Good friends gather on opening night (from front left to back): Jonas Wistrup of Wonderful Copenhagen, Claudia van’t Hullenaar of Symantec, and Amy Spatrisano, formerly of MeetGreen; (from right back to front): Guy Bigwood of MCI, Janet Sperstad of Madison College, and Paul Salinger of Oracle.

Participants rocked out at each general session to tunes spun by DJ Roonie. Emcee Dave Sharpe, Dave Sharpe Limited, provided introductions and commentary thoughout, including leading the audience in a table scavenger hunt on the opening morning.

With a great deal of surprise, delight, and trademark humility, Janet Sperstad, CMP, director of the Meeting and Event Management Degree Program at Madison College in Madison, Wis., received the 2015 MPI Chairman’s Award. She was honored for convincing the U.S. Department of Labor to recognize the profession of meeting planning as a stand-alone job definition in its reporting. She is shown here with MPI CEO Paul Van Deventer and MPI Chair Kevin Kirby.

Janet Sperstad, CMP, the MPI Chairman’s Award recipient, is flanked by fellow educators Carol Krugman, MEd, CMP, CMM, chair of hospitality, events, and tourism department of Metropolitan State University of Denver (left), and Dianne Devitt, who teaches Event Design and Conference and Event Planning at New York University.

Keynoter James Curleigh, president, the Levi’s Brand (and executive VP of Levi Strauss & Co.) joined the company in 2012 to manage the strategic direction of the brand. He has translated this into a track record of consistently strong results, and his talk resonated with attendees, many of whom made comparisons to what is happening with the MPI brand. During his presentation titled, “The Edge of the Modern Frontier,” Curleigh discussed the essential balance between leveraging authenticity while at the same time creating excitement with new innovative solutions for today’s lifestyle. 

Three key marketing and sales execs from Caesars Entertainment posed on the waterfront before heading to MPI’s Big Deal on Sunday night, an MPI Foundation fundraiser of which Caesars is a major sponsor. Pictured are Reina Herschdorfer, director of marketing, national sales & conventions; Michael Massari, senior vice president, and Laura Esfeller, marketing specialist, for Caesars Entertainment Corp.

There was no shortage of creative and scrumptious desserts at the Big Deal, where MPI attendees played for the chance to win a trip for two to Las Vegas and compete in the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event. This year Mike Maurer of Merchants Exchange Productions won the prize. The event was sponsored by Caesars, Hilton, Encore Event Technologies, and Destinations by Design. Shown here are supporters David Dubois, CEO and president of IAEE, and Gus Vonderheide, VP of global sales at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts Corporation.

MPI featured three Flash Point speakers at Monday morning’s general session, all around the theme of the sharing economy and its effects on the meetings business. First up was Jeremiah Owyang of The Collaborative Economy.

Evelyne White, co-founder and CEO of the global social dining community, BookaLokal, talked about her journey to founding BookaLokal, the Airbnb of dining. Sound illegal or crazy? Does that mean we should stop letting strangers from around the world descend on kitchens of budding chefs and food entrepreneurs? She says young people want a local, authentic experience when they travel.

Chip Conley, head of global hospitality and strategy for Airbnb, and a former hotelier, told the audience there was room for both traditional hotel stays and “the democratization of hospitality” in the meetings world.

Six recipients were honored with Rise Awards this year, among them David Peckinpaugh, president of Maritz Travel, for Meeting Industry Leadership. He accepted by video.

The Rise Award for Young Professional was given to Kinga Socko of Poland “for her remarkable contributions to MPI and to the events industry as playing a significant role in the development of the Poland Meetings and Events Industry Report.”

MPI took a small annual dinner honoring its chapter presidents and volunteer leadership, traditionally held on the Monday night during its World Education Conference, and, under the direction of MPI board member Brian Stevens of Conference Direct, grew the dinner into a 500-person event. They also turned it into a roast of one of the most popular members of the MPI board and meetings and hospitality industry: Michael Dominguez, senior vice president and chief sales officer, MGM Resorts International.

After welcome remarks by Paul Van Deventer, MPI president and CEO, and Rob Scypinski, senior vice president, industry relations, events and special projects, Hilton Worldwide, the main sponsor and host of the event, which took place at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, the roasting got under way.

Carol Krugman, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and a longtime medical meeting planner, serenaded Mike, who sat up on stage during the roast, taking it all in very good humor. Her rendition of “Hello, Dolly,” renamed “Hello Mikey,” had the audience singing along and belly laughing the whole time. The two are shown after the roast.

More ribbing came from Kevin Kirby, MPI chairman; David DuBois, International Association of Exhibitions and Events; David Gabri, Associated Luxury Hotels International; and Roger Dow, U.S. Travel Association. Dow, who was a professional speaker while still at Marriott, before he joined U.S. Travel, had the most rapid-fire delivery of one-liners, and brought down the house. Dow is shown here pointing out Mount Rushmore’s newest addition: Mike Dominguez, on the far right.