IMEX 2026 at Mandalay Bay Convention Center started off strong on Smart Monday with several exciting announcements, awards, some extracurricular activities and sessions that covered topics such as AI and the ins and out of events F&B.
A’s Ballpark Experience Center
We began the day off the IMEX show floor. Leading up to the opening of the A’s Stadium on The Strip, the team is offering private tours at the A’s Ballpark Experience Center at UnCommons shopping center in southwest Las Vegas. The experience center features interactive exhibits that tell the story and feature memorabilia detailing the team’s history.
The experience center also features a miniature model and the Immersive Cube, a 270-degree screen that envelopes visitors and highlights the 33,000-capacity ballpark and its meeting capabilities, including the Barrel Room, Diamond Club, Athletic Club (a speakeasy-style club within Diamond Club), Legends Lounge, dugout suites and party suites, which are perfect for groups of 200. Meetings professionals can also buyout the stadium for a comfortable fit of 15,000.
From the beginning of its creation, the stadium was built with event space in mind, so all the spaces weave seamlessly throughout the stadium. Entryways for groups have been built with intention, such as a southside parking garage entry for groups smaller than 500, allowing them to enter new the Dugout Suites. There will also be a skybridge that connects to Luxor across Las Vegas Boulevard and another that connects to MGM Grand across Tropicana Street.
Olympian and MPI Announce New Certification
David T. Stevens, co-founder of Olympian Meeting, announced a new partnership and certification program with MPI, focused on bringing wellness to attendees, rather than treating it like an add-on. The certification, Certified Event Wellness Professional (CEWP), is designed to bring wellness to the forefront with vetted professionals and experts teaching the correct paths to incorporating wellness into events.
It’s for event professionals who want to design wellness into the experiences, not bolt it onto the agenda. This is an integrative practice, not an add-on,” Stevens said. He added that it helps event professionals ask better questions about wellness and vet credible experts because “everyone claims to be an expert, but few actually are.”
The certification will apply Olympian Meeting’s 4 Ms: mindfulness, movement, meaning and meals. Olympian Meeting and MPI have brought on experts in each area of the 4 Ms.
Mindfulness Contributors
- Jess Garza, Ph.D., PMP, CMPC, LPC, NCC, Human Performance
- Ferron Grae, Ph.D., Mental Health
- Heather Collins, Ph.D., Cognitive Neuroscientist
- Audrey Wells, MD, Sleep Medicine
Movement Contributors
- Anca Platon Trifan, CMP, WMEP, #Fit4Events
- Michael Donovan, Ph.D., Performance Physiologist
Meaning Contributors
- Kelli Harding, MD, MPH, Psychiatrist and Professor, Columbia
- Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Ph.D., Psychologist and Professor, BYU
- Mark, C. Crowley, Author and Columnist, Fast Company
Meals Contributors
- Tracy Stuckrath, CSEP, CMM, CHC, founder, thrive! meetings & events
- Jesse Gibson, Clinical Dietitian, UT Health East Texas
- Thomas Padron, Ph.D., Professor, Cal State East Bay School
The Catalyst Lab Challenges Participants
What do you get when you combine strategic sensory deprivation and an expert-led collaborative approach to solving foundational event challenges? The Catalyst Lab led by Strategy Table Pathways and ElectraLime Marketing challenged participants to identify the problems holding them back, identify what success would look like and the team journey that would make the goal possible. From mindset and method to momentum, visioning together emboldened the small group cohorts to dream big.
EIC 2026 Global Awards
EIC’s 2026 Global Awards at MGM Grand Convention Center honored the leaders who have given back to the community over the years. The emotional ceremony focused on the impact of global event mentors.
EIC Hall of Leaders Inductees
- Elliott L. Ferguson II (president and CEO, Destination DC), Robert Priest-Heck (retired CEO, Freeman), David Kliman (co-founder, ELX, founder/owner, The Kliman Group), Kit Lykketoft (director of convention, Wonderful Copenhagen), Weemin Ong (vice president, sales and MICE, Marina Bay Sands), and Annamaria Ruffini (president and CEO, Events, In & Out).
EIC Pacesetter Award
- James Filtz and Evan Nielson
EIC Social Impact Award
- Anna Abdelnoor and Alisson Batres
Adaptation and Innovation Award
- Chin-Hsun (Ken) Tsai
Kicking Off Smart Monday With MPI’s Keynote
During MPI’s keynote address, “Empowered Connection in a Digitally Layered Landscape,” Caitlin Krause, CEO and founder of MindWise Interactive, explored how intentional experience design can reinforce human connection in a tech-heavy world.
“What are we building for, and why does this matter?” Krause asked, encouraging planners to consider the purpose behind the experiences they create.
She described an approach in which “the technology doesn’t substitute for the human, but it’s something that supports it.”
Krause also highlighted how shared experiences can give attendees a natural starting point for conversation, creating opportunities for connection through the activity itself.
AI in the Events World
In the panel “Less Mindless, More Meaningful: What AI Is Actually Taking From Event Work,” moderated by Courtney Stanley, Cvent’s Mike Dietrich and MPI’s Jessie States discussed a report co-produced by Cvent and MPI examining AI’s role in the event world.
Dietrich explained that meaningful results depend on applying AI to useful, connected data and tasks that can improve event outcomes.
“What’s easy and what’s valuable are not the same things in this context,” Dietrich said.
States emphasized that effective implementation requires organizations to understand how their work gets done, including documenting processes that may currently depend on a single employee’s knowledge.
“I think it’s a business problem,” States said.
Both speakers encouraged planners to begin with a specific, repeatable task, measure the results and consider what the time saved makes possible. States pointed to opportunities to strengthen strategy, connect with communities and develop events that support business growth.
F&B: Know Your Audience
At Smart Meetings, we talk a lot about F&B. So, of course, we had to attend the panel “Feed the Experience: What Event Planners Need to Know About Food and Beverage.”
The panel featured Sara Taylor, senior director of conference operations at Viticus Group; David Tapper, executive director of catering and conference services at Resorts World Las Vegas; Harley Carbery, founder of HarleyWine.com; and Eric Vaughn, executive director of culinary operations at Caesars Entertainment. Together, they explored how planners can meet rising attendee expectations while working within limited budgets.
Taylor emphasized that priorities depend on the audience. At her large veterinary conferences, attendees come primarily for education, making speed and convenience especially important.
“They don’t want to have to wait in lines,” Taylor said.
When it comes to creating standout experiences, Tapper encouraged planners to invest in a few memorable moments while keeping menus thoughtful and service efficient.
“Let’s not confuse abundance with hospitality,” Tapper said.
Choice was another recurring theme. Vaughn discussed freshly prepared, customizable food stations, while Carbery emphasized offering nonalcoholic beverages beyond water, soda and juice.
The overall takeaway was that thoughtful F&B planning starts with knowing your audience. Offering meaningful choices, investing in the moments that matter most and collaborating with venue teams early can help planners create memorable experiences while making the most of their budgets.
Sound Baths With Caesars
To cap off day one of IMEX America, Smart Meetings multimedia editor Eming Piansay headed to the Soleia Rooftop at The Vanderpump Hotel for a one-of-a-kind sound bath experience, courtesy of Caesars Meetings & Events. Wearing a sleep mask, she lay on an air mattress and floated to music, chimes, voice narration and the distant sounds of the Las Vegas Strip.
Afterward, she spoke with Svetlana Esposito, who led the experience. Esposito emphasized the importance of building opportunities to pause into meetings and events, particularly for professionals who spend their days looking after others.
“Everybody is taking care of the others, but who is taking care of them?” Esposito asked.
She encouraged incorporating sound baths or meditation at the beginning or end of an event day, giving participants time to reconnect with themselves and consider how they want to show up for others.
