IMEX America 2024 lived up to its reputation as North America’s largest meetings industry trade show, wrapping up another three-day conference where innovation abounded between on-site sustainability efforts, new announcements in tech and even attendees’ choice of footwear.
Once again, the event took place at Las Vegas’s Mandalay Bay, as it has since 2021. In its 13th year, though, the trade show floor boasted a revamped look thanks to the venue’s $100 million renovation to its 2.1 million-square-foot convention center that wrapped up in May.
The redesign proved to be a hotbed for other new and noteworthy moments at IMEX 2024. Here were four that stood out:
1. Record-Breaking Attendance
IMEX America 2024 took place from Oct. 8-10 this year—just as Category 3 Hurricane Milton made landfall on the west coast of Florida on Oct. 9. There were reports that some Florida-based attendees had to head home ahead of the storm, but the tentpole trade show still clocked record-breaking attendance. The total number of guests surpassed 15,500, according to IMEX Group chairman and founder Ray Bloom, who said in on-site remarks: “Once again, we’ve broken every single record.”
Bloom also noted that “the number of buyers who have attended the show was over 5,500, of which over 4,300 were hosted buyers,” Meetings Today earlier reported. “In terms of meetings and appointments—mainly individual ones—there were 86,000. Also, the attendance at the education sessions, again, [was] a record. Over 1,600 people, in fact, attended the Inspiration Hub [education area],” Bloom added.
For reference, IMEX recorded 15,000 attendees for its 2023 edition—a big jump from the approximately 12,000 in 2022—including 5,000 buyers, most of which were hosted.
2. The Introduction of the First Meetings-Industry Specific AI
IMEX is no stranger to staying relevant. Doing so today typically requires some implementation of artificial intelligence—and IMEX America 2024 did just that by serving as the host of Spark’s introduction. Spark is a tool designed specifically for planning events that was born out of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and the Corporate Event Marketing Association (CEMA)’s Project Spark. In fact, it’s the first generative AI tool of its kind for the meetings industry.
IMEX hosted the launch of Spark with a session led by Tess Vismale, the founder and CEO of event execution firm iSocialX, who demoed the platform in real time. Though Project Spark was launched by PCMA and CEMA last year, it wasn’t until now that the actual tool became available to event professionals. And as of Oct. 23, on top of the free “Starter” version of Spark, there’s also a paid “Professional” version that promises enhanced personalization, expanded content-creation capabilities and new qualitative event analysis tools for $19 per month or $199 annually. A new “Enterprise” version of Spark was also introduced for businesses rather than individuals, which boasts unique features like an AI-powered event concierge, collaboration features, AI models designed to enhance data privacy and security and more, per the press release announcing Spark’s introduction at IMEX.
3. Sustainability Efforts in Action
IMEX America 2024’s theme was “impact,” which will carry into IMEX events in 2025, both in Frankfurt and again in Las Vegas, according to IMEX Group CEO Carina Bauer. And true to the theme, the event leaned into sustainability efforts—starting with plastic-free badge holders. Rather than donning a plastic name badge, attendee badges consisted of printer paper with their names and job title slipped into a cardboard sleeve.
IMEX also provided exhibitors constructing booths with a ten-point framework dubbed the “Better Stands” questionnaire that aimed to reduce waste and carbon emissions. The ultimate goal: to entirely replace single-use booths with reusable booths, according to IMEX, which piloted the Better Stands initiative at IMEX America 2024 and has plans to continue to implement the program using pilot learnings at IMEX America 2025.
4. Sneaker Show Offs
IMEX America wasn’t all buttoned-up business, it was also a showcase of the industry’s coolest sneakers—a trend started by the attendees themselves at IMEX Frankfurt, which took place in May earlier this year. But wearing a cool pair of sneakers wasn’t just about comfort for attendees (who surely got their 10,000 steps in trekking across Mandalay Bay)…they also served as a sort of stylish mobile billboard.
Take it from the Aruba Convention Bureau, which slapped its colorful logo on the side of white kicks, completing the look by stitching the shoe’s tongue with its tagline, “One happy island.” And the team at Loews Hotels & Co sported Adidas sneakers decked out with city skylines unique to the destination the wearer represented, according to a LinkedIn post from MeetingsNet’s content director Susan Hatch that showed off the shoes of a Loews rep from New York touting the Manhattan skyline, complete with the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty.
Of course, IMEX’s own staffers donned some of the most colorful sneakers of them all, with the IMEX logo three ways—on the back of the shoe, the heel of the shoe and on the laces. Also spotted on the trade show floor: the Atlanta Convention Bureau team matching in the iconic red, black and white Air Jordan 1s, team-building firm SongDividion’s on-site team of nine twinning in pink Converse and event badge brand pc/nametag all in Pumas the same red hue as its logo, per Hatch’s LinkedIn post.
