PORTLAND, Ore. — Emerald held its annual ACE Conference at the Oregon Convention Center this year, providing team members with an opportunity to come together, get inspired and recognize their peers for successes.
At the conference, the company’s leadership team gave updates on Emerald’s financials, strategy and the systems and operations teams. Panels shared information on expansions into markets and new internal partnerships.
“The value of giving company-wide updates at an internal conference like the ACE Conference lies in the opportunity to bring collective teams together in a live environment, allowing more personal communication and alignment around future objectives,” said Issa Jouaneh, President, Connections at Emerald. “Additionally, the in-person element of the ACE Conference enables us to support deeper collaboration between teams and drive inspiration while providing a platform for employees to feel respected and heard.”
Programming also featured educational sessions where employees could discuss case studies on a variety of topics from sales effectiveness to audience acquisition. Other team members took to the stage to discuss their career growth, reflecting Emerald’s commitment to growing and nurturing internal talent. The conference also saw the company recommit to its DEI goals and efforts.
“Our DEI goals are directly aligned with Emerald’s business strategy, and we believe that DEI determines our overall success. As we focus on our long-term business objectives at the ACE Conference, we recommit ourselves to DEI initiatives, recognizing how this is integrally woven into who we are as a company,” Jouaneh said.
Emerald also brought Apolo Ohno, Olympian, author, investor and speaker to be a keynote speaker at the event. Ohno’s keynotes served as a source of inspiration for the Emerald team to continue pushing boundaries and aiming high.
“The conference culminates with the ACE Awards, where we honor hundreds of employees who are nominated by their managers and peers. This happens across multiple award categories, and we then select and recognize the winners for their achievements over the previous year in terms of how they demonstrate ACE values. We also recognize outstanding performers who have gone above and beyond in their respective areas,” Jouaneh said.
In recognition of their hard work, the company launched the Emerald President’s Club for the top sales leaders across the businesses, with each winner and a guest being awarded a few days in the Grand Cayman Islands.
The ACE Conference also celebrated the 80s with a themed social event where employees wore 80s-inspired costumes and went back to high school via an entertainment venue called Revolution Hall in Portland. With live karaoke, an 80s band playing, photo booths and 80s-themed food, décor and movies playing, the Emerald team enjoyed a night of connecting with peers in a fun and engaging environment.
“My favorite part of the ACE Conference is bringing together our supplier and partner community with our employees. Our supplier community views ACE as an incubator experience where they can test their emerging technologies, products and services to an optimal audience of Emerald employees. This approach fosters innovation and reinforces Emerald’s leadership position in the trade show and events industry,” Jouaneh said. “As we think of Emerald’s core mission of bringing communities and markets together, we created the ACE Conference to be the platform to drive awareness, connect, and build relationships to transact with both existing and new suppliers.”
