As we count down the days until we come together in Austin, TX, let’s get to know this year’s featured speakers. Get your calendar ready—there's a lot of great sessions coming your way!
Keri Miller, Partner & Chief Creative Strategist, e=mc² events
As Partner & Creative Strategist of e=mc² events, a global event management and production agency based in Canada and recognized around the world, Keri Miller’s expertise lies in her ability to dig deep into you, your brand, your culture, and your objectives to deliver your message and vision with whizbang! With over 20 years of award-winning design and production experience, Keri is globally recognized as an event industry leader and was recently awarded the inaugural Leslee Bell Spirit of the Industry award in 2022. She was named one of the Top 250 Event Professionals in Canada in 2020 and one of the Top 500 Influential People in events by Bizbash in 2019. In 2017, she was awarded the ILEA Canada Volunteer of the Year Award. She was a member of the Global Event Forum and is a past Canadian Event Professional of The Year. Keri is also a founding partner of the Loading Dock Collaborative & Classic, growing the industry one student, one emerging leader, and one experienced professional at a time.
Keri has been integral as Creative Director on many of e=mc² events’ most high profile and signature events; her keen ability to inspire guests through human interaction combined with an intuitive sense of future trends and technologies has helped her and the team produce multiple award-winning events. She also hugs people.
Reid Hubick, Experience Producer, e=mc2 events
As an Experience Producer for e=mc² events, Reid Hubick excels at conceptualizing and delivering live, hybrid, and virtual experiences. Since 2018, Reid has planned several award-winning events across multiple locations in Canada and internationally while working with globally admired brands. Reid is a proud Toronto Metropolitan University alumni who graduated from Hospitality and Tourism Management from Ted Rogers School of Management. While pursuing his degree, he was an active student leader engaging and planning some of the largest events on campus. Since joining the workforce, Reid has also completed his Project Management Professional (PMP) designation through the Project Management Institute and his Digital Event Strategist (DES) designation through PCMA. Reid’s love of deep diving into event logistics is what makes him such a great team member and project lead. He does a fantastic job of setting plans into motion and supporting his team members along the way.
Pink Poodle Theory 3.0: Harnessing The Power of Your Creative Brain
1:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 14
Join Keri Miller, international award-wining Partner & Chief Creative Strategist of e=mc² events and Reid Hubick, Experience Producer at e=mc² events in this power-packed interactive and inspiring session that will have you thinking differently about your next projects!
We are all creative, we all have the abilities and skills to develop great ideas and as individuals, we all have a unique perspective that can set us apart from everyone else in the world. In our technology-driven world we are at a critical point of losing our natural ability to dream, create, and develop our own ideas. The “see more like this” movement is killing our creativity, slowly, one pin, one search, and one Insta-worthy image at a time.
In 2014 at TSE Keri revealed her Pink Poodle Theory and shared with event profs the Aha! moment that founded it. In 2017 at TSE, the inspiring “What Would Vogue Do” sessions sparked a movement of old school creative thinking and trend setting in events.
Pink Poodle 3.0 (a reimagined version of the original Pink Poodle presentation) combines those sessions in an interactive workshop will reset how you think about curating inspiration, and will give you tactical tools to discover emerging trends from your creative mind. It will challenge you to really see what is in front of you, around you and to find inspiration in new ways. Come prepared to clear your mind and find some simple inspiration to fuel your creative juices as YOU dream up your next big event idea!
Be prepared to share and contribute, straight from your heart and your device.
Mary Delia Allen, Author/ Speaker, Mary Delia Events
Mary Delia is an engaging and impactful speaker whose expertise draws from events with the MLB, March Madness, Bank of America, the NFL, and even the Olympics. In her 20-year span as a freelance travel director for corporate meetings and large-scale events, Mary Delia has executed and experienced a wealth of once in a lifetime experiences. Her expertise has moved thousands of VIP guests at the Super Bowl, executed countless high-touch corporate events for hundreds, and hosted small-group luxury tours. Mary Delia knows and believes in the power of events! She has leveraged her expertise and once-in-a-lifetime experiences to create transformational keynotes from the stage. Using humor and straightforward tactics, Mary Delia inspires audiences to provide top-level customer service experiences through better communication practices. With a master’s degree in communication, ten thousand hours on the mic as a tour guide, and countless real-life insider stories, Mary Delia is the speaker to serve your community. She will leave your audience with tangible systems to upgrade your next hosted event.
Transportation & Hospitality: Five Tips for High Touch Event Transportation
1:00 p.m. Thursday, February 15
Transportation is the warm welcome and the fond farewell of any hospitality program. From moving thousands of VIP guests at the Super Bowl to running black car high-touch meeting transportation programs for hundreds of guests to moving small groups on luxury tours, Mary Delia has stories and learnings for any group who must move people. Join this lighthearted and laugh out loud funny presentation with high touch event transportation tips and tricks. Part love letter to all things motor coach but mostly reminder of why moving people requires hospitality practices along with logistics expertise. Walk into your next meeting with an event transportation provider with a few tricks to put you in the driver seat!
You can see Keri, Reid, & Mary Delia LIVE at Catersource + The Special Event in Austin from Feb 12-15.
