LAS VEGAS – With a trade show industry anxiously awaiting a return to normal, Las Vegas, the city that glitters night and day, recently pulled off a true showstopper. The recently opened $375 million CAESARS FORUM welcomed an in-person cohort for the hybrid Professional Convention Management Association’s (PCMA) Convening Leaders conference January 12-15, 2021. The show also was broadcast for the online audience from a global broadcast center at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, which also hosted a small in-person group of 300. In-person chapter events also were held in various locations.
The in-person event for this important conference was just the second to be held at the 550,000-square-foot CAESARS FORUM, located in the center of the Las Vegas Strip that features the world’s two largest pillar-less ballrooms, each measuring more than 110,000 square feet, in addition to 300,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, more than 100 breakout rooms and a 100,000-square-foot outdoor plaza.
The group of 50 planners were able to watch a daily PCMA keynote session and curated educational sessions all live-streamed from Convening Leaders while appropriately distanced. Security ambassadors positioned at the entrances to all venues performed temperature checks and a limited number of passengers were permitted on buses.
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The group enjoyed Pink Jeep tours to Red Rock National Canyon, Hoover Dam and a visit to the renowned Mob Museum.
At the time of the event, the Las Vegas mandate was for groups to max out at 50, so the ever-creative and inspired Caesars team split the group into two for dinner. One half of the group enjoyed a gala dinner in the Versailles Ballroom at Paris Las Vegas, followed by a private, live musical extravaganza by America’s Got Talent finalist, Daniel Emmet. At the same time, the other half of the group indulged in classic New York Italian cuisine at Rao’s at Caesars Palace, and the next night they flipflopped.
Another highlight was a tour of Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders. Allegiant showcased its unique event capabilities in the Credit One Club and Twitch Lounge with catering by Silver & Black Hospitality.
Located adjacent to The Strip, Allegiant Stadium is a global events destination and the newest state-of-the-art entertainment Vegas venue, fully enclosed and climate-controlled with a capacity of up to 65,000.
“Collaborating with the team at Caesars Entertainment to create an immersive experience for their guests (PCMA) was incredibly rewarding,” Samantha Johnson, director of sales, Allegiant Stadium, said.
No doubt the grand finale of the program was the announcement by Lisa Messina, Vice President of Sales – Caesars Entertainment, that PCMA selected CAESARS FORUM for its 2022 program. “Caesars Entertainment is proud to be at the forefront of the road to recovery by hosting 50 PCMA planners in-person for Convening Leaders 2021. We appreciate the opportunity to showcase the brand-new Caesars Forum, as well as give planners a first-hand look at how to execute face-to-face meetings in the current environment. All of this was just a glimpse of what to expect when we host PCMA Convening Leaders at Caesars Forum in January 2022.” Messina’s announcement, broadcast to all Convening Leaders virtual attendees across the globe, was followed by a performance by Tenors of Rock, a band of musical brothers who put their own spin on all the classics.
Reach Lisa Messina at (702) 245-1072 or lmessina@caesars.com.
