At The Hangout’s Tech Bar, attendees could sit in on 20-minute learning sessions from 14 sponsoring tech companies. IAEE’s education committee vetted all content to ensure objective educational value.

To highlight its Certified Event Manager program, IAEE created the Discovery Lounge in The Hangout for both networking and small-group education. The walls of the area’s central stand featured the names of new CEM recipients, profiles of veteran CEM that illustrated the program’s career benefits, and a continuous video presentation about the certification journey at IAEE.

The Discovery Lounge also had communal tables where industry veterans delivered technology case studies. Attendees could pop in at any time.

To expose attendees to its recent event-industry research, Marriott created a walk-through educational station in The Hangout. Once attendees made their way through the exhibit, they could pose for a unique 360-degree photo (costumes optional).

In addition to The Hangout, the Expo! Expo! show floor had five educational areas plus many exhibitor activations. For instance, an area called AV Hub featured instruction for show managers on how to get the most from presentation and production technologies. The area held about 25 attendees, though passersby could also take in the session.

Alongside the networking area called Brews and Views near the center of the exhibit hall, a small educational space featured 30-minute interviews with several events-industry luminaries in an up-close format. After each session, attendees were encouraged to approach the interview subject and ask their own questions one-on-one.

In the exhibit hall’s International Gallery, destination reps conducted brief tutorials on topics ranging from understanding VAT rules to legal and cultural differences across different nations. As with the content presented in The Hangout, IAEE’s education committee vetted the internationally focused content for objectivity and value.

The Start-Up Stage in the exhibit hall allowed people with new product and service ideas to present them to attendees who could come and go as they pleased.

A pet project of Nicole Bowman, IAEE vice president of marketing and communications, Lego networking tables appeared both on the show floor and in The Hangout. “I wanted to have people collaborate on something fun as they chatted so they would be relaxed,” she says. Themed words built out of Legos greeted attendees at each table; they could take the word apart and build another word or shape for the next users. After the show, the event’s 9,000 Lego pieces were distributed to the local Ronald McDonald House.

One exhibitor set out a sand-art table where attendees could create and decorate their own pieces to take home as they talked with a booth rep.

A coloring wall made attendees concentrate hard to stay within the lines. At Expo! Expo!, “these exhibitors understand better than exhibitors in most other industries that they must create truly engaging experiences to draw attendees into a meaningful conversation,” says IAEE’s Nicole Bowman.