The numbers tell the tale—more than 15,500, a record number, in attendance at IMEX America 2024, which took place last week at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.
Of that number, 5,500 were buyers—4,300 hosted buyers—who took part in more than 86,000 pre-scheduled meetings in three days, the majority of which were one-to-ones with exhibitors.
The growing desire for personal and professional development was demonstrated by the also-record attendance at IMEX’s variety of educational programming sessions, with more than 1,600 people engaged in learning sessions held at the show floor’s Inspiration Hub.
In fact, the 13th edition of the show reflected a growing, resilient meetings and events sector with strong business pipelines evident in the meetings, connections and conversations across the busy show floor and at hundreds of ancillary events.
The incentive travel industry was among the sectors reporting growth. Virgin Atlantic, for one, shared a renewed focus on incentive travel with a new role created to meet demand in that sector. Elsewhere, SITE (Society for Incentive Travel Excellence) launched the latest edition of their Incentive Travel Index, revealing the industry is expected to grow even further over the next two years: by 2026, 45 percent of buyers expect incentive travel activity to be above, or significantly above, 2024 levels.
What’s the Buzz…and Buzzwords
Creating buzz this year was a new addition to the show—the boutique Brand Experience Summit held at Allegiant Stadium. Created in partnership with InVision, LVCVA and Allegiant Stadium Private Events, the Summit brought together senior level marketeers to understand how they can better use events as a key marketing channel to drive brand loyalty, trust, engagement and business outcomes.
Trust was also the “secret sauce” behind the many face-to-face meetings taking place across the show floor last week. Meeting in person is a valuable way of establishing a depth of knowledge and genuine connection, as hosted buyer Brian Cmiel from Monster Energy explained: “IMEX is a huge time-saver because it offers networking at a granular level. Meeting in person means you quickly get a feel for how a hotel or company works and how they will take care of your group. Trust is important for us—we would never take a group somewhere that we hadn’t experienced. We also need that fine detail on a destination so we can sell it to our audience.”
IMEX CEO Sums Up the Experience
At the show’s close Carina Bauer, IMEX CEO, summed up the team’s attitude: “We’re delighted that the global business events community has reconvened in such strong numbers here this week, bringing with them a desire to meet with purpose and forge connections for mutual long-term gain. The broader catalytic effect of the show has shone through in the many fringe events, activities and celebrations on and off the show floor; it’s exciting to see how people have used the platform of the show to elevate their own impact and experience.”
Speaking at the show’s traditional closing press conference alongside IMEX Chairman Ray Bloom and CEO, Carina Bauer, were Rebecca DeLuca, VP of Destination Sales at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority; Stephanie Glanzer, Chief Sales Officer & Senior Vice President at MGM Resorts International and Drew Holmgreen, Chief Experience Officer at Meeting Professionals International.
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