IMEX America is the largest meetings industry trade show in the U.S. which will be held in period from 14th to 16th October 2014 at Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas.

This year within IMEX will be held and preshow education day – Smart Monday on the 13th October which is powered by MPI.

IMEX America has being the “trade show with a difference” for the global meetings, events and incentive travel industry. In September 2014 organizers of IMEX America announced that 76% of all professional education on offer at this year’s show will be industry accredited.

This means that all IMEX America participants can accrue points or clock hours towards CMP application or CMP recertification while attending sessions on the preshow education day, or over the following three days of the trade show.

Summing up this year’s IMEX America education program, Carina Bauer, IMEX Group CEO says: “Each year we strive to add more value to our education program and we are helped enormously by having so many excellent industry partners who have a great deal of expertise to share. This year we concentrated on adding elements for senior planners in particular and on providing a wider variety of learning formats. We’ve also adapted some of our education areas to increase capacity. Post-show and year-round feedback is incredibly useful in helping us formulate and plan the right tracks so that we deliver the education that people really want to receive, and find most valuable. We hope the industry is as excited about the fourth edition of IMEX America as we are….and there’s still time to register, either online or in person by just turning up when the show starts.”

ISES accreditation

ISES – the International Special Events Society is a relatively new education partner for the show, has also approved 34 of the show’s education sessions for its ISES Core Curriculum. ISES Approved is the new international education standard selected for the creative event professional, and has been developed to recognize specific content that has significance for the creative event industry.

MPI education

The show’s strategic partner and premier education provider, MPI, will also be offering a total of 43 education sessions during the show with 31 taking place on Smart Monday. They include daily keynotes, four deep dives and MPI’s Healthcare Meeting Compliance Certificate (HMCC) course.

New tracks and new education areas

All education at the show will be delivered across 11 tracks this year, with “diversity”, “health & wellbeing” and “senior planner” all new for 2014.

Three new learning styles have also been added on the Inspiration Center on the show floor (sponsored by Business Events Sydney). The new options include a Creative Zone, emphasis will be on facilitated “play” as a tool for unlocking creativity and business innovation; Hot Topic Tables for peer-to-peer discussions about the latest industry issues and a Meet The Expert Clinics for one to one consultancies with industry experts and speakers.

With 100+ speakers presenting sessions over four days at IMEX America, the show is set to deliver educational value across all age groups and at all levels of seniority.

As usual, an Association Focus program (on Smart Monday) will also be delivering specially crafted education and networking for up to 200 association meeting planners and senior executives. There will also be a private event for corporate meetings executive and senior corporate event planners. The Executive Meeting Forum takes place over two half-days and provides 30 or more corporate executives with a unique opportunity to update their industry knowledge and share learning with their peers, all under the guidance of experienced facilitators.

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