Howard Givner
HOWARD'S BIO
With over 25 years of industry experience, Howard Givner is a widely recognized business and thought leader, innovator, educator & entrepreneur in the field of meetings and events.
He recently joined Grass Roots as Managing Director and Head of Americas for the Meetings & Events Division, leading the growth of the company and the 30 person team in its New York office. Grass Roots provides a broad range of Strategic Meetings Management services to Fortune 100 clients, managing over $250 million of meeting and event spend to drive efficiencies, cost savings, and data analysis to improve the R.O.I. of their clients’ various programs.
Previously Howard was the Founder and Executive Director of the Event Leadership Institute (ELI), which provides best-in-class training and education for event professionals. ELI offers a subscription-based, Netflix-style content library of over 1500 micro-learning videos; and a suite of professional development courses providing digital certifications.
Prior to starting ELI, he was the founder of event agency Paint The Town Red, Inc., and the former CEO of North America for Global Events Group, the 13th largest event agency in the world, which acquired Paint The Town Red in 2008. During his tenure the company won over 30 industry awards.
Howard is also the creator of the award-winning mobile app Super Planner, and the co-creator of the Event Innovation Forum, a TED-style conference for industry leaders.
He is a past president of the NY Metro chapter of ILEA, and has served on the boards of MPI of Greater NY, Special Events Magazine and BizBash, and frequently teaches and speaks at industry conferences on sales and business development, negotiations, innovation and entrepreneurship. He’s been profiled in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, National Public Radio, ABC News, The Apprentice, and USA Today, in addition to numerous trade media.
SESSION: SCALING YOUR EVENTS BUSINESS
How do you break out of your plateau and get your event company to the next level? The first step is defining what that next level is: more clients, higher fees, more publicity? Depending on what it is, there are typically 3 models to choose from. This session will explore the agency model, the boutique model, and the product expansion model, along with key strategic insights on growing your company, pulled from case studies of leading brands in the events industry.
SESSION: POTENTIAL DISRUPTIONS FACING THE EVENTS INDUSTRY
Blockbuster never saw Netflix coming. What are the key social, economic, cultural, political and environmental forces of change looming on the horizon, or already here? What risks do they pose for the events and meetings industry, and what opportunities do they present? This session will examine a variety of disruptions, such as Open Carry Gun Laws; Supplier Mergers; Discriminatory LGBT State Laws; Drones, Livestreaming & Jailbreaking Event Content; Facilitated Matchmaking & more.