• by Ian Framson
• Dec 04, 2017
• ILEA Los Angeles, International Live Events Association, Event Marketing, Event Production

When Danny Fisk of Work the Room invited me a few months ago to take part in the Los Angeles chapter of the International Live Events Association (ILEA) Meet the Masters dinner, I jumped at the chance. There’s always something new going on in the live events industry, so I love to attend association events to learn from the leaders and innovators at the front lines in our industry. The impressive speaker roster included executives from household names including Disney, Fox Broadcasting and Warner Bros Studios, so I was excited at the chance of meeting and hearing from these seasoned pros. 

This year’s event was held on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at the Wilshire Loft in Downtown LA. The format (one that I am a huge fan of), placed one “master” per table of nine attendees. As an invited master I got to chat at our first table for the appetizer round, then switched tables and spoke for another 20 minutes through the dinner round. After that we all went up on stage for a panel discussion and Q & A session. The evening ended with dessert and networking. 

The dinner was attended by 30% ILEA LA-chapter members, a few visitors from San Francisco and Las Vegas, and the rest were professionals in various mid to senior roles in the event planning industry. There were wedding planners, corporate event planners, and other vendors in various categories (lighting, AV, linen, photography, photo booth, etc.). Kudos to the ILEA team – the event was well organized and executed. 

The evening’s theme – Super Heroes and their Power

A fun twist to the dinner’s format was that each speaker was asked beforehand to provide their super power. I kind of blew it when I was asked about my super power. I told the organizers that I spoke three languages; English, Spanish, Portuguese, and that I’m learning French – when I should have said something more revenue-driving like, “Wielding the awesome power of the Internet to make any event a connected one.” Some super hero I am! Anyway, as you can see from the photo above, we all had a good time with the super hero theme. In fact, my two-year-old daughter saw the picture the next morning and said, “daddy’s super!” 

I've already received emails and positive feedback from a few of the organizers and looking forward to connecting with some of the other speakers and attendees. All in all, it was an interesting and fruitful evening, and if you’re an event industry professional in the Los Angeles area, I highly recommend taking part in ILEA LA’s events, if you haven’t already done so. 

Photo courtesy of #BrianKramerPhotography