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By Robert A. Gilbert, CHME, CHBA, President and CEO, Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI)
We’re rounding out the first month of this new year, preparing to dive deep into achieving our goals and acting on strategic plans. And while these goals and plans may look different from what we’re used to, I’m optimistic about what they have to offer our industry in terms of innovation and transformation.
We know that our “new normal” has caused us all to be more nimble, flexible, and creative in how we approach pretty much everything — good or bad — and we’ve accepted the fact that how we operate moving forward won’t be the same. We’re at a point now where we need to double down and tap into the tools within our own community to build and thrive and get good ideas that we can use to drive that innovation and transformation as well as inspire us to address challenges head on. HSMAI is putting on a suite of events for 2022 that will help you do just that.
Our first in-person event of the year is a must-attend: the reimagined HSMAI Adrian Awards ceremony. As you may have heard, this year’s event will honor 2021 award winners in Florida on March 30 at The Boca Raton. This is an exciting change, as we’ve held the event in New York for the past 25 years, and we’re looking forward to celebrating the industry’s best of the best and reuniting in person.
In addition to the awards ceremony, get ready for our face-to-face Commercial Strategy Week conferences and roundtables in Orlando. The Marketing Strategy Conference takes place June 28 and HSMAI ROC Americas will be held June 29. Our Sales Leader Forum is happening this fall on Oct. 20 in Frisco, Texas. We’re also hosting a series of invitation-only virtual executive roundtables for chief marketing, chief digital, chief loyalty and chief revenue officers as well as ownership commercial executives in February.
HSMAI is dedicated to providing its members with the platform and the space to celebrate and learn from each other, share big ideas and best practices, and maybe even have a little fun in the process. Our industry and our people thrive on face-to-face interaction, and we’re looking forward to offering an environment that allows us all to safely reunite and reconnect.