sweating over this step, recognize it as a great opportunity to elevate your role in front of key stakeholders. In this session, Miami University professor of entrepreneurship Chris Sutter will outline the key elements of a pitch and share underlying principles that make a pitch more effective.

Swimming with sharks:  In a nod to ABC’s “Shark Tank,” we've lined up some brave volunteers to pitch ideas to a few potential stakeholders, aka “sharks” (also volunteers). Our pitchers will craft an argument and respond to questions from the volunteer stakeholders.

Ready, set, pitch! Now it's your turn as audience members help our volunteers develop a stellar pitch for the sharks.

Learner Outcomes:

• Discuss the key components of a strong pitch (what to say)
• Explain the key characteristics of a strong pitch (how to say it)
• Prepare for the questions that decision-makers might ask

Brought to you by Synchronicities

Savvy event organizers know how to harness the power of digital and social media marketing for events They use crucial brand and experiential marketing tools that drive attendance, define and engage high-value target audiences extend the experience and build brand recognition. Today’s planner needs to know how to design content and leverage the correct channels that promote the message and the experience efficiently. What platforms best suit the audience? What content drives and engages the targets? 

Learner Outcomes:

• Identify and match your high-value audience and influencers and your social media platforms in experiential marketing
• Develop a well-defined strategic plan that leverage the best digital marketing tools, resulting in a measurable marketing campaign
• Develop a story using visual storytelling for content design and marketing to encourage audience attendance
• Plan and design an interactive advertising plan that creates and builds online ad campaigns that drive attendance sales and that attendees remember

Brought to you by Visit Fort Worth

Delivering cutting-edge education and interactive events for Medical Meetings has become increasingly more challenging. This interactive session takes you to Cleveland Clinic's meeting and event space in the state-of-the-art Bank of America Amphitheater at the Intercontinental. Participants will receive a tour of the facility; the program focuses on designing better medical meeting experiences.

*Free add on during registration*

Brought to you by VisitDallas

Give back to the industry you love while taking in the exciting atmosphere of East 4th Street @ Pickwick & Frolic, named best of Cleveland. Network with your peers and enjoy a one-of-a-kind dining and entertainment experience.

$125/ticket – Add on during registration or if you’re already registered, email educon@executivevents.com letting them know you’d like Give Back Bash added to your registration.

Host Venue/Location: Pickwick & Frolic

Music Partner: Visit Austin and the Austin Convention Center

Supporting Sponsor: Visit Omaha and Visit Tampa Bay

Whether you wake up in the morning and drop into a Hanumanasana or you’re just wading into the yoga pool, Namaste with PCMA will clear out the cobwebs and prepare you – mind and body – for an active day ahead. Registration fee is non-refundable.

$40 – Add on during registration or if you're already registered, email educon@executivevents.com letting them know you'd like Namaste with PCMA added to your registration.

Brought to you by Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau

Chef and his team have been cooking up something delicious to encourage you to join us this morning! From frittata to fruit and protein to pastry, there's something for everyone. Come to hobnob and stay for the freshly griddled french toast. Everyone will be there!

As the business events industry continues to experience significant change, it is necessary for event organizers, suppliers and other stakeholders to think and behave in new ways to create more value. In this case study-rich session, Peter Sheahan will challenge you to find opportunity in this massive disruption. Wherever you sit within the business events value chain, it is crucial for you to leverage change and disruption to create more value because organizations don’t change, people do.

Learner Outcomes:

• Develop an appetite for taking intelligent risks
• Embrace disruptions in the events industry and your role as an agent of change
• Find opportunities to innovate and drive change within the disruption

For more from Peter Sheahan, click here.

Brought to you by Business Events Toronto and Metro Toronto Convention Centre

Speaker arranged by SpeakInc

Whether you're reaching a medical, corporate or trade show audience, smart content marketing can build the credibility of your brand while gaining the loyalty of your audience. In an ever more saturated media landscape, your content needs to break through the noise and provide real value to your audience in order to tie back to your business goals. In this session, digital marketing expert Zontee Hou shares case studies that demonstrate the four types of content that engage your audience, and she shows how to translate that engagement into business results. Learn key takeaways that will allow you to start planning and deploying more effective content marketing today.

Learner Outcomes:

• Develop a framework for brainstorming engaging, effective content
• Describe how to tie content to your business goals and calls-to-action
• Discuss how to develop persuasive content that works for channels from social media to experiential events

Brought to you by Visit Fort Worth

Following his mainstage session, Peter Sheahan will unpack the results of a multi-year, multi-industry study of companies that have become the obvious choices of their most important stakeholders. During this interactive session, you will begin to apply key insights directly to your own organizations, find the inspiration to escape the gravity of your own success and orient yourself toward the business events industry of the future.

Learner Outcomes:

• Develop a point-of-view and become a thought leader
• Build elevated relationships with your most important stakeholders to position you as a trusted adviser and strategic partner
• Move up the value chain for and have an elevated impact on your stakeholders

Brought to you by Synchronicities 

Speaker arranged by SpeakInc

If you want to launch or grow a health care conference, it is crucial to consider the learning preferences of specific demographic groups. This session will help you increase participation, outcomes and attendance at your next event. In today’s multigenerational health care workforce, millennials have a growing and meaningful footprint in health care organizations. Regardless of the size or budget of your event, this session will provide you with tools you need to engage younger-yet-qualified clinicians of all levels. We’ll explore various ways to engage millennial learners, with a look ahead to Gen Z. And we won’t neglect Baby Boomers. 

Learner Outcomes:

• Discuss market data about millennials representing the largest segment in health care
• Describe preferences of millennial learners and discover how to engage them at events 
• Explore educational trends for Gen Z that may shape their future event expectations
• Maximize experience value for current conference participants, primarily Baby Boomers

Brought to you by VisitDallas

Your focus is on building and leading a team, developing each member’s skills so that your group will collaborate to reach or exceed your company’s objectives and meet the personal goals of all participants. You manage up; you manage down. But, who is leading you? This session challenges you to look beyond your work life, daring you to become self-aware and to build your own confidence and courage to take risks. It demands you adjust how you motivate and incentivize yourself and identify how you currently lead yourself, consciously or unconsciously. This session also focuses on how your implicit bias shifts your view of yourself and others. Learning to lead yourself reveals your interests and values. Choose the direction that elevates you and use your discovery to amplify and grow your team.

Learner Outcomes:

• Explore the inner processes related to self-awareness around your leadership objectives
• Develop a personal vision of leadership
• Recognize that leadership development is a lifelong learning process
• Examine your intrinsic motivation as a leader
• Determine how your implicit biases impact your views about yourself and others

Brought to you by Visit Seattle

What if you could amplify your reach and double the audience for your next event? It’s possible to attract more industry press, new face-to-face (F2F) attendees and target audiences, and to extend your global reach. Hear real-world examples from professionals who already have traveled the digital event road. You have an insider’s look at what worked and what didn’t work in each quest to engage both the remote and F2F audiences.

Learner Outcomes:

• Identify the cornerstones of designing engaging experiences
• Discuss the challenges of integrating the online and F2F audience 
• Describe proven strategies to best integrate digital events into the overall experience design for a lasting impact that drives results

Brought to you by Meetings + Conventions Calgary

Re-energize and refresh with a delicious meal and a little philanthropy. Both of which will get you revved up for the rest of the afternoon!

Brought to you by Meet Los Angeles

Attendees and sponsors expect a high return on their investment and demand an impactful, sustained and useful learning experience. Additionally, event technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) continue to rapidly progress. This session will explore IoT and other technologies that amplify the conference experience. We’ll also discuss components of the “Continuous Impact Learning” (CIL) platform and how to apply them. This enables the event organizer to create fan engagement involving vendors, speakers and participants. Learn how the importance of each event strategy creates a compelling, integrated experience.

Learner Outcomes:

• Discuss the Continuous Impact Learning platform
• Describe how technologies can enhance the conference
• Explore the process of "creating a fan" of your events

Brought to you by Visit Fort Worth

An effective event product stems from the same deep understanding of customer wants and needs that drive the positioning and messaging in an effective marketing campaign. It’s not enough to throw open the doors and hope that your attendees have an experience that lines up with what you’ve promised – today’s event organizers must take responsibility for creating and facilitating opportunities for attendees to live that promise. Accomplishing this means developing a partnership between marketing, sales, programming and operations to ideas and deliver an experience that reinforces the event positioning and delivers on the brand promise.

This session will start with an overview of effective (and not so effective) approaches to developing a compelling event brand promise and then move into an ideation workshop using participants’ events and industry examples to come up with possible on-site experiences that deliver on that position.

Learner Outcomes:

• Contrast the difference between messaging points and a true brand promise
• Translate a brand promise into ideas for on-site experiences
• Describe the roles and responsibilities of various team members in developing brand-driven experiences

Brought to you by Destination DC and Events DC

Professionals often have difficulty finding the next step in their careers, but LinkedIn is THE tool to help position yourself for advancement while still being truthful about your current work experience. It’s all in how you present your value. This session will take a deep dive into techniques to get the most out of this important networking platform. You’ll learn to showcase your strengths and get yourself on the radar for higher-level roles within or outside your organization.

Learner Outcomes:

• Discover how to position yourself using specific language that catches employer attention
• Recognize ways to attract potential employers, headhunters and recruiters to your profile and set the tone for what they learn about you
• Identify ways to discuss lower-level jobs that don’t really convey the higher-level at which you really operate without “up-titling” yourself

For more on strengthening your connections through LinkedIn, click here.

Brought to you by Visit Seattle

Your business, as well as your employees, can't afford for your brain to decline–not even for a day. You wouldn't allow that to happen to your heart, eyes or lungs. So why would you allow such slippage from your most valued internal asset that directly impacts the advancement of your work? Your brain's frontal lobe unequivocally contributes to your work success. It builds resilience in difficult times. It contributes to accurate and forward-learning executive functions of your integrated reasoning and deep learning. If you fail to harness the incredible potential of your brain, you inhibit your success–personally and professionally. 

Learner Outcomes:

• Compare and contrast the executive functions versus the limbic system of your brain
• Discuss ways to apply how to lead from the frontal lobe versus leading from the limbic system

Brought to you by VisitDallas

When you plan on hosting an event, one of the first questions that often comes to mind is how to fund it. Unless your organization already is well established and has a generous marketing budget, you’re going to have to look elsewhere for financing. The logical solution is to seek sponsors. But navigating meeting regulations and rules for sponsorship can be daunting. Knowing how to manage that process and finding the right sponsor is critical to your success. Equally vital is having the right systems in place to deliver the value your sponsors want. This session is designed to help you navigate the give-and-take relationship that is necessary to attract the right sponsors for your events. 

Learner Outcomes:

• Determine the critical elements brands consider when activating sponsorship opportunities
• Identify what "hot buttons" brands are looking for when deciding to sponsor events
• Explore the tools necessary to design a sponsorship offering that can attract new sponsors
• Define how you will measure sponsorship success

Brought to you by Synchronicities

Professionals often have difficulty finding the next step in their careers, but LinkedIn is THE tool to help position yourself for advancement while still being truthful about your current work experience. It’s all in how you present your value. This session will take a deep dive into techniques to get the most out of this important networking platform. You’ll learn to showcase your strengths and get yourself on the radar for higher-level roles within or outside your organization.

Learner Outcomes:

• Discover how to position yourself using specific language that catches employer attention
• Recognize ways to attract potential employers, headhunters and recruiters to your profile and  set the tone for what they learn about you
• Identify ways to discuss lower-level jobs that don’t really convey the higher-level at which you really operate without “uptitling” yourself

Brought to you by Visit Seattle

Neuroscience has proven that your innovative thinking is pivotal to your business success. Even small incremental improvements to your innovative thinking can contribute to your bottom line. However, it is limited primarily by you. You can become an entrepreneur of creative, innovative ideas that will lead your company to additional success. Or you can let your imagination stall with less and less energy and innovative ideas day by day. Your professional success depends largely on your ability to attend to and strengthen your innovative capacity and transformative thinking.

Learner Outcomes:

• Evaluate if you and your team are using rote or transformative thinking and the results of both
• Explore the neuroscience of innovative capacity and why you must leverage it for job success

Brought to you by VisitDallas

After a period of stagnation, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland, Ohio, has seen significant growth in recent years. Following a new engagement strategy, the Hall has bloomed to become a major international attraction, while generating an annual record of $199 million in economic impact to the region last year. The strategy involved digging in deep to better understand their customers and understand their different audience segments. Then they started going after their targeted audience segments. Overall, the Hall's series of changes have proven to be a considerable success, as the museum's attendance has increased 29% over the four years since the plan was implemented in 2014. The Hall has also grown to be a greater boon to the Cleveland economy over the same period, with an estimated annual record of $199 million in economic impact generated for the region in 2017.

Learner Outcomes:

• Determine how to identify and understand your current audience and your target audience
• Develop a well-defined strategic plan that leverages tools you can use to result in a measurable marketing campaign to go after your target audience
• Identify what your target audience needs and wants and how to deliver to them

Brought to you by Visit Fort Worth

In the world of eSports, people follow their favorite players and become fans of that player. This digital fandom has led to sold out venues where fans flock to see their favorite players compete in a video game live. As event organizers, we strive to do the exact opposite. Our goal is to sell out live venues and then engage a digital audience to extent our event's reach. In this session you'll learn how to amp up your event experience when you think outside the box and view the experience holistically for both those in person live and those watching from home. 

Learner Outcomes:

• Explore strategies to engage a digital audience to extent event reach
• Discuss how to react to participant feedback during the event and make changes on the fly in order to improve the experience
• Explore strategies to encourage sponsors to embrace nontraditional event experiences

Brought to you by Destination DC and Events DC

Some people think they’re average and ordinary. Not true. Everyone has a superpower – something they’re better at than anyone else. Helping employees discover and use their superpowers allows the company and its employees to thrive. Jodi Berg, PhD., knows this firsthand, both through her leadership of blending equipment manufacturer Vitamix and through her doctoral research. Vitamix is driven by a higher purpose, and its employees are noted for their passion, commitment and care for customers. But those factors alone are not what have enabled the family-owned company to thrive for four generations. Vitamix works to enable employees to discover their personal purpose and their superpowers, allowing them to bring their whole, authentic and best selves to work every day. When people understand their own personal purpose, they are significantly more engaged and committed. Releasing an employee’s superpower ignites a personal drive that is incredibly fulfilling and makes things happen. This combination – companies with a higher purpose, and employees who have identified and can freely express their personal purpose, and are called on to use their superpower – can be magical.

Learner Outcomes:

• Determine your own purpose (superpower) and help employees do the same
• Increase engagement and commitment by creating and sharing a higher organizational purpose
• Create an atmosphere in which employees bring their whole, authentic and best selves to work every day

Brought to you by Synchronicities

Kick back and relax with Destination Cleveland on Tuesday night at Punch Bowl Social, in the trendy Flats neighborhood. We’ll wrap up your 2018 Education Conference experience right on the water at a venue stocked with your favorite arcade games, bowling, darts, private karaoke room and delectable food and drinks. Say goodbye to your new contacts and the city of Cleveland while enjoying stunning views of Lake Erie. Did we mention the incredible rooftop bar?

Brought to you by Destination Cleveland

Sears. Kodak. Borders. Blockbuster – all once market leaders. Now, all but gone. Why? They failed to embrace and create a culture of disruption, not recognizing the opportunities to innovate and dramatically shift the customer’s experience.

Find out how companies deliberately build a culture of disruption that keeps them on the cutting edge decade after decade. Gary Magenta, SVP and Chief Change Architect of change consulting company Root Inc., unveils the secrets to disruptors – both new entrants and existing companies.

In this highly interactive and experiential session, Gary shares the formula for disruption from his video talk show series, “The Pot Stirrer”. In the first half of this session, Gary defines customer experience disruptors, while the second half focuses on idea-generation, during which attendees discuss how they can create innovative customer experience radicals at their own organizations. These ideas are foundational to every organization and can be applied to any industry. Join to make sure you stay ahead of disruption and avoid irrelevance!

Learner Outcomes:

·     Explore changing consumer expectations, technology, and competitive trends and what they mean for the future of business

·     Identify opportunities to radicalize customer experiences in your own industry

·     Identify the potential barriers to change

·     Develop potential outcomes of leading the way or reacting to changes made by your competitors

In her keynote presentation, renowned expert and author Bridget Brennan (“Why She Buys”) will inspire you with winning strategies and best practices for increasing sales by elevating the customer experience. Brennan answers the most burning question of our time: When people have countless options for where to spend their time and money, why should they invest in you? Her program delivers insights and context for the major trends driving decision-making, and techniques for applying this knowledge to increase your success. From changes in demographics to cultural shifts in the U.S. and around the world, Brennan offers strategies for thriving in a changing world. 

Learner Outcomes:

• Identify the most important macro trends driving purchasing decisions and behaviors
• Examine how women’s domination of the consumer economy is changing expectations
• Discuss customer experience “best practices” from leading brands and businesses
• Utilize a four-part framework to deepen emotional engagement 
• Implement "Monday Morning" strategies immediately

Brought to you by Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau

Cleveland Planner Tours | Also offered pre-conference on Saturday

Add on during registration, or email educon@executivevents.com to add to an existing registration.

With the addition of a new downtown convention center campus, Cleveland has the meetings and convention infrastructure covered. But Cleveland has more to offer attendees than just a great meeting space. Nightlife, social-media worth culinary offerings and a thriving arts & culture scene – the city has all of that and more. Join the team from Destination Cleveland for an afternoon trolley tour of major attractions, unique venues, entertainment districts and convention assets.