18 Industry Experts To Connect With At GO WEST 2020

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By Brent Taylor

It has been amazing to develop and host GO WEST in Edmonton, Canada and to draw the attention to our global events industry. I was raised a farm boy just north of the city and have made my home here for the past 30 years. I love this city of 1.3 million people, nestled on the northern edge of the Great Plains of North America.

GO WEST 2020, is our third rendition of Canada’s Event For Event Professionals. We have over 500 event professionals converging in Edmonton to engage with thought-leaders travelling in from across Canada, the USA, and Europe.

I am asked regularly how we were able to curate such an incredible lineup of speakers and industry experts -- and convince them to travel north in January. That is an easy answer.

Every one of our speakers shares our love for our industry and wants to see us succeed -- they want to see you succeed. They understand that their time at GO WEST is more than one presentation. They have all committed to make themselves available and engage with you for the duration of the event.

Here is a list of some of our thought-leaders and industry experts heading to Edmonton for GO WEST 2020. Take the time to seek them out in advance and onsite.

Carina Bauer (London, UK) – She is the CEO of IMEX Group. They produce IMEX Frankfurt and IMEX America, the largest events in our industry globally.

David Merrell (Los Angeles, CA) – Award winning event designer and producer. He has his finger on the pulse of our industry when it comes to event trends and forecasts.

David Adler (New York, NY) – He is Founder and Chairman of BizBash, North America’s leading source of ideas, news, and resources for meeting and event professionals.

Matt Johnson (Atlanta, GA) – He was just appointed President of BizBash with their acquisition by Connect Meetings. Prior to this, he worked with Connect as their Executive Vice President overseeing their sales, marketing and operations departments.

Rich Luna (Dallas, TX) – Director of Publications with Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the largest industry association globally. He oversees all their print and digital media assets.

Lara McCulloch (Burlington, ON) – She is a marketing and branding expert who travels the world helping companies change the way they think about their brands. She founded our industry’s most popular hashtag (#eventprofs) which was one of the world’s first Twitter communities.

Dahlia El Gazzar (Boston, MA) – She speaks globally, empowering event professionals with practical intel on everything event technology related. Her mission is to educate you on emerging digital innovation opportunities to elevate your events.

Miguel Neves (Copenhagen, Denmark) - A social media advocate who speaks and trains teams globally on social media, digital marketing and event technology strategies. He played an important part in developing the IMEX Group’s digital content and social media presence.

Erroll Ahearn (Boston, MA) – GES has the largest global footprint in the delivery of show services for events. As VP of Global Design he leads their network of creative professionals and still manages to travel the world speaking on event design trends and experiential marketing.

Brent Barootes (Nanaimo, BC) – One of Canada’s leading sponsorship experts who literally wrote the book on sponsorship. For over 25 years he has worked with Canada’s top corporate brands, municipalities, non-profits and sports teams to build effective programs.

Alex Plaxen (Washington, DC) – One of our industry’s top social media influencers recognized for his consulting and expertise on strategic digital communication and engagement for events.

Kevin Kirby (Orlando, FL) – Executive Director of the MPI Foundation and manages their presence globally. The MPI Foundation is the charitable arm of Meeting Professionals International, our industry’s largest professional association.

Dan Berger (Washington, DC) – Industry entrepreneur and founder of the award-winning software Social Tables, used by over 50% of North American hotels. Cvent recently acquired Social Tables for a reported $100 million.

Clark Grue (Calgary, AB) – President & CEO of the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre and current Chair of Meetings Mean Business Canada (MMBC). MMBC raises the awareness of the economic and social impact of our industry in Canada.

Claire Smith (Vancouver, BC) – She is the VP of Sales & Marketing for the Vancouver Convention Centre. She recently served as Chair of the International Board of Directors for the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA).

Drew Holmgreen (Dallas, TX) – He is Vice President of Brand Engagement with Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and oversees all of MPI’s marketing initiatives and global brand standards and assets.

Panos Moutafis (Houston, TX) – He is Co-Founder and CEO of Zenus, the market leader in facial recognition technologies for events, and one of our industry’s foremost experts on these technologies.

Dustin Westling (Calgary, AB) – One of Canada’s leading event professionals and the owner of the award-winning OneWest Event Design. He is one of the hosts of the Event Brew weekly podcast.


Brent Taylor, CMP, DES, CMM, is President of Timewise Event Management Inc. and a Founder and Producer of GO WEST. He is actively involved in our industry and is currently serving on MPI’s International Board of Directors.

 
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