HAUPPAUGE, NY—ICD Publications’ Hotel Business and InspireDesign, in partnership with NEXT Events, an emerging leader in design industry networking and thought leadership experiences, are launching a new virtual conference platform—Hot Topics.
Building on the team’s successful virtual panel series, Hot Topics will be the umbrella brand for all future virtual panels, with a long-term plan of expanding the brand into intimate, in-person events. Formats for Hot Topics will include town halls, panels and one-on-one interviews.
Hot Topics will be debuting with “Power Hour: Leadership Lessons,” which will, in this premier event, feature C-suite executives from two leading and iconic brands—one within the hotel industry, the other outside of, but parallel to the hospitality industry. The goal is to share ideas, insight and experience with the Hospitality Group’s audience.
“We’re excited to kick off the series with a virtual Q+A conversation between two top-level leaders, one in the hotel industry and one in a related industry, to offer some outside perspective to hotel professionals, especially during these challenging times,” said Publisher Allen Rolleri. “During this time of unprecedented challenges for both our industry and our world, we believe bringing two iconic brand leaders together to demonstrate leadership would be beneficial to our hospitality community and beyond.”
The inaugural “Power Hour” will be held on Tuesday, August 25, from 2-3 p.m. EST, and will bring together the leaders of two giant, globally recognized brands: Jim Allen, chairman, Hard Rock International/CEO, Seminole Gaming, and NY Yankees President Randy Levine. The informative discussion will be moderated by ICD Hospitality Group Editor-in-Chief Christina Trauthwein.
“We believe that there is tremendous synergy between the hospitality and sports communities—specifically, the NY Yankees and Hard Rock International,” said Trauthwein. “We truly believe Randy’s and Jim’s insight and experience will be valuable to our audience…and it will also be a lively and interesting dialogue!”
The virtual session will be conducted via Zoom, and the two executives will address topics with mutual parallels, i.e. leading an iconic organization during the pandemic; the state of travel and tourism; workplace and employee safety; bringing guests and fans back to hotels and stadiums; strategies for keeping brands top of mind for consumers; and community involvement and engagement, etc.
In addition, they will discuss broader leadership and management topics, such as managing during times of crisis; the psychological well-being of the organization and its members during this time; changes in financial strategies; and the road to recovery.
The event is open for registration, and will be available on-demand after the event at archive.hotelbusiness.com. Written coverage of the session will be featured in Hotel Business magazine, on its website and via social channels.