Mohegan Sun Partners with Northstar to Present the Future of Meetings through its Reconvening for Recovery Event

2020-11-06

Successful Hybrid Event Held at Mohegan Sun Paves the Way Forward for Live Conferences, Events, and Conventions During the “New Normal”

 

UNCASVILLE, CT (November 6, 2020) – Mohegan Sun and Northstar Meetings Group hosted its Reconvening for Recovery: Live! conference, a special event aimed at helping businesses navigate the new frontier of planning engaging, hybrid business meetings, conferences and conventions while adhering to the most current industry health and safety protocols. The hybrid event, held at Mohegan Sun’s Earth Expo & Convention Center, was the first-of-its-kind for the two brands and welcomed seventy-five in-person attendees, as well as over 1,000 digital attendees, who were fully integrated into the event.

As part of the exhibition, several educational seminars took place tailored to helping meeting planners learn how to bring back their events safely. Each of the sessions featured insight and first-hand experience from industry leaders, such as John Washko, Vice President of Expo & Convention Sales for Mohegan Sun, who discussed how meetings suppliers can help planners visualize and plan events safely and effectively; David Dubois, President and CEO of International Association of Exhibitions and Events, who touched on essential considerations for safely reopening exhibitions and events; Hope Holm, Regional Sales Director for PSAV, who demonstrated how to facilitate the new normal for hybrid events; Heather Hansen O’Neill, President of Find Your Fire, who discussed ways to move the industry forward; among many others.

“The goal of Reconvening for Recovery: Live was to inspire industry members on the bright future of business gatherings and conventions, and we believe we delivered a best-in-class roadmap for how to get there with the help of Northstar Meetings Group,” said John Washko, Mohegan Sun Vice President of Expo & Convention Sales. “As one of the world’s leading integrated entertainment resort destinations with best-in-class industry health and safety protocols, Mohegan Sun was the perfect venue to host the largest hybrid in-person and virtual event in Connecticut in recent months, safely showcasing a better experience for tomorrow’s guests, team members and convention attendees.”

In addition to the in-person panels, the event featured a virtual panel that consisted of four members of the Events Industry Council’s Covid-19 Business Recovery Task Force – including Amy Calvert, president and CEO of EIC; Michael Dominguez, president and CEO of Associated Luxury Hotels International; Allison Kinsley, founder of Kinsley Meetings; and Liz Warwick, vice president of meeting management and event strategy for Liberty Mutual Insurance. As part of the virtual panel, the task force members discussed the resources EIC is producing to provide best practices and guidance for live events.

“Reconvening for Recovery: Live was created to show business event planners how to alleviate risk by adhering to the most current meetings industry health and safety protocols and produce a hybrid in-person and digital event,” says, David Blansfield, Executive Vice President and Group Publisher of Northstar Meetings Group. “Meeting planners by nature like to see how things work and how they can apply their learnings to their next event. To do so, we set out to find the ideal venue to host these demonstrations, and Mohegan Sun checked all the boxes. The brand truly paved the way for the safety of future events through its enhanced cleaning measures, personal hygiene facilities, and enhanced air filtration systems that far exceeded our expectations, making it the perfect partner for this new venture.”

Following a day of captivating conversations regarding ways forward for the industry, Miss America 2020 Camille Schrier addressed the live and virtual audience with a presentation focused on transformation, as well as a demonstration of the science experiment which attributed to her winning the crown. In addition to the on-stage presentations, Schrier presented two video vignettes, one from the perspective of Angela Cox, Northstar’s senior group director of meetings and events, and Mohegan Sun’s Dana Lambersky, CMP, CMM, director of convention services – both of whom planned Reconvening for Recovery: Live. The second focused on Schrier’s experience as an in-person meeting attendee in the era of COVID-19.

In-person attendance of the conference was limited to seventy-five planners and supplier representatives, all of whom had to be within driving distance of the venue and complied with Connecticut’s travel advisory pre-arrival testing protocols. Remote cameras broadcasted “behind-the-scenes” looks at how Mohegan Sun and its partners produced the event, demonstrating current live event best practices to the meeting’s digital audience.

To watch highlights from Northstar’s event at Mohegan Sun, check out: www.NorthstarMeetingsGroup.com/Events/Events-News/Meetings-Recovery-Resource-Center

ABOUT MOHEGAN SUN:
Owned by Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, Mohegan Sun is one of the largest, most spectacular entertainment, gaming, dining and shopping destinations in the United States. Situated on 185 acres along the Thames River in scenic southeastern Connecticut, Mohegan Sun is home to two unique casinos, 1,600 deluxe hotel rooms, two world-class spas, a golf course, over 80 shops, restaurants and bars as well as three award-winning entertainment venues including a 10,000-seat Arena. Mohegan Sun is within easy access of New York, Boston, Hartford and Providence and located 15 minutes from the museums, antique shops and waterfront of Mystic Country. More information is available by calling 1.888.226.7711 or visiting mohegansun.com. Connect with us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @mohegansun, view us on YouTube and find us on Snapchat at username MoheganSun.

ABOUT NORTHSTAR MEETINGS GROUP:
Northstar Meetings Group is the leading B-to-B information and marketing solutions company serving all segments of the business meetings, events, sports and incentives market – including full- and part-time meeting planners, as well as corporate, association, sports and not-for-profit decision-makers, and incentive professionals, facilitating their professional development and achievement of business goals. The company’s influential brands – Meetings & Conventions, Successful Meetings, Association Meetings International, M&C Asia, Meetings & Incentive Travel, M&C China, Meeting News, Incentive and SportsTravel – currently serve over 350,000 active meeting and event planners and incentive professionals, across an integrated suite of data, digital, events and print products. For more information, please visit NorthstarMeetingsGroup.com.

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Charisse Huff

Huff, Charisse