Key Takeaways for Tomorrow’s Talent From the 2024 SITE Young Leaders Conference

 

The meetings and events industry is starting to become more aware of one game-changing statistic: By 2030, nearly 75% of the U.S. workforce will be comprised of Millennials and Gen Z.

If we’re prepared, this workforce shift could mean big things for our industry, setting meetings and events up for years of success and positive adaptation. The struggle lies in ensuring we are not only attracting but retaining young talent, and to do that, we have to allow them opportunities to learn and grow professionally, and find the place in the industry they feel they best belong.

One such opportunity is the SITE Young Leaders Conference (YLC), an annual one-day educational and networking event organized by SITE that typically falls on the Sunday before IMEX America kicks off every year in Las Vegas.

This year’s SITE YLC took place Sunday, October 6 at the iconic Golden Nugget Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. Centered around the theme “Dragon Year: Key Strategies for Growth and Career Advancement,” the conference embraced concepts often associated with the Year of the Dragon, including opportunity, growth, development and transformation.

Here are some of the biggest learnings and takeaways from this year’s SITE YLC.

The Path to Success in Meetings and Events

Some industries offer a roadmap to success with clear steps to follow to climb the corporate ladder to the top. The meetings and events industry, however, isn’t always clear to navigate.

The SITE YLC kicked off with the panel session “How I Got Here,” sponsored by IHG Hotels & Resorts and featuring three young leaders in various stages of their career journeys: Beatriz Sá, business development manager, Portugal Travel Team; Jeffrey Fehr, client engagement manager, business events, Destination Canada; and Shannon Schneider, director, IHG global sales – group travel partners, IHG Hotels & Resorts.

Moderated by Soundings Founder and CEO Tracy Judge, the panel discussion focused on everything from working in a family-owned business to taking career risks and knowing when it’s time for change. Here are some standout takeaways from the conversation:

• Soft skills like emotional intelligence and empathy, communication, a growth mindset, time management and adaptability are vital to success in the meetings and events industry, and they are easily transferable from role to role and company to company.
• The easiest and clearest way to set yourself up for success is to focus on your strengths in the workplace. Tools like the CliftonStrengths Assessment can help you identify which areas you excel in so you can find jobs that match your strengths.
• Sometimes, it’s best to switch your mindset from a ladder to a lattice mentality. When you’re focused on career development, the journey isn’t a constant uphill slope, and it’s alright to move “horizontally” from role to role to develop your professional skills and try a variety of positions to figure out which feels like the best fit.

At the end of the panel discussion, each speaker shared a few words of advice for young leaders in the audience:

• “Talk to the people next door, get their advice and listen to yourself and your heart. You know what’s best for you, and you have to go for it.” – Beatriz Sá
• “Take a deep breath, relax and remember things don’t happen overnight.” – Jeffrey Fehr
• “Be bold, not perfect. – Shannon Schneider
• “Focus on your strengths, and focus on them early.” – Tracy Judge

Artificial Intelligence Is the Future of Incentive Travel

A keynote and training session with Nitin Sachdeva, 2025 SITE international board of directors president, focused on the future of incentive travel and opportunities to boost productivity by using different artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

The ever-evolving ChatGPT continues to roll out new features such as a desktop app, live language translation and improved capabilities across text, audio, images and video with increased processing speeds in real time.

ChatGPT may be everyone’s go-to, but platforms like Perplexity can make the research process quicker and more targeted, this Press Release Crafter can put together a release in seconds and there’s even a tool to help build RFPs.

According to Sachdeva, Ai can help boost your business by:

• Increasing productivity
• Optimizing learning and development
• Boosting innovation
• Improving the customer experience
• Enhancing sales and marketing initiatives
• Enhancing decision making.

Sachdeva ended his session with a 15-minute workshop giving attendees the opportunity to try the AI software he introduced them to and create LinkedIn posts, PowerPoint presentations and research findings about the SITE YLC.

NextGen Leaders Panel: Growing Careers, Families and Teams

Navigating the workplace is already a challenge for young professionals, but when other aspects of life get thrown into the mix, such as starting a family, maintaining a social life and balancing budgets, the transition from classroom to career can become overwhelming.

To address the challenges young leaders face outside of the office, the SITE YLC team organized a NextGen Leaders Panel to talk about the things we don’t typically see on conference agendas.

Panelists participated in a discussion centered around work life concepts that aren’t often discussed, including challenges often faced by young leaders in the industry, balancing family obligations with career responsibilities and techniques that help them keep track of busy schedules.

Some shared that the simplest and easiest way to meet your own needs is to bring them up in conversations with team leaders to figure out a schedule that works best for you. Others discussed the need to split family responsibilities between yourself and your partner, and some shared tools that help them stay organized, such as filling out calendars 30 days in advance or even looking at their entire year laid out to figure out the best weeks to take paid time off.

At the end of the panel, they shared tips, tricks and quotes that inspire them: “Your network is your net worth” and “Be rare, not relevant.”

Lessons from The Party Scientist

The SITE YLC closed with a keynote presentation delivered by Jacques W. Martiquet, better known as The Party Scientist, who led the group through conversations about the realities of work life in the meetings and events industry and how young leaders can change the way things have always been done.

For instance, it’s typical for meeting and event attendees to go on “auto pilot” at gatherings. They likely have a drink in their hand and talk to the people they’ve already met or are most familiar with, but what happens when we decide to challenge social norms and step out of our comfort zones?

That’s when we are able to form genuine connections and create meaningful moments that last.

At the end of his session, Martiquet invited members of the group to take the mic and share with everyone a “toast, boast or oath,” and one young leader whose fear of public speaking took the mic in her hand and spoke to the crowd.

“I made an oath to myself to make new friends today and stay connected with them,” she said, “and I believe now that I’ll actually be able to do that.”

Feedback from SITE Young Leaders Conference Attendees

"As a first timer, I could not be more excited by my time at the SITE Young Leaders Conference,” said Brittany Cerrillos, program coordinator at Motivation Excellence. “It was extremely encouraging to meet so many other young leaders and learn so much about them and their professional journeys. It reassured us all that we have such a large support system out there and we're on the right journey! We all bring our own individualism and strengths to the table as young leaders and I'm so excited to take this experience and implement it into my everyday work life. I'd encourage all young leaders to go if they have the opportunity! It's now on my list of goals to attend every year!"

“I had the pleasure of attending the SITE Young Leaders Conference this year for the second time and will definitely make this an IMEX tradition moving forward!” said Ileana Cortessi, event associate at Arena Destination Marketing. “As a Greek based in NYC and representing international destinations in North America, it’s always refreshing to see how much diversity is embraced at SITE initiatives! This conference is a tremendously energizing experience right before the show, which allows participants to interact with fellow young leaders and create a community that follows you after the conference. The day begins with a lovely networking breakfast and is followed by enlightening educational sessions, panel conversations and a CSR activity and ends with a happy hour event—the perfect program to kick off one of the most exciting weeks of the year!”