Janet Reports From Prevue's Chicago Visionary Summit

Strategic Meetings Summit
Hotel Allegro • The Gray • Hotel Palomar Chicago Kimpton Hotels
August 11-12, 2016

Janet was honored to be among 30 invited attendees at Prevue's Visionary Summit in Chicago.

"The summit was a chance to see longtime colleagues and friends and to exchange ideas and experiences in high-level meetings and discussions.
I came home inspired and energized!"



Just like a reunion!

Dianne Devitt from DND Partners, Barbara Scofidio, Editor at Prevue and chief organizer of the Visionary Summit, and Janet.

Prevue launched the Visionary Summit series in 2016, with previous Summits taking place in Miami and New York.
Summits are all about networking, education and thought leadership.
These unique event experiences bring together a select group of experienced, pre-qualified senior meeting planners in an intimate setting primed for collaboration and networking.
Visionary Summits are education-only events, the sessions are interactive, with rotating roundtables to ensure that you meet everyone in the room.

"I loved the fact that every aspect of the program included an educational or social consciousness angle. We started with a well-organized site visit to all three Chicago Kimpton properties. The Opening Reception took place at Hotel Allegro where a celebration of craft beer and wine featured food pairings and hands-on lessons by Kimpton Hotels’ top mixologists. The socially conscious amenity experience included Revo sunglasses and corporate gifts from Helping Hands Partners, a Chicago–based non-profit that offers high-quality goods that pair modern design and handmade craftsmanship with a socially responsible mission. Their social enterprise and fair trade partners provide jobs and programs for those who are disadvantaged, hard-to-hire, developmentally and/or physically challenged.
All of us attendees received a free pair of Revo sunglasses, with $10 from each pair going to support a U2's lead singer Bono-endorsed charity, the Brien Holden Vision Institute, to stop preventable blindness.
I immediately started to think about possibilities in Los Angeles. It is easy to find local organizations that can benefit from your events  and social conscience tie-ins in any city. In Los Angeles the organization Do Good LA does the research and connection work for you!

My friend and colleague Dianne lead a session on "SenseUp", Designing Event Experiences for the Senses. We all worked on using all of our 5 senses to retain the content of the meeting.

I was happy to participate in a meeting planner panel together with Cecile Mutch, Senior Director of Corporate Services, Kellogg, and  Lynne Tiras, President of International Meeting Planners, on the subject of Managing Internal and External Stakeholders.
Barbara Scofidio had asked us to come together for this panel as we each represent a different background and our viewpoints address various angles of the same issues.
We addressed questions such as how to deal with the constant changes at companies we collaborate with, staff retention at our companies, the way millennials have affected the ways we communicate, dealing with peaks and valleys in small companies, changing needs and demands in a large corporation, and the effects of social media on our industry. It resulted in a very lively hour of discussions!


Artist John Bukaty created this Chicago-inspired painting as a Live Art event during the opening reception at Hotel Allegro. I'm a Chicago native. I love this painting! 

The Summit was also a chance to return to Sweet Home Chicago and visit family. It was all around a great week!

I hope you are having a similarly great time.

Warm regards,
Janet