Immersive. Application-Focused. Built for Experts.
Every session is built around one question: What will you be able to do differently when you leave this room? Our education model prioritizes practice over theory, application over inspiration.
BES26 Event Schedule
Use the filters below to discover content tailored for your role in the business events industry.
Three Learning Pillars
Design
Design Experiences That Connect
- Experiential design that drives behavior change
- Inclusive and accessible events
- Technology for deeper engagement
- Measuring ROI and participant impact
- Participant journey design
- Sustainable event practices
Refine
Refine Your Leadership Influence
- Executive presence and strategic communication
- Leading through change and uncertainty
- High-performing team management
- Stakeholder influence
- Decision-making frameworks
- Personal branding and career growth
Align
Align Strategy with Impact
- Aligning events with organizational objectives
- Building the business case
- Data-driven performance metrics
- Innovation and emerging trends
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Sourcing, budgeting, resource optimization
Two Formats. One Goal: Application.
Learning Laboratory
Hands-on workshops where you practice skills, not just hear about them. Leave with tools, frameworks, and a plan you can implement.
Idea Exchange
Facilitated peer discussion built on the expertise already in the room. The facilitator draws it out and shapes it into shared insight.
Explore Sessions
Learning Laboratory
Designing for Behavior Change: A Practical Frameworks Workshop
Sarah Mitchell, VP of Experience Design
Apply behavioral science principles to event design. Build participant journeys that drive measurable behavior change and lasting impact.
Key Takeaways
- Map participant decision points using behavioral design principles
- Design nudges and interventions that drive specific outcomes
- Build a measurement plan to track behavior change post-event
- Create a participant journey template customized to your context
Idea Exchange
What Actually Drives Participant Engagement? A Peer-Led Exploration
Marcus Chen, Director of Events
Share and stress-test your engagement strategies with peers. Discover what’s working across industries and why conventional wisdom often misses the mark.
Key Takeaways
- Identify which engagement tactics actually move the needle
- Challenge assumptions about what participants value most
- Discover cross-industry approaches you haven’t considered
- Build a peer network for ongoing engagement strategy sharing
Learning Laboratory
Leading Without Authority: Influence Strategies for Complex Organizations
Dr. Jordan Williams, Executive Coach
Practice influence techniques that work without formal authority. Build your toolkit for navigating stakeholders, cross-functional teams, and executive dynamics.
Key Takeaways
- Master three core influence techniques for complex stakeholder environments
- Practice navigating resistance in real-time role-play scenarios
- Build a personal influence map for your organization
- Develop a 30-day influence action plan
Idea Exchange
Navigating the Ambiguous: How Senior Leaders Manage Competing Priorities
Panel Discussion
Explore real scenarios where priorities collide. Learn how experienced leaders make decisions when there’s no clear right answer.
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Key Takeaways
- Learn decision-making frameworks for ambiguous situations
- Hear how peers in different industries handle priority conflicts
- Develop strategies for communicating trade-offs to executives
- Build resilience for leading through uncertainty
Idea Exchange
The Human Advantage: When AI Can Do Everything, What Makes You Essential?
Amy Blackman
When AI can execute at scale, knowledge becomes the baseline not the differentiator. Explore the S.H.A.P.E. framework and help shape PCMA’s global research study on 4.0 Leadership in the Gen-AI economy.
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Key Takeaways
- Understand the five S.H.A.P.E. meta-capabilities that define 4.0 leadership
- Distinguish between what AI can execute and what only human judgment can provide
- Contribute your perspective to an active global research study
- Leave with a personal leadership gap assessment framework
Learning Laboratory
AI-Native in Practice: What to Accelerate, What to Leave Alone
Min Seon
What does it actually look like when a team rebuilds workflows from scratch around AI not just layering tools onto existing processes? Walk through real workflows, then audit your own operations to identify what to accelerate and what to leave alone.
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Key Takeaways
- Identify which of your current workflows are ready to be AI-accelerated
- Understand the “context layer” that makes AI useful and how to build it
- Stop being locked into any single event tech platform
- Leave with a personal AI-readiness audit for your team
Ask Me Anything
The 2027 Event Professional: Designing the Skills, Mindset, and Experiences the Industry Needs
Christine Cleaver, Thomas Padron & Brianna Clark
A reverse-panel design lab where industry leaders and university faculty work together to define the competency gaps between today’s talent pipeline and tomorrow’s event industry and build practical strategies to close them.
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Key Takeaways
- Identify the most critical competency gaps between today’s graduates and industry needs
- Explore practical strategies for strengthening university-industry partnerships
- Shape internship and experiential learning models that better prepare future professionals
- Leave with actionable ideas to implement whether you mentor, hire, or teach
Learning Laboratory
The Data Doesn’t Lie But It Might Be Missing Someone: Closing the Equity Gap in Event Analytics
Zoe Moore & Vinnu Deshetty
Event data has a representation problem. Work through a live Data Equity Audit of your current registration, feedback, and analytics systems and leave with a prioritized action plan for closing representation gaps before your next event cycle.
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Key Takeaways
- Identify where representation gaps live in your current data architecture
- Apply the Data Equity Audit to your registration and feedback systems
- Understand how AI tools can replicate not just reflect historical exclusion
- Leave with a prioritized action plan for closing equity gaps before your next event cycle
Idea Exchange
Leveraging Psychological Safety to Shape Participation, Power, and Value at Events
Dr. Tanisha King
What you design and what you don’t determines who speaks, who holds influence, and how ideas move in a room. A strategic and diagnostic session introducing a leadership framework for reading your event environment and designing conditions that drive real participation.
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Key Takeaways
- Reframe psychological safety as a strategic driver of participation and organizational value
- Diagnose how your event design choices shape power dynamics and engagement patterns
- Apply a leadership-level framework to intentionally design conditions that enable contribution
- Leave with a concrete diagnostic tool for your next event
Idea Exchange
Digital as the Strategy: the Redesign No One is Talking About
Brian Zambotti & Cheryl Williams
Before the pandemic, fewer than 20% of events had a digital component. Five years later, many organizations are still defining what digital should mean for their business. This session is not about running a better webinar or choosing a platform. It is about a broader shift in how event-driven organizations grow. For decades, the event was the strategy. The organizations that win next will build education, growth, and audience strategy around digital just as intentionally as they do around the annual meeting. Participants will hear from two practitioners, see real examples, and leave with a framework they can apply right away.
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Key Takeaways
- Make the case that digital is a long-term growth strategy, not a side tactic.
- Identify which of three digital strategy lanes best fits your organization.
- Understand the content devaluation trap many associations face and the path forward.
- Apply the Digital Event Ecosystem Framework: Attract, Engage, Extend, Monetize.
Executive Learning
The Ethics of Getting What You Need
Gaylen Paulson
Influence is part of the job, from negotiating contracts to balancing competing stakeholder interests to making judgment calls when there is no clean answer. Knowing where the line is, and holding it under pressure, is harder than many professional development conversations admit. This hands-on session places participants inside realistic negotiation scenarios through an interactive simulation, then uses an introspective assessment tool to examine how decision-making holds up against personal values and professional standards. Participants will work through friction points that do not have easy answers and leave with a clearer view of what ethical, in-bounds influence looks like in day-to-day work.
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Key Takeaways
- Recognize ethical friction points that arise in negotiation and influence situations common to event professionals.
- Assess how decision-making aligns with personal values and professional standards under pressure.
- Apply a framework for navigating complex influence scenarios with confidence and integrity.
Learning Laboratory
Spark 2.0 Lab: Advanced AI Workflows for Modern Event Planning
Nick Borelli
The Spark 2.0 Lab is a hands-on AI workshop for event planners who are already using AI and want to go further. The Lab focuses on how Spark supports real event workflows that are difficult to achieve with standalone AI tools. Instead of isolated prompts or one-off tasks, participants will learn how to use Spark to plan events, transform complex content, and turn data into actionable insights across the event lifecycle. Small-group Labs give attendees space to apply these workflows to their own upcoming events, test ideas in real time, and learn from peers. Participants should bring a laptop.
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Key Takeaways
- Build structured event plans using Spark workflows that go beyond standalone AI tools.
- Convert long-form video and session content into usable, repurposable outputs.
- Analyze registration and survey data within Spark to support smarter event decisions.
- Leave with ready-to-use workflows and practical ideas for engaging your team with Spark in 2026 and beyond.
Education Programming
PARTICIPANTS: Access the CL25 Event Platform »Start crafting your recipe for events success! With ingredients like hands-on workshops, deep-dive learning labs, insightful master classes, and offsite learning excursions, you’ll infuse your event design and strategies with a world of flavor.
Learning Tracks
blend
your experience design
Dive into the art of blending creativity, strategy, and cutting-edge tech to produce standout, immersive events that leave a lasting impression on participants.
innovate
your personal brand
Elevate your professional identity by combining unique strengths with the latest industry trends, building a compelling narrative that sets you apart and propels your career.
craft
your event strategy
Create standout, effective event strategies by honing negotiation skills, mixing innovation with data-driven insights, and optimizing resources to maximize both efficiency and impact.
blend
your experience design
Dive into the art of blending creativity, strategy, and cutting-edge tech to produce standout, immersive events that leave a lasting impression on participants.
- Beyond the Binary: Building Inclusive Cultures for Equitable Events
Ideal for senior-level, mid-career, and emerging events professionals - Designing and Experiencing Events That Engage Every Step of the Way
Ideal for senior-level and mid-career events professionals - Spark: Revolutionizing Event Planning with Data-Driven Decisions
Ideal for senior-level, mid-career, and emerging events professionals
innovate
your personal brand
Elevate your professional identity by combining unique strengths with the latest industry trends, building a compelling narrative that sets you apart and propels your career.
- Ascent 100: Maximize Your Career Productivity & Take Control of Your Future
Ideal for senior-level and mid-career events professionals
Brought to you by Visit Baltimore - Resilient Leadership: Navigating Change with Confidence & Influence
Ideal for senior-level events professionals - Work Well, Lead Well, Live Well: An Anti-Burnout Framework for Leadership
Ideal for senior-level and mid-career events professionals
craft
your event strategy
Create standout, effective event strategies by honing negotiation skills, mixing innovation with data-driven insights, and optimizing resources to maximize both efficiency and impact.
- From Chaos to Control: Mastering High-Stakes Event Execution
Ideal for senior-level, mid-career, and emerging events professionals
Brought to you by IHG® Hotels & Resorts - Money Moves: Forecasting Economic Curveballs
Ideal for senior-level events professionals - Sustainable Event Measurement Mastery
Ideal for senior-level and mid-career events professionals
Sample the EC25 Education Menu:
Master Classes
Dive deeper into the groundbreaking ideas in intimate, interactive sessions led by our Main Stage speakers. These power-packed classes offer a unique opportunity to explore key concepts in greater detail, engage directly with thought leaders, apply cutting-edge strategies to your work, and network with like-minded professionals. Don’t just scratch the surface — master the material that matters most to your success.
Learning Labs
Sink your teeth into the latest strategies and trends with these two-hour intensives designed to turbocharge your learning and skill development. You’ll work side-by-side with industry experts, tackle real-world challenges, and collaborate with peers to solve complex problems.
You’ll be amazed at how much ground we cover in just 120 minutes — like serving a seven-course meal on one sturdy plate!
PCMA Business School
Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, sharpen your business acumen and propel your career with our expert-led workshops. Apply what you learn in real-time, solve industry-specific challenges, share tips with like-minded professionals, and gain insights from top-tier instructors who’ve been in the trenches. Don’t just plan events — learn to run them like a boss.
Offsite Learning Excursions
Step beyond the ballroom and into a world of inspiration. Taking place at handpicked locations around Louisville, these unique sessions are designed to jolt you out of your comfort zone and ignite fresh ideas. Engage in interactive workshops, brainstorming sessions, and hands-on activities that challenge conventional thinking. By changing your environment, you’ll change your mindset, leading to breakthrough moments and unexpected solutions. It’s time to think outside the box — literally.
EC25 Agenda at a Glance
*Subject to change. All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
Sunday, June 1
| 7:30 a.m. | Registration Open |
| 12:00 p.m. | Do Good, Feel Good Activity |
| 1:00 p.m. | Pre-Conference Workshops |
| 1:00 p.m. | Activations Open |
| 5:00 p.m. | First Timers Experience |
| 6:00 p.m. | Main Stage |
| 7:30 p.m. | Opening Reception |
Monday, June 2
| 6:30 a.m. | Get Fit: Fun Run/Walk |
| 7:00 a.m. | Registration Open |
| 7:30 a.m. | Networking Breakfast |
| 7:30 a.m. | Sponsored Activations |
| 8:30 a.m. | Main Stage |
| 10:45 a.m. | Education Sessions |
| 12:00 p.m. | Networking Lunch |
| 1:15 p.m. | Education Sessions |
| 4:30 p.m. | Networking Experiences |
| 8:00 p.m. | Give Back Bash |
Tuesday, June 3
| 6:30 a.m. | Get Fit With the Foundation: Soundbath & Puppy Yoga |
| 7:00 a.m. | Registration Open |
| 7:30 a.m. | Networking Breakfast |
| 7:30 a.m. | Sponsored Activations |
| 8:30 a.m. | Main Stage |
| 10:00 a.m. | Education Sessions |
| 12:00 p.m. | Networking Lunch |
| 12:30 p.m. | Offsite Education |
| 5:30 p.m. | Main Stage |
| 6:30 p.m. | Closing Reception |
Wednesday, June 4
| 10:00 a.m. | Depart |