KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Featuring Don Neal
Don Neal
COO and Executive Vice President
Leading Authorities Inc.
"So What Business Are You Really In?"
It has been reported that 50 percent of the jobs that will exist in 2020 do not exist today. Will yours? Current business trends are changing at such an accelerated pace that it can be difficult to keep up. In addition, demographics, outsourcing, in-sourcing, media proliferation, and increasing consumer expectations are changing the role of the meetings and events industry. Simply planning a meeting is no longer enough—you must design a live, branded media experience.
Calling on his experience as a veteran of the advertising and marketing world, Don Neal will share his views and explain how designing and executing a branded media experience is central to an organization's success. Creating a television commercial, developing a direct mail campaign, or promoting your brand at a NASCAR event—all these events strive for one common goal: to move an audience to action through a powerful emotional experience. Meetings and events should be viewed in the same light—they are live, branded media and must deliver on your organization's objectives.
Neal's work with Mercedes Benz, Lowe's Home Improvement Centers, The American Medical Association, Allstate Insurance, Harvard University, and Marriott among other Fortune 500 brands, trade associations, non-profits, and universities has given him a perspective that he'll relate to the challenges that meetings and event professionals will face over the next five years.
Neal is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and is teaching a new graduate course this semester—Live Branded Media: The Secret Weapon of Every Effective Marketing Executive. Neal has served on the faculty of the Bloch School of Business, the advisory council for the Direct Marketing Association, and as a board member of The Catalogue For Philanthropy.
As the former chief marketing officer of Marsh & McLennan's consumer business, chief executive officer of Focalpoint Marketing, president of Echelon Marketing, and senior leader at Omnicom's Rapp Collins Worldwide, Neal has launched successful marketing campaigns that have moved the needle. He says, "Meetings must have an ROI focus that the senior leadership can take to the bank. Increasing attendance at association meetings, driving traffic to the trade show floor, winning the hearts and minds of your organizations staff, entertaining and effective education and training—all of these objectives can be achieved when a thoughtful, integrated and strategic meeting design process is utilized."
Currently, the chief executive officer and executive vice president of Leading Authorities Inc., the nation's leading event design firm and lecture agency, Neal works with corporate and association leaders to create live, branded media events that capture hearts and minds, increase audience engagement, and maximize ROI.
Fortune 1000 chief marketing officers indicate that meeting and events are the #1 most effective media channel in their arsenal. Don Neal will explain how to make them just as effective for your organization.
Learn more and share your thoughts with Don on his new blog: www.leadingauthorities.com/nowwhat
