We’re hitting the trade show floor at Florida’s Orange County Convention Center for Catersource + The Special Event. This year’s event promises culinary and tech innovation that we can’t wait to learn more about. Before we get swept away in the land of free samples, here are 10 vendors we can’t wait to see:
1. Paintillio (Booth 1643)
It’s time to let our inner child out and paint all over the walls. Paintillio creates custom paint-by-numbers murals so your guests can make a masterpiece together. They provide everything from paint and canvas to aprons and a drop cloth so you can relax and let the team building begin. The best part? You can use any image and plaster it on a full-scale mural to light up the event with brand visuals. Colour us interested.
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2. SEARCH Foundation (Booth 2523)
The not-for-profit SEARCH Foundation is vital to our community. They are dedicated to getting event profs the help they need when faced with a crisis. They just hit the milestone of distributing over one million donation dollars, and we are helping raise the next million. Want to join? Grab your ticket online or in person at TSE.
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3. The Gastro Garage (Booth 1737)
What do you get when you cross blowtorches and brioche? Turns out, a pretty delicious treat! The Gastro Garage specialty is a savoury brioche donut sandwich filled with nitrous foam, then flame-torched. Wicked, right? We have been watching this Los Angeles catering company make headlines, and we can’t wait to take a bite. If you’re into culinary adventures, this is a definite for your to-do list this week.
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4. International Live Events Association (Booth 1715)
International Live Events Association (ILEA) is a global community of creative event profs centred around celebrating all aspects of live event production and management. Through collaboration, thought leadership and idea sharing, members are empowered to create their best work. You’ll find Dustin hanging out at the ILEA booth on the 29th from 10–12 pm handing out goodies from LETHRBAR. Come say hi!
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5. Allseated (Booth 2601)
We are very excited about this one. Imagine designing the perfect floorplan, choosing the decor, then when it comes time for the big walk-through, you don’t have to leave your desk. The closest thing to magic, Allseated uses 3D VR to let you step inside your venue and walk through your event virtually before it happens. The site meeting is now wherever you are (plus, super fun).
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6. Discovering Mental Health: Why Event Professionals Should Consider Therapy
Event professionals? Need therapy? Okay, we are not surprised by this suggestion, and honestly, it’s a good reminder to book that next session. The events industry asks a lot of us, and it’s important to take a step back and check in on ourselves and our teammates. This conversation will focus on the impact of social media, relationship building and work stressors on the mental health of event profs. Count us in.
Host: Charessa Sawyer (SC Visionary Planning and Production), Sierra Reed (SC Visionary Planning & Production Services), Shaunelle Murphy (SC Visionary Planning and Production)
Location: 331B
Time: 3:30 – 4:30 pm
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7. Adventures In AR – Adding The Wow Factor With Smartphones
Want to amp up your events with something you already have on hand? Or “in hand” because you’re probably holding it right now? Using smartphones to experience augmented reality is a practical way to take your guest’s experience to the next level. We are all ears for this conversation about incorporating immersive tech into our events to up the wow factor.
Host: Rolando Espinoza (Champagne Creative Group)
Location: 230A
Time: 2:30 – 3:30 pm
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8. Putting Your Professional Designation To Work For You
A huge part of being a great event prof is making connections and having fantastic people on your team. Though it can feel awkward when we have to turn the spotlight on our accomplishments and market ourselves. This session will explore how our professional designation can do the heavy lifting to increase our credibility and marketability to land great opportunities, plus help snag that big promotion.
Host: Elizabeth Nutting (TK Events Inc), Morgan Connacher, CSEP (Haute.), Heather Pilcher, CSEP, CMP, MS (Blue Spark Event Design), Ryan Hanson, CSEP (BeEvents)
Location: 244G
Time: 2:30 – 3:30 pm
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9. The Role Of Leadership: Building A More Equitable And Inclusive Events Industry
Diversity, equity and inclusion are three distinct ideas that interconnect to create a better work environment. The goal? Diversify our workforce, actively include members, and treat everyone with equity. We’re eager to join this conversation about strengthening the future of our industry through meaningful actions.
Host: Gwendolyn McNutt, CSEP (International Live Events Association), Oniki Hardtman (Oh Niki Occasions), Charlene Liu (Higher Education User Group), Steve Moore (Fox Theatre)
Location: 224G
Time: 1:15 – 2:00pm
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10. Sustainability 360: Extending Your Impact From Professional To Personal
You already know how we feel about buzzwords, so we make a point to keep sustainability a verb. Both at work and home, we can all take greater steps toward an earth-friendlier impact. We’re excited to chat about how to take sustainability practices home with us after teardown.
Host: Tammy (Weiting) Hsu, CMP, SEPC (Event Manager, S&P Global Market Intelligence)
Location: 230A
Date: Thursday, March 30
Time: 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
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Heading to TSE? Hit us up with your must-see sessions and booths! If you’re a vendor that we should check out, we’d love to hear from you too.
Photo credits:
Paintillio.com
searchfoundation.org
Thegastrogarage.com
ILEAHUB.com
Facebook.com/allseatedcom
Unsplash.com
