Expo! Expo! 

On November 16^th I had the pleasure of attending the International Associations of Exhibition and Events DC Chapter Pre-Expo! Expo! Young Professionals Kickoff Event. The meeting was hosted at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s DC office. The gorgeous weather that evening allowed the event was moved to rooftop with spectacular views of the Capitol and White House.

The event was a networking mixer for young professionals to meet the night before the major Expo! Expo! Conference taking place the next day. It was a unique idea to provide have small group of professionals with common interests to meetup in a more intimate setting to make lasting connections.  With over 250 exhibitors at the convention, it can be tough to make a lasting and meaningful impression during such a large meeting. If/when there I an opportunity to attend a pre-convention event as a professional, I will definitely take advantage of the time to network.


Overall, the event was very well done. There was music, light hors d'oeuvres, and did I mention the views? Everyone was so excited when they arrived and saw the DC skyline all lit up, especially the out of town guests. Everyone was very friendly and impressed that as a student we were out networking with professionals.  I even made a connection with one association meeting planner who referred me to her website for possible internship opportunities. Overall it was well worth the experience. 

Here is clip from one of last year's booths at Expo! Expo! .

~Kristen 

Things I Learned This Semester

This semester has been very insightful in event management. The top three things I learned are:

1. From doing my informational interview I learned that I am better at networking one on one than in large groups. I realized that I make a better impression and I feel more comfortable when I can sit and connect with the person I am speaking to. In large networking I get intimidated and I never know how to approach someone.

2.  I always knew project management was vital in event planning but I wasn’t aware of the tools that can make this a lot easier. I really enjoyed getting to use MS Project and ASANA. I really liked that ASANA allows you to set up email reminders to help you stay on task. This is something I will absolutely utilize in the workplace.

3. I learned there are multiple avenues for event planners. When I would think about possible career choices as an event planner I would picture myself as a wedding planner, convention planner, or meeting planner. What I truly appreciated was listening to my peers during the informational interview presentations. I was able to quickly learn about other possible career tracks that I would have never considered taking or knew even existed. This really opened up more options for me as I apply for future jobs. There were projects about event planners at major clothing companies and even planners that work with professional athletes, both industries I would love to work in but did not consider. 

~Kristen 

Grape Expectations!

I asked a few of my classmate what types of events they were attending and they all seemed be going to major events and conventions in the DC area. I decided to take an alternative approach and attend an event in my local area, Gaithersburg, MD. Upon searching I found an event at one of my local beer and wine stores Grape Expectations and they were hosting a wine tasting on Friday, December 4^th. At first I was confused, and then intrigued, how could a little store that sells booze possibly host an event?

To my surprise it was quite a sophisticated and fabulous event. We entered a dimly lit room with the filled with the hum of classical music and guests gathered in groups talking among themselves.  The sommelier was very knowledgeable and presented us with free samples of four different wines from California. He walked us through the flavors and notes. I’m not much of a wine drinker but I really enjoyed the ambiance and experience of trying the different blends. Just as we were leaving a live band started setting up to play light jazz music for the rest of the evening. It was such a nice touch.

What I really appreciated was how creative the owners were at creating a way to interact with their customers and increase business. According to the sommelier, drinking wine is experience and Grape Expectations created an avenue for their customers to have the experience in their store for hours as opposed spending five minutes grabbing a bottle and heading out. He more time customers spend inside the store, the more money they are willing to spend. This event showed me that there are nontraditional ways of having a career event planning. I could easily consult with small businesses managing unique events to help set them apart from their competitors and interact with their customers. As a side note we passed a beer and wine store a few doors down and I was complexly empty, I think Grape Expectations has the right idea.

~Kristen

My three takeaways from Event Management class

Time really flies and finally our Event Management class comes to the end. I would like to share three most unforgettable experiences during the past four months.

1.       Visiting Social Table

Field trip is always exciting and interesting for me as we have the opportunity to communicate with the management team face to face. As a startup company, I think they are doing an excellent job by combining the latest technology and event design. We learned that there are eight stages: announcing, attracting, anticipating, entering, experiencing, engaging, exiting, and extending. When event planners plan events in the future, the software could easily help them to figure out the main process and attendees’ activities, which is really helpful for event planners.

2.       Risk management in the events

As a student majoring in hospitality, I realized how risk management was crucial for an event by taking this class. Through different cases, my classmates and I learned the main risks for the outdoor event like Barbeque. As an event planner, it is important to identify, analyze and respond to the risks.

3.       Informational interview

It was my second time to conduct an informational interview. Besides learning the professional experience from my interviewee, I think another critical takeaway was the kindness. Many professionals are willing to help students like us and I expect one day, if I had the same ability to help others, I would do whatever I could, just like my interviewee.

The 8th International Conference on Services Management

As a student majoring in hospitality management, it was my great honor to participate in this industry conference. The overall theme of the 8th International Conference on Services Management is "Creating Value, Innovation in Delivering Services". This conference addressed creating value and innovation in delivering services, socio-economic complexities of the growth of service organizations and tourism destinations and their responsibilities to different stakeholder groups. This conference was a forum for sharing knowledge about the practices of organizations in dynamic economies of different continents including Asia, Middle East and Africa, America, Australia and Europe. It incorporate both conceptual and empirical research papers that link knowledge to different country and service industry contexts including tourism and hospitality, retailing, financial services and banking, education, and healthcare and professional services. 

During all the paper sessions, I was quite interested in the paper involving historical hotels as tourists experiences, which was presented by Prof. Soelvi Lyngnes. From this event, I realized more research opportunities in the hospitality field and I look forward to participating in the research projects in the future.

Jenée's Takeaways

I appreciated learning about all the different organizations that contribute to the event and meeting management field. As I browsed their websites and attended one organizational meeting, it really widened my view of the field. It is amazing to meet so many individuals who have the same passion and the desire to help you. It is reassuring to know we are in a field with amazing individuals.

I loved the behind scenes tour of Gaylord National. The inner workings of the event and meeting management within the hotel industry has always been interesting to me. I was so surprised to see how large they are and hear how many event managers they are. I was equally impressed to see how long everyone had stayed on board within Gaylord National.

I am always seeking effective ways to be better in project management. I tend to go about these things the hard way. When we learned about new ways to be organized (Asana and MS Project) I was really excited. I use to utilize my calendar (ineffectively) and Microsoft Word to organize my event and meeting management projects. Now I will utilize MS Project through the rest of my program and in my business. Also, the project management exercise was too fun. It was a challenge and I was determined not to let it defeat me!

I had an amazing time in event management! I loved my classmates and everyone's perspective. There is nothing like it and I am excited to see where our journey leads us! Cheers!!

The Impressive Gaylord National

GW Men Basketball Faces Penn State

Last night, I attended the GW Men basketball game at the Smith Center. The game started at 7pm and the Colonials won with the score 76 to 66.

This result is really exciting because the victory was George Washington's first over a Big Ten team at home since a 77-74 triumph over Wisconsin in 1977. George Washington has now defeated teams from three of the Power Fiver conferences this season: Virginia (ACC), Tennessee (SEC), and Penn State (Big Ten).

After trading lead changes over the first six minutes, GW took the lead at 13-12 on Alex Mitola's 3-pointer with 13:24 left. GW hit on 7 of 14 first-half 3-pointers in taking a 40-33 advantage into halftime.

My favorite player in this game was Yuta Watanabe. He tallied 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-7 from three-point range, which was really excellent among the whole team.

We look forward to GW Men basketball’s next game!

The 8th Annual Conference on US China Economic Relations and China’s Economic Development

As an international student from China, I’m very interested in the economic, political and other relationships between US and China. So I submitted the registration form and became a volunteer for this conference. The US China relationship is now the second to none in importance for international economic relations and policy and accordingly is a major focus of many political institutions nowadays. And This China-US annual event was sponsored by the Institute for International Economic Policy of Elliott School of International Affairs at GW.

The conference had four sessions in total and started with the discussion on The China and Africa Relationship. Surprisingly, although it was not a tourism related conference, many professors mentioned the sustainable tourism in their presentations.

I would say this volunteering experience was really impressing and I look forward to participating more similar events in the future. 

My Different Kind of Experience Working a Wedding!

I’m usually behind the desk of wedding, planning all of the logistics prior to the big day. On Sunday, December 6th,  I was center stage as an assistant to a caterer (who prefers to remain anonymous) at an all vegan wedding.  I was pleasantly surprised when I asked the chef how he deals with the craziness of bridezillas. His reply was that they come in for a tasting and then final guest count and menu selection and it ends there. The day of, I arrive and execute and they are usually in such awe of what we do because my food is “THAT GOOD” he says with a wink.

During my shift everything ran like a tight ship. There was a schedule that the manager stuck to by the book and she delegated tasks to make sure we were on time. Since it was a winter wedding and the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception took place in the same room. Everything for the wedding had to be set and ready to go in two hours. It was a lot of work but being steadily busy made time fly by.  I even learned how to fold fancy napkins.

This is how the the entire wedding took place in one space. Guests sat in the front half of the room. 

Depending on the quality of food of caterer and  by working a few more weddings, I would consider staying in the wedding industry from the catering perspective.  The manager handles the logistics, bypasses the bridezillas, and is amidst all of the action. It seems like the best of both worlds as a possible career choice.  On a side note I would also like to add the vegan red velvet cake was to die for! 

~Kristen

Driving Development Through Tourism: World Bank Group Tourism Forum 2015

Tourism Forum in World Bank, doesn't it sounds cool? 
On December 8th and 9th, I attended the World Bank Group Tourism Forum 2015 at two of GWU's neighbor buildings- World Bank Group Headquarters and IFC Headquarters. The theme of the forum was “Driving Development Through Tourism”. I define it as an association meeting because one of the two institutions of the World Bank is "International Development Association".

The Forum was opened with the speech by President of the World Bank Group, had the CNN and New York Times correspondents as two of the moderators and panelists of Hilton Worldwide CEO, AirAsia CEO and Ministers of Tourism all over the world. As you can tell by the speakers, the forum had been very informative valuable and it went through many facets of tourism industry. I want to highlights some of my insights of this two-day conference from the angle of event management.

Venue:
Both venues for each day were well secured, the venues had a strong security system, from a number of securities by the gate, to sending bandage and checking IDs of each attendees, and on December 8th, there was an alert for emergency drill to remind everyone stay inside the building. To attendees, it brings a safe feeling in such a protected building.

Reception at World Bank Headquarter Building

Attendees' Engaging:
The attendees for this conference had been kept engaged in several ways. In spite of the interesting ideas brought up by the speakers, first, the organizer created a hashtag(#Tourism4Dev) on Twitter and the audience were encouraged to participate. Second, the online version made attendees from all over the world could join the forum back at home, I remember on the first half day, the host said there were more than 4,700 audience stayed online. Lastly, the Q&A parts were quite engaging, coordinators of each session were very helpful, they actively gathered audiences' questions on the paper cards and passed them to the moderators, also the online attendees can raise questions as well!

Topics and Speakers:

All the speakers are very experienced in the tourism industry. The organizer used it as a very good marketing tool to attract audiences, they put the names and positions of the key speakers on the poster, though some of them did not come.

The 11 session panels were all informative and covered different topics of tourism development. The top three topics that interested me was "Sustainability, Cultural and Heritage, and Crises Confrontation".

From left to right:
Ms. Maggie Lake, Anchor/Correspondent, CNN
Ms. Sandra Howard, Vice-Minister for Tourism, Colombia
Mr. Christopher J. Nassetta, President and CEO, Hilton Worldwide
Ms. Aireen Ornar, CEO, AirAsia Berhad

Conference technology:
As I mentioned about the online meeting system, it is an innovative way that has been widely used in many conferences, but I still feel it cool as I got up late this morning, opened my lap-top computer at home and joined the first session online while doing make ups.

Other technologies were also used in this conference, such as simultaneous interpretation headphones were used to help non-English speaking audiences; and remote tele & Webcom system to connect with two panelists that are back in their countries.

Conclusion:

To sum up, it was a great educational forum for me, I made professional networks and I could write another full page of blog to share the informational takeaways that I got.

Auditorium of IFC Headquarters

Volunteer at Events DC Nation's Triathlon 2015

As I started the topic of my event volunteer experiences, all the memorable scenes came up to my mind, I have helped out several events during this semester such as:

-HSMAI's MEET Conference, September 2015

-2015 Events DC Nation's Triathlon, September 2015

-Welcome of Chinese President's Visit, September 2015

-Taste of DC, October 2015

-XX ANOC General Assembly,  October 2015

-Fudan Washington Forum, November 2015

I can pour millions of words on those experiences but the most impressive one would be volunteer at "Nation's Triathlon". I will share some of good and bad points of their volunteer management from my personal view.

Overall Experience:

2015 Events DC Nation’s Triathlon was taken place on September 13th, but the volunteer shifts started from athletes’ registration on the 11th. The event was raising money and benefited to the "Leukemia&Lymphoma Society".

I registered three shifts each day, and my positions were helping with Sports and Fitness Expo, body marking/bike racking, and helping with bike in/out on the race day. Overall, it was a good experience, I met interesting people, got a little acquaintance of “triathlon” (before this, I knew nothing).

Good points:

1) The organizer promoted the volunteer opportunity very well.

Events DC did a good job to socialize and getting people to volunteer. As I know, volunteer of this event came from different organizations, students like me got emails from our faculty, another lady was from the Society Association which the event benefit to, another guy was volunteering for military service reason, and some others belong to different sports clubs and they volunteered full time for registration days and may waive the registration fee ranging from $95-260, yeah, that's a big deal!  

And when it came to early October, two weeks before the ANOC General Assembly, emails were sent to all Nation's Triathlon volunteers to call for our repeat participation in another sport event. I think they were really good at those volunteer appeals. 

Thank you email for recognition

2) Volunteers got recognition!

I feel I was appreciated for my volunteer work, an email letter was sent to me one week after the event saying I deserve a metal! blog was posted on the event’s official website, and pictures of the “green shirts” were posted on the website too. I feel I was valuable for them!

3) Good timing on rotation.
There were 3 shifts each day, 4 hours for each shift, which was a good timing for volunteer's rotation, so that volunteers would not get too tired. Also lunch and snacks were provided during the shifts to refuel the energy.

Things need to be improved:

1) The process of training the volunteers.

Little information were collected when I registered the volunteer, and there was no training or briefing before each shift, some of the students were from high school and they were not helpful.
Also a lot of information about the event were not given, so I was confused with a lot of guests' questions. I think it is essential to train the volunteers before they start to work.

2) Insufficient Risk Management.

Weather is a big risk for outdoor events especially sport events, weather was cold and drizzling on September 12th, so athletes were worried about the weather on the next day. We have been told that the men’s swimming part of 2014 was cancelled because of bad weather, but no one informed us what was the "trigger" of cancellation for this year, so we were not able to respond the athletes' question, and I think this is an inadequate point for risk management.

In conclusion, volunteer is a good opportunity to know people and gain skills, I have been involved in all kinds of volunteer activities for many years and I will keep doing it. 

Bonnie the "Green-Shirt"!

Tracy's Top 3 Take-Aways

There are many great ideas and important lessons that I’ve learned through my experience in this Event Management course and since I cannot go over all of the different topics and interesting subjects, I list and briefly discuss a few things that I’ve considered important that I found essential in managing events. These few items, which are not in any particular level of importance, are Stakeholder Management, Risk Management, and Sales.

In our event management course we studied the importance of stakeholder management. I learned that an analysis must be conducted for any event strategy, not only to identify who the stakeholders are, but also to act as the foundation for the risk management plan.

Each stakeholder group will represent a cluster of risks and it is therefore vital to identify all individuals or organizations that might influence the planning, implementation or execution of an event.

I’ve always thought I paid attention to the stakeholder when planning events because at this point, I am pretty much conducting social events for one or two clients, typically for weddings or a social birthday party for instance. I now realize that the stakeholder is not just the client but everyone participating in the event and to have the best possible event, all stakeholders should be taken into consideration.

I am now more cognizant to ensure I list and consider certain stakeholder concerns as I plan events such as:

What financial or emotional interest do they have in the outcome of my work? What motivates the stakeholders?
What do they want from me?
How do they want to receive what I have to offer and what is the best way of communicating the message to them?

I believe knowing these few things at the start will put me on the right track to managing my stakeholders. As a class, we received a lot of information to reflect on, read case studies and entered into discussions considering the importance of the topics.

Another great lesson learned dealt with risk management. I learned that organizations should conduct a review of events on a regular basis to ensure the environment is safe for participants, officials, volunteers and spectators and to use a checklist to evaluate the levels of safety and risk every time.

As someone who loves to do events and does them in support of my business, I never honestly took into consideration the importance of conducting a review that is so important. Yes, I have gone to site visits and merely just looked at the overall space visioning beauty and grandeur and I would evaluate if there is a nearby bathroom and enough power outlets for the equipment but that was pretty much the bulk of my concern. I learned that failing to assess risks involved in events can be disastrous and can result in:

Loss of reputation

Financial loss

Damage to facilities

Injury to participants

Stressed out employees and,
Loss of equipment

All the above translates to dollars for me and I am not even making nearly any money to pay myself let alone be in a position to pay someone else after being sued, not to mention the damage caused to my business name.

This lesson was an eye opener for me that I have to take seriously to avoid being a victim of the above tragedies. I used the example given to us in class as a template to consider when conducting risk assessment on site visits and developing a client’s event. It is a serious thing that I don’t want to get caught with my pants down.  

The final point that I’d like to cover which was a learning point for me in this course was the skills I need to develop when making sales.  I still think I have a lot to learn with this subject because I am not a good salesperson and I hate sounding like a commercial. One point that I felt was helpful from the lessons we learn came from a video that Dr. Levy played; it featured a hotel salesman having a consultation with a client attempting to sell her on why she should select this hotel for her event. Needless to say, I thought he was a selfish salesman not really trying to take into consideration the stakeholder but just making a sale. The depiction reminded me of myself which is not how I want to represent myself. I know that I need to be more cognizant of how I communicate with potential clients as I don’t want to run anyone away and I find myself losing a lot of business.   

What I learned in the course is to do my best to make it fun. Bring upbeat energy to the consultation, ask about them, and use creativity to move forward toward selling a solution. I know I must remain positive, not be lazy by using tired sales scripts, don’t argue with my prospect and use storytelling to my advantage by telling the client what I can do for them or how I can accomplish what they want.

Overall, these 3 lessons learned have helped me rethink how I want to do a better job at providing service to my clients and how I need to develop the core competency skills to becoming a highly effective, incredibly memorable, and super successful event manager. I am so happy to be taking this program of study and everything I learn I try to immediately apply it to my day to day business operation. I look forward to my next course of instruction.

Top Three Takeaways From Event Management Course

As the 2015 fall semester is going to have an end, I have to say that TSTD 6277---Event Management course is the best course compared with other three coursed I've taken this semester. I learned a lot, not only academic knowledge but also practical skills. There are three takeaways that I want to share.

Top3  Case Study

For all the cases we have to get fully prepared before each class. It is a good way to learn about actual event, not only learn "how to do" with textbook. For students who do not have much working experience, case study is an efficient way to  know the event, such as how to plan, how to overview the event, how to deal with the problem and who are stakeholders. Also, by watching case video, it is also interesting, as least for me. Also, we highlighted the risk items, made budget and timeline for an event.

the case we learn a lot from

Top 2 Software

During this semester, I learned how to use MS project to make timeline of Haskayne BBQ event. At first, I thought it was hard because I totally did not know this before and also I had other courses homework to do in two days. Therefore, I were a little bit anxious. But after I finished that Gantt Chart, I felt a great sense of achievement. 

Also, for the social table trip, I learned to use Social Table to simply design an event layout. This is also the first time I learned to use a software to design a layout. I have to say it was so interesting. And definitely, I enjoyed it! When I was pursuing bachelor degree, I was responsible for designing all the posters for my association. I love design. Therefore, I combined my thoughts and using Social Table to express my ideas which was really awesome. There's another thing to mention----- working atmosphere of Social Table is so relax and positive. Love this field trip.

                                                                 presentation

Top 1 Networking!

Networking is really important! From small group discussion, game in class to informational interview project. I kept on networking even I'm not good at it. Dr. Levy always offer a chance or give recommendation for us to seize opportunity for networking, knowing more people. At first, I thought the interview project was so hard. But finally, I found five interviewees using my methods. I got what I wanted to know and also kept touch with them.  Also, recommendation by Levy would offer great opportunities, such as GW tourism alumni network.

                                               

Blog #4: Top Three Takeaways

Top Three Takeaways

I have learned so much in such a short time during this course and am truly grateful for the opportunities it has given me to grow in and out of the classroom. Here are my top three takeaways!

1. Informational Interview - Networking

While the informational interview was one of the most nerve-racking assignments this semester I am grateful that it was assigned to us. It pushed me outside of my comfort zone to network in a way I don’t I would not have done otherwise. Not only do I better understand how to request and conduct an informational interview I gained a wealth of knowledge from my interview subject on what it takes to build relationships in the meetings industry, build my professional reputation and how to drive the success of my own business. Additionally, I gained a mentor and access to a network of meeting professionals I would not have been able to connect with otherwise. 

2. Gaylord Hotel Field Trip

The Gaylord Hotel field trip was one of my favorite class experiences. It provided us with the opportunity to better understand what it takes to manage a hotel and how that plays into supporting meetings and events on their property. I never considered a position with a hotel as a meeting planner because I felt that I would not have the same involvement in the event planning process as a hotel staff member. However, this field trip made me consider the possibility of working in a hotel after completing the MTA program. While Gaylord properties are unique convention properties I see the value of what hotel meeting planners do a lot better now. I also understand that there is much more than what meets the eye that the job entails. It was exciting to see how well the staff understood all aspects of the hotel and company to better serve the meetings and events. It was also great to hear from an MTA alum on his journey with the company!

3. Social Tables Field Trip - Meeting Design 

This field trip was such a unique experience because it offered so many learning components outside of a traditional field trip. During this field trip I was able to understand meeting design not only through our text book but through hands on experience learning how to use the software. Additionally, how technology can enhance our events experience is something I have always been interested in. So it was very exciting to see and hear about what SocialTables is doing to change the meetings and events industry using cloud-based technology.They are helping to better plan and design meeting space layouts in real time by connecting both the property and the meeting planner in a way they have not been able to communicate before. Finally, I also really appreciated the opportunity to get certified in their software as this is something I would like to continue to develop as a skill! 

Blog #3 PCMA Capital Chapter: What Do You Do When the Circus Comes to Town? Contingency Planning for the New Millennium Planner Workshop

PCMA Capital Chapter: What Do You Do When the Circus Comes to Town? Contingency Planning for the New Millennium Planner Workshop

I attended PCMA Capital Chapter’s planner workshop titled What Do You Do When the Circus Comes to Town? Contingency Planning for the New Millennium on September 16, 2015 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Crystal City, Virginia. The program consisted of a 2 hour educational session on contingency planning and risk management as well as a 1 hour reception. The education portion was facilitated by Joan Eisenstodt of Eisenstodt Associates, LLC. She is a meeting planning consultant with over 30 years of experience in the industry. I chose to attend this event because it’s content directly related to topics that we discussed in class and I hoped to gain additional understanding on how to implement contingency plans.

We received the session powerpoint slides the morning of the event with an email confirming the details of it. When we arrived there was PCMA Capital Chapter branded signage with directions to the meeting room by the garage elevators and in the lobby making it easy to find our way in the hotel. Joan had set each table with dark chocolate for attendees but also included signs next to them clearly noting what ingredients in the treats could cause an allergic reaction. This small detail was just one example of how important it is to think through every possibility when assessing risk and deciding how likely it is to occur and how it will be managed. While food allergies may not seem very important they are common and the signage that was included was a simple but effective way to manage the risk. 

Some chocolate to get our brains working (The yellow paper is the sign I had)! 

The session was very interactive and asked attendees questions such as “share the worst thing that’s ever happened at one of your meetings?”. While this was a simple question for the experienced planners participating there was an unusual task that went along with it. We were asked to draw the experiences and share them with our neighbors! Touches like this made the session fun. In addition to stressing how important it is to start risk management in the initial planning stages such as site selection we learned more on how to incorporate requirements into contracts. Finally, we got a chance to respond to scenarios created by the facilitator to practice our new skills! 

After the session there was a reception in the attached room for all attendees. The organizers chose a circus themed menu to go with the title of the event. I thought this was a creative touch!  This hour allowed attendees to network and share their thoughts on the educational piece with each other.

Overall, I think this workshop was well developed, facilitated and balanced the education portion with a creative networking reception at the end. As a student member and first time attendee I was not only impressed with the level of education provided but at the willingness of members to network and speak with me.

To share some of what we learned I have posted a link to the powerpoint presentation with some of my notes. To see this please click on the link below.

PowerPoint Presentation Slides with Notes

World Bank Group Tourism Forum 2015:Driving Development through Tourism

World Bank Group hosts inaugural global forum on tourism on Dec 8-9, 2015,  in Washington, DC. 

The World Bank Group has a substantial portfolio of lending, technical assistance and investments in the tourism sector. Sustainable tourism is increasingly being recognized as a powerful tool for poverty alleviation, economic growth, sustainable development, social inclusion, and as an effective instrument for peace building. Tourism is one sector in which the developing world has a distinct advantage, possessing unique assets that can be actively leveraged. But there is much more that still needs to be done.  

                                                      schedule flyer of the forum

I registered this forum through email that be sent to GWSB students. Students do not need to buy tickets. The forum is totally free. Also, it has breakfast and lunch provided. The register time is from 8:00 to 8:55 am. I arrived late because I took lyft which I thought would be quickly to getting there. Unfortunately, I forgot the rush hour in the morning. Therefore, that time, to attend any event  held in rush hours, take metro. 

When I got the building of world bank, guiding was very clearly. At the front entrance, the staff told me to take the right door. I was confused and then I figured out why. 

                                      security and the right door to guide ways to event

Then I went through the security, anything made by metal must be placed in the security checking box. And I went through the door two times to make sure I were safe to the venue. This was what different from other industry events before. Then I registered and got name card. As I already late, the president of World Bank Group was giving a speech, I had breakfast until the opening ended. This whole process was very smoothly and official. Then I listened outside for a while. It said that the forum will focus on how tourism can contribute to the twin goals of poverty reduction and shared prosperity. It will also address ways in which the World Bank Group, global leaders, and policy makers can work together to deliver on this agenda. Also, the event will be held at the World Bank Headquarters and broadcast globally online. 

                                                    after the security, breakfast area

                                               overall looking of the meeting room 

Then came the first session. I walked in and sit in last row because I could quickly have a sit without bothering others. President & CEO of Hilton Worldwide , CEO of AirAsia Berhad and Vice-Minister for Tourism gave a short speech of tourism for development which brings together global thought leaders and proven achievers to identify new ways to channel growth while addressing the challenges and opportunities of developing the tourism sector in emerging economies.  I felt uncomfortable that the room was big but the seats were not stair-stepping. Therefore, sitting in last low had a very bad view of the stage and all the things were by hearing. I thought this could be improved next time. When the session was going to have an end of 10:20, staff was holding some cards and asking whether participants had any questions.

                                                     staff was asking for any questions

I just attended for half a day and I also met one of my interviewee who was working in World Bank. We talked for a little bit. During the coffee break which was just after the first session, I knew a new friend Siyi who studied in Cornell for hospitality major. We talked a lot about the school and work. Also, we had dinner together. I think the coffee break time is really a good chance for networking. Unfortunately, I do not have enough time to participate in whole two days event. But the forum is really worth attending. 

Blog #1: Brick Fest Live

Brick Fest Live

I attended Brick Fest Live on November 14th, 2015 at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. It is a 2-day Lego fan convention held in several cities in the United States. This conference featured something for Lego lovers of all ages! 

It had interactive stations that incorporated all aspects of the Lego brand and products. These areas included a derby where attendees could build their own model cars and race them, a reading rest area with mats and pillows where younger attendees and their parents could take a break and read books about  their favorite lego characters, and a theater for live sessions open to all attendees.

A reading rest area for younger attendees. 

 There were also “inspiration stations” that had Legos of all shapes and sizes so attendees could build whatever they wanted to, mosaic walls to display attendee creations, a video game area where people could play the latest lego games, a movie area to watch Lego movies and building pools set up on mats. These building pools were interesting because they were divided by the size of the legos as to provide a safe play experience for younger attendees and display their products for that age group. Something that interested me about the inspiration stations was that they encouraged attendees to take photos of their creations and post them to social media with a hashtag to promote the event. This was a strategy we discussed in our event marketing class! 

Inspiration Station Signage

There were also some amazing 3D models on display. Many national merchants exhibited and sold their unique Lego products as well. This included collector items and hard to find pieces that drew older attendees to the conference looking to purchase items they could no longer find in store or online. 

A 3D Model on Display!

I was impressed by how they turned the space into a true Lego experience. All of the signage was consistent with the conference’s brand and the event design really took into consideration the location of each activity station while still putting vendors and sponsors in the middle of the floor so attendees had to walk through that space even if they might not be interested in buying. I think this was a good idea on the event organizer's behalf because it ensured that exhibitors received the most amount of traffic they could get. I also found that all of the different stations were well marked and each offered something unique.

Building pool with Legos for older attendees

I preferred to shop at some of the exhibits but still enjoyed participating in their trivia night that drew attendees of all ages to the theater area with prizes provided by the sponsors. 

Overall, this conference did a great job of offering something for all ages. It showed that the brand understands it’s consumer demographic well and continues to develop its following with these type of interactive events all over the United States.