Every journey at Expo! Expo! is uniquely different, but what brings it all together is the continued drive to learn from one another. Expo! Expo! IAEE’s Annual Meeting & Exhibition provides attendees with a diverse marketplace to view and assess the tools needed to plan and manage successful trade shows and events for years to come. IAEE sat down with IAEE Expo! Expo! Advisory Committee member, Tyler Orwig, CTA. As the Director of Sales at Visit San Antonio, Tyler shared his takeaways from attending Expo! Expo!.
Tell us a little about yourself. What are your current responsibilities?
My current role with Visit San Antonio is as the Director of Sales, in which I am responsible for managing our sales team’s production, direction and coordination of the team’s sales activities.
Why do you attend Expo! Expo!? And how many years have you attended Expo! Expo!?
I attend Expo! Expo! to interact with our customers, learn industry trends and to discuss best practices with our partners. I have attended Expo! Expo! for the past 5 years, of which one of those years San Antonio was the host location in 2017.
How do you benefit from attending Expo! Expo!?
The biggest benefit from attending is through our interactions with our customers. IAEE does a great job facilitating opportunities to spend time with current and future clientele.
What education sessions caught your attention at Expo! Expo! in the past? Did you have any takeaways from those sessions?
I am always interested in education sessions that are geared toward economic and industry trends. Not only do I look for personal business insights, but I also like to interact with our business peers to gauge how the shared information from the sessions impact what they are seeing through their business lens.
How do you approach your time spent at Expo! Expo!?
At Visit San Antonio, we truly approach Expo! Expo! as a team effort. We support IAEE not only through our own efforts, but we also have two great partners in Visit Anaheim and Visit Baltimore, which make up our Synchronicities partnership. Between our three destinations, we review the customers and business segments that we need to focus on for the week and then plan various events and/or time with these customers to ensure our destinations are getting the right exposure.
Name an unforgettable moment that has happened to you at Expo! Expo!.
My unforgettable moment came when we hosted Expo! Expo! in San Antonio. That experience really opened my eyes to everything involved in producing such an incredible event. I really cannot say enough good things about the IAEE staff and how thoughtful they are in bringing the absolute best and most relevant content to their members.
If you were talking to someone who had not attended Expo! Expo! and was considering going, what would you say to him/her?
I would tell them they need to attend this event. Whether your focus is career development, industry education, or peer networking, Expo! Expo! offers all of these elements in a very thoughtful schedule throughout the conference.
What tip would you give to a first-time attendee that you wish someone had told you when you attended Expo! Expo! for the first time?
Find a colleague that has been to Expo! Expo! and pick their brain! The sooner someone understands all that Expo! Expo! has to offer, the better the experience will be!
What is one event or program that attendees cannot miss at Expo! Expo! that you thoroughly enjoy?
The tradeshow floor and the Opening Reception are the two events I value the most. Those are the two events where I am able to interact with the most partners and customers, all while enjoying the atmosphere IAEE and the host destination has provided.
Will you be attending this year’s Expo! Expo! in Las Vegas? If so, what programming are you looking forward to experiencing?
Of course, I will be there! I always appreciate the speakers at each of the general sessions. This year, I am also interested in how new tech is influencing exhibit shows, specifically how AI and AR can enhance attendee experience.
Register for #ExpoExpo by 21 October to receive early bird pricing! Visit the Expo! Expo! site for more information.
