By: Eric Jacobson, Vice President, Media Development, Ascend Integrated Media LLC

Last November, the Heartland Chapter hosted its annual State of the Industry event at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown, and this year’s panel discussion focused on the topic of disruption.

Moderating the panel and sharing his expertise was Michael Dominguez, Chief Sales Officer, MGM Resorts.

On the panel was Hannes Combest, CAE, CEO, National Auctioneers Association (NAA). Headquartered in Overland Park, KS, NAA represents the interests of thousands of auction professionals in the U.S., Canada and across the world. Hannes also chairs the ASAE Foundation’s Research Committee and is very active with the local chapter of KCSAE.

Also, on the panel was Steve Powell, CEO, Destination Services. Leading his own destination consulting firm, Powell works with both public and private entities to develop their destinations and solve complex issues related to the overall management of the destination and convention/conference centers. During the discussion he provided a different perspective on the why and how of building infrastructure such as hotels and convention centers and shared his views on hotel trends.

In addition, Hannes provided insight into changes that membership associations are facing now and in the future.

You can watch and listen to the full panel discussion on Evia: https://cloud.evia.events/Event/EventDetail/239

Some of the key takeaways from the panel discussion include:

•         Providing your customers experiences is critical.
•         Being nibble is a must.
•         Maintaining your relevancy requires being willing to make changes to your business model and customer mix.

Disruption was also the theme of this year’s PCMA Convening Leaders meeting in Pittsburgh, PA last month.