The International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), an association for the global exhibition industry, heard positive responses about its Women’s Leadership Forum after holding the Collective from May 28-30.
Designed for all women, the Women’s Leadership Forum focused on issues that are unique to the gender. The forum provided ideas, strategies, motivation and inspiration for women to use in their careers, and it offered tips for reaching the C-suite, the most important and influential group of individuals at a company.
“More than 70 women from all facets of the industry came together for an incredible day of networking and education,” said Stephanie Everett, vice president, Clarion Events North America, Inc. and CEM and Women’s Leadership Forum Task Force Chair.
Discussions focused on communicating with different personalities, taking on new challenges and enhancing decision-making skills. Hattie Hill facilitated a panel of chief-executive females who gave insight on how they reached the top, balanced their work and personal lives and overcame challenges.
“I feel that every talk, every piece of advice can be applied to my life right now or will help me with situations in the future,” said Kiki Janssens, sales manager, Core-Apps. “I also came out having made wonderful connections and met women whose success and support for the younger generations were inspiring and empowering for me.”
The keynote luncheon speaker was Betsy Myers, a senior official in the Clinton administration and the president’s senior advisor on women’s issues.
“Betsy Myers had a fascinating background and had an excellent way of putting the subject matter into context through storytelling. It was also great to see women of all ages there,” said Denise Medved, CEO, the Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show. “Each one of the presenters added significant value. I gained a lot of new knowledge from the session focused on negotiation.”
Along with the CEM Learning Program that is held throughout the year, IAEE offered other programs:
Designed to empower mid-level marketing professionals to further their education with relevant marketing themes for the future is the Marketing Academy, which is a balance of foundational marketing practices infused with cutting-edge marketing education.
The Sales Academy is a professional certification program that is built on the Sandler concept of incremental growth and change over time — supported by repetition, reinforcement and coaching. Attendees shared experiences in developing and executing sales and business development tactics.
Nearly 200 individuals attended programs designed by the IAEE Education Committee with the purpose of addressing key issues and developing strategies for niche audiences within the exhibitions and events industry.
