EDUCATIONAL session schedule

All sessions are included in the conference registration fee unless otherwise noted. Speaker bios are available by clicking on their name. Additional speakers may be announced at later dates. Room assignments and will be posted in the Mobile Event App (available for iPhone and Android in June 2013) and in the printed event program distributed at Registration. Each session is labeled with a target experience level set by the speaker in order to help determine which sessions are appropriate for the attendee.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013  |  1:00pm – 4:00pm 

Florida Fire Marshals Crowd Control Certification Course (all experience levels)
Presented by the Florida Fire Marshals and Inspectors Association
The Florida Fire Prevention Code requires that all places of assembly, included tented events, must have at least (1) crowd manager or crowd manager supervisor.  An Assembly occupancy as per the fire code is where there is a gathering of 50 or more persons for deliberation, worship, entertainment, eating, drinking, amusement, awaiting transportation or similar uses or used as a special amusement building. (NFPA 101, Section 12.7.6). The Fire Marshal’s Office will be issuing a violation to assembly occupancies without trained crowd managers. The course will conclude with a short written examination. All attendees successfully completing the training course will be awarded a personalized ID Card and a separate registration form and $50 fee must be paid to FFMIA. 
  
Welcome to the Real World of Sponsorship Sales & Service (all experience levels)
Kyle Conway, President / CEO, The Sponsor Bureau
Whether you’re a beginner or expert at sponsorships, join the conversation with sponsorship expert Kyle Conway to discuss actual sponsorship scenarios.  Learn the Top 10 sponsorship secrets of the pros and leave the session with a real action plan for sponsorship success.

From Thick to Thin: Put your Event Binder on a Diet & Go Paperless (beginner and intermediate experience)
Dahlia El Gazzar, Founder, DAHLIA+
The event binder is considered your bible. But how do you make sure you have every single BEO or post-it, without carrying around the extra weight on your hips? In this session you will learn tips and tricks on how to transition from a 6” binder to a lean iPad without losing a single detail about your events. Join us for this great weight watching session! Paperless is the wave of the future! Ride it now!

 
Thursday, August 1, 2013  |  8:30am – 9:45am
 

Grow with Purpose: Transform Your Everyday Experience and Live a More Meaningful Life (all experience levels)
Emily Rogers, Founder, Emily Rogers Consulting + Coaching
Oh, the places you’ll go . . . Are the places you’re going in life on purpose? Are you honoring your core values? Do you feel excited about what’s next in your life? This experiential learning session will reconnect you to what’s really important in life and you’ll leave the session with greater clarity about what’s next for you and how to live a more meaningful, balanced and fulfilling life. 

Multi-Dimensional Marketing – The Next Paradigm in Sponsorships (intermediate and advanced experience)
Mickey Markoff, President, MDM Group
The newest and next evolution in Sponsorships is called Multi-Dimensional Marketing.  Mickey will review how you can use Multidimensional Marketing as the most efficient and effective way to structure corporate sponsorship packages and marketing campaigns that generate a justifiable return on investment.

App Storm: Mobile Apps & Solutions that Transform Your Event Planning Process (all experience levels)
Dahlia El Gazzar, Founder, DAHLIA+
In this hands-on workshop you'll learn about cool apps event professionals should use to streamline workflow, how Evernote can be a planner's best friend, and how to make yourself and your team immensely more productive. With step-by-step demos, you'll walk away with tools to transform your organization. 

Special Interest Group – Fairs
This is an opportunity to learn from your peers, share your successes and discuss industry trends. This will be a discussion rather than a presentation session. Sharing of ideas, pictures, bid specs and brochures in encouraged.
Hosted by Vicki Chouris, South Florida Fair 

Thursday, August 1, 2013  |  10:00am – 11:15am
 
Turn Your Successful Events into “Smart” Events (all experience levels)
Vikram Dhawan, Co-Founder Fastoken
Do you face the challenges of the conventional “ticket” system used in concessions at most events? Come hear about new technology that provides a mobile-2-mobile based transaction platform which eliminates the need to carry cash or the use of credit cards for financial transactions at the event. This platform also allows event producers to see real time analysis at the event and post event analytics to measure business performance while also providing a unique marketing platform for merchants, event organizers and event sponsors to engage with the visitors both during and after the conclusion of the event. 
 
To Contract or Not To Contract (beginner and intermediate experience)
Kyle Conway, President/CEO The Sponsor Bureau
Sponsorship contracts are a MUST.  Manage expectations and avoid sponsor turn-over while learning the top 5 elements every sponsorship contract must have.  

Live Social Media Integration at Events (beginner and intermediate experience)
Michelle Bergstein-Fontanez, President, Event Industry Marketing by BeatCreative
You are utilizing social media as a tool to promote your events. Your event is a few days away, what's your plan to work your social media efforts as your event is happening? In this session we learn how to build your live social media strategy to help drive attendees to sessions and events as they are happening and curate content that extends beyond the event helping you increase awareness, sponsors and attendees for future events. We will explore: Content Strategy, Best Social Networks to use as your events are happening, Event App optimization, Social Media Event Decor & Technology Integration , Attendee engagement, Hashtag Promotions and Social media contest integration.  

Special Interest Group – Art Festivals
This is an opportunity to learn from your peers, share your successes and discuss industry trends. This will be a discussion rather than a presentation session. Sharing of ideas, pictures, bid specs and brochures in encouraged. Hosted by  Katherine Phillips-Chaplin, Coconut Grove Arts Festival

Thursday, August 1, 2013  |  1:45pm – 3:00pm
 
Performing Arts: The Perfect Enhancement to Your Show (beginner and intermediate experience)
Terry Adams, President & CEO, Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver, CO
There’s no better way to enhance your guest’s experience than a well-tuned performing arts program.  Learn the basic steps to building a performing arts program with the limited resources of just you and your staff.  From local talent to headliners, your entertainment can support your event in more ways than you know.
  
Sponsorship from a Sponsor’s Perspective: A Panel Discussion (all experience levels)
Facilitated by Emily Rogers, Founder, Emily Rogers Coaching + Consulting
Join three of Florida’s top executives from the telecommunications, beverage and financial industry for a panel discussion on what factors are taken into consideration when choosing which events/properties to sponsor.  Hear direct from the decision makers on what makes them want to sponsor an event and how they decide what level to participate in as well as what makes them return to an event and how they calculate ROI. You can’t afford to miss this session! 

Mobile First Development: Lots of Birds, One Stone (advanced experience)
Scott Merselis, Marketing Manager, Florida State Fair Authority
This session will review how to deliver your event information to visitors without designing and deploying apps and websites over multiple platforms, and keeping your costs down at the same time.  This newer trend in web design and development is taking productivity and innovation to a whole new level!  Scott goes over the tools and techniques used to code, implement, and engage your audience.  Bring your thinking caps, and your laptops to dig in! 

Special Interest – Municipalities / CRAs / DDAs
This is an opportunity to learn from your peers, share your successes and discuss industry trends. This will be a discussion rather than a presentation session. Sharing of ideas, pictures, bid specs and brochures in encouraged.
Hosted by Dutch Sanger, Panama City Downtown Improvement Board 

Thursday, August 1, 2013  |  3:15pm – 4:30pm
 
Mobile Apps for Consumer Events: Raising the Bar for Fan Engagement (all experience levels)
Dustin Hurst, Crowd Compass by Cvent
Smartphones are dominating today’s technological landscape with an adoption rate that’s ten times higher than that of PCs when they first took off.  Along with this surge in smartphone use, mobile apps have become increasingly popular at consumer events like music festivals, fairs and sporting and social events.  They allow attendees to easily access event information and share updates with their social networks, and help organizers build a shared community where they can capture excitement and create conversation around each event!  Find out how to develop, incorporate and utilize a mobile app to your advantage at your next event! 

In this session, attendees will:

• Learn how to create an interactive program guide with maps, schedules, bios, and more
• Learn how to use mobile apps to generate more buzz before, during and after your event Learn about the value of integrating social media platforms into the app so attendees can share their experiences
• Learn how to manage mobile app advertisements to give sponsors more exposure

• Converting from a free event to a gated event
• Selling tickets and packages including multi-day events
• Advertising and sponsorship sales on tickets
• Partnership opportunities to increase event and brand awareness

Friday, August 2, 2013  |  8:30am – 9:45am
 

The Best Kept Secret in Sponsorship Sales (beginner and intermediate experience)
Kyle Conway, President/CEO, The Sponsor Bureau
Whether your sponsorships are $100 or $100,000, Sponsor Fulfillment Reports are key to your future success.  The Big Boys expect them and your competition doesn't do them.  Explore why these summaries are actually the best sales tool you have.
 
Creating Successful Collateral Materials (beginner and intermediate experience)
Terry Adams, President & CEO, Cherry Creek Arts Festival
This session will take an extensive look into the value of quality collateral materials and the marketing of a festival.  Effective planning throughout the creative process of an event’s campaign can make or break the impact it has on the success of the event.  Walk through the steps of an effective strategy that meets your organization’s needs.  See examples of what has worked and what has not worked in the industry. 

Special Interest Group – Entertainment / Music Events
This is an opportunity to learn from your peers, share your successes and discuss industry trends. This will be a discussion rather than a presentation session. Sharing of ideas, pictures, bid specs and brochures in encouraged.
Hosted by Dan Goode, SunFest 

Friday, August 2, 2013  |  10:00am – 11:15am
 
Building & Managing a Volunteer Army (beginner and intermediate experience)
Laila Brock, Director of Events & Team Operations, Orange Bowl Committee
With only three full-time event staff members, the Orange Bowl Committee manages to produce more than 100 events each year, including galas, meetings, hospitality programs, pregame functions, and sports clinics, many of which occur simultaneously. How does the committee pull it off with such a skeleton crew? Its secret is volunteers, lots of them. In her session, Laila Brock will explain how her team manages more than 600 volunteers through a complex, yet organized, system of chairpersons, ambassadors, and captains to leverage deep community support for her programs.
 

Creating a Memorable Event Brand (all experience levels)
Rita Johnson-Lombardo, CEO, Lombardo & Partners
In this session you will create an outline to a marketing program using 7 key milestones which you can implement immediately. 

• Integrate throughout marketing facets, and review all options to create a strong marketing mix
• Think broadly, yet create personalized connectivity
• Test ideas small, then expand
• Stay consistent with your core brand to maintain authenticity
• Measure success on how memorable the experience is to the audience
• Set quantitative goals through defined agreement with management
• Push the boundaries of what the market tells you to create to produce extraordinary experiences

Special Interest Group – CEOs invitation only
Hosted by Emily Rogers
 
Friday, August 2, 2013  |  1:45pm – 3:00pm

Cultivating the Next Generation of Event Leaders (all experience levels)
Panel Discussion: Rosemary Prince, Coordinator Graduate Certificate in Event Management Program, Florida State University / Richard Lopez, Program Coordinator, Food Network SOBE Wine and Food Festival / Florida International University / Dr. Shara Lee, Instructor, University of Central Florida Rosen College of Hospitality Management Experiential Learning Department
Do you currently have a student volunteer or internship program? If not then you could be missing out on a mutually beneficial opportunity to gain valuable assistance in producing your event while helping to cultivate the next generation of leaders in our industry. Not all programs are alike though and there are opportunities to fit all types of events. Come hear how three different Universities, with three very different approaches, can help you take advantage of these qualified and passionate individuals and help improve your bottom line at the same time!

Growing your Event with the Digital Revolution (beginner and intermediate experience)
Terra Spero, Co-Founder & CEO, Real Time Marketing Group
If you don’t have a Digital Strategy it’s time to start building one! This session will cover key strategy elements including:  How to budget for social advertising, Building the right mobile app for your event, Re-thinking your website to be more consumer facing and Considering the Digital Experience after the Event.  

Special Interest Group – Tourism Agencies / Partners
This is an opportunity to learn from your peers, share your successes and discuss industry trends. This will be a discussion rather than a presentation session. Sharing of ideas, pictures, bid specs and brochures in encouraged.
Hosted by Kimberly Faulk, VISIT FLORIDA

Friday, August 2, 2013  |  3:15pm – 4:30pm