
A group of 9 HES students attended the worldwide meetings industry gathering, IMEX 2018, held in Las Vegas recently. The IMEX convention is the largest event for hospitality, meetings and travel professionals. More than 13,000 people participated in the gathering which featured 3,500 exhibitors representing 150 countries. Businesses represented included hotel chains, event management companies, convention visitor bureaus, destination and travel service companies, event suppliers and more.
Students like ours had opportunities to participate in a leadership forum, experience exhibits on the show floor and network with industry and association experts, as well as meet hospitality students from all over the world.
The trip included a meeting with MGM executives to learn about hotel operations and marketing. MGM Grand Vice President of Sales, Ernest Stovell, arranged a tour to see MGM’s new convention center project. At Bellagio, Food and Beverage Director Amanda Cohen gave a tour of the hotel’s fine dining restaurants. HES faculty members, Alvin Niuh and Dr. Shatina Chen, who accompanied our students maintain that they learned as much as their students did.
The group also visited with hospitality management alumna, Cierra Barrios. Cierra shared her experience working at Mandalay Bay and gave the students some sound career advice.
According to Dr. Chen, “It [IMEX 2018] really opened their eyes to understand types of convention business and career opportunities in the hospitality industry. We have talked about these businesses in class, but this convention showed them what they can do with a hospitality major in the future.”
Check out videos below for details of this great student experience – in their own words.
Students like ours had opportunities to participate in a leadership forum, experience exhibits on the show floor and network with industry and association experts, as well as meet hospitality students from all over the world.
The trip included a meeting with MGM executives to learn about hotel operations and marketing. MGM Grand Vice President of Sales, Ernest Stovell, arranged a tour to see MGM’s new convention center project. At Bellagio, Food and Beverage Director Amanda Cohen gave a tour of the hotel’s fine dining restaurants. HES faculty members, Alvin Niuh and Dr. Shatina Chen, who accompanied our students maintain that they learned as much as their students did.
The group also visited with hospitality management alumna, Cierra Barrios. Cierra shared her experience working at Mandalay Bay and gave the students some sound career advice.
According to Dr. Chen, “It [IMEX 2018] really opened their eyes to understand types of convention business and career opportunities in the hospitality industry. We have talked about these businesses in class, but this convention showed them what they can do with a hospitality major in the future.”
Check out videos below for details of this great student experience – in their own words.
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