ACCE Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota

written by Diane Weber, Director of Events and Communication

The 2024 ACCE Events & Communications Conference was held in St. Paul, Minnesota and I was able to attend not only as a participant but also as a presenter! This conference invited both new and skilled professionals from all chamber sizes that work in the events, programs, and communications division. Our President/CEO, Melisa Cox and I were asked to be presenters on the topic of Evaluation Tools for Event “Success” along with chamber staff from the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce.

First of all, the keynote speaker for this conference was fantastic! Miss Shannan Paul gave everyone an engaging session on how to identify stereotypes in the workplace and “creating harmonious events where diverse voices feel valued and included.” She shared personal and professional experiences that were intriguing, humorous, and relatable to everyone. She got the crowd involved and was very passionate in her message. Check her out here: https://missshannan.com/

Melisa and I were able to present with another great chamber on how to become a data expert and discover key metrics for measuring event success. Participants who joined our session were also able to gain effective strategies for utilizing data to refine event marketing efforts and attract meaningful sponsorships. We discussed our Ankeny Chamber SummerFest event, the importance of implementing a strategic plan and gave participants a few event ideas to measure its success – which in turn, created a fantastic class discussion! The Charleston Metro Chamber was great to work with and I enjoyed getting to know how their chamber operates in comparison to ours.

Other sessions in this conference that I attended involved “proven strategies to enhance attendee engagement and best practices for securing partnerships”. There were intense group discussions on marketing tactics, sponsorship retention, and it was interesting to learn how other chambers communicated with their members and how their events impacted their community. I particularly enjoyed the session – Reel Magic: Create Captivating Content for your Chamber as it created buzz on the trends that chamber businesses are facing.

Overall, this conference was a great refresher on how to create meaningful and engaging events for our chamber businesses. I really enjoyed getting to know other chamber professionals and their event practices all while sharing my own event experiences.