HOUSTON — The who’s who of events gathered Dec. 8-11 at the George R. Brown Convention Center for the International Association of Exhibitions & Events’ (IAEE)® Expo! Expo! IAEE’s Annual Meeting & Exhibition.
In five learning zones on the show floor, more than 50 education sessions provided best practices, trend analysis and hands-on demonstrations.
Trade Show Executive (TSE) collected eight top takeaways to help you level up.
1. Make Your Event’s Travel More Sustainable
In IAEE’s Sustainability Sanctuary, Bethany Jenkins, Sustainability Manager, Americas, at Informa, explained that event travel is a significant producer of carbon, and shared numerous ways to optimize it, including:
- Event Shuttles
- Public Transportation
- Bespoke Infrastructure
- Attendee Carbon Offsets
“As with any industry, we also create an environmental impact. We have an opportunity to address that,” Jenkins said, adding that optimized travel also can decrease costs, increase efficiency and ease congestion in host cities.
2. Gen Z Attendees Want Personalized Events that Align with Their Values
In “The Experience Generation: How Gen Z is Shaping The Future of Tradeshows,” Traci King, Factional Chief Revenue Officer at SB Expos & Events, and Liam McNicholl, Exhibitor Experience Manager, Corporate Relations, at the Society of Interventional Radiology, discussed this growing audience segment.
Gen Z, which is expected to make up 30% of the U.S. workforce by 2030, want personalized events that deliver human experiences and connection opportunities, but align with their priorities.
“We’re seeing a shift in the evolution of trade shows. It’s not about how many 10-by-10s you sell, [and] it’s not about selling corner booths or island booths. It’s about creating memorable experiences,” King said. “Invision surveyed a number of attendees … and close to 50% of Gen Z respondents said that personalization in live events is extremely important.”
3. When Appealing to Younger Attendees, Authenticity Matters
In “The Pipeline Problem: Fixing Your Event’s Future By Focusing On Young Attendees,” Daniel Martin, Managing Director, Development, American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA); Michelle Mobley, Manager, Exhibits and Sponsorship, ASLA; and Rich Vallaster III, CEM, QAS, AAiP, Senior Director of Industry Relations and Community Engagement at Personify, discussed how ASLA is successfully attracting younger attendees.
“You’ve got high expectations,” Vallaster said. “They will judge your app, [and] they will judge your website … but they are looking for optimistic transparency and, more importantly, seeking mentors.”
4. Implement AI Sooner Rather Than Later
“We have a very big mission in 2026,” Dahlia El Gazzar from DAHLIA+Agency told attendees in an AI-focused session. “You are fully responsible for your attendees to shift the way they do work and life, period … AI is a wow factor.”
Related. Ten Takeaways for Organizers from IAEE’s New Sustainability Sanctuary
5. AI is a Tool, Not a Takeover
“You are the brain here,” El Gazzar explained. “This is not to replace what you’re doing — this is to complement it.”
El Gazzar demoed these AI tools:
- Google NotebookLM, a content organization tool that helps users streamline their workflow, enhance learning and boost creativity
- Gamma, which can make slides with consistent branding in minutes
- Otter, which records conversations and can create transcriptions, summaries and more
- Pomelli by Google Labs, a marketing tool to help businesses write on-brand, scalable content
6. Build a Personal AI Content Plan
In “ChatGPT Advantage: AI Tools For Small Business & Event Pros,” Leanne Calderwood, CMP, a LinkedIn and personal branding trainer, honed in on how to optimize the use of large language models, such as ChatGPT.
She advised attendees to create a primer, a short description of tone, audience, product and brand voice that helps AI generate on-brand content, to give to AI tools, and follow the CLEAR prompt framework:
- Context
- Limitations
- Expectations
- Approach
- Result
7. Gamification, Integrated Wellness Activities and Intentional Community Building Experiences Are In — and Branded Swag is Out
In “Event Marketing Trends: The Ones That Stuck & The Ones That Sucked,” Bibi Brown, MBA, Senior Vice President of Business Development at GES; Casey Clements, Vice President of Marketing at Fast Forward Events and a 2025 TSE Woman to Watch; and Krystal Herring, Head of Global Events at Twitch, discussed event marketing trends.
Brown encouraged organizers to think about what attendees really want, Clements advised not to make attendees choose between wellness and business, and Herring asserted the value of community-building activities.
8. Lean into “Design Thinking” to Rethink Strategy and Spark Engagement
In “Design Thinking For Trade Show Impact: Tools To Rethink Strategy & Spark Engagement,” Jessica Wiitala, PhD, MBA, CMM, Assistant Professor of Event Management at High Point University, shared a method to approach event problems in a human-centric way.
“The question isn’t whether shows work — it’s whether we’re designing experiences worth consumers’ very limited time and attention,” Wiitala said. “How do we move from creating groups to designing experiences?”
Design Thinking has five phases:
- Empathy Mapping
- Defining the right problem
- Ideation Frameworks
- Prototyping
- Testing
To get a full recap of Expo! Expo! 2025, click here.
