Erika Welling, CEM, DES has decades of experience as an innovative and highly driven marketing and operations leader in the hospitality industry.
Erika has provided resources and guidance to many during her career, which includes senior-level operations and marketing for international general service contractors in the exhibitions and events industry. Previous to working in the general services contracting world, Erika was Regional and International Director for Themed Restaurants and Attractions, and Director for a prominent Las Vegas transportation and sightseeing company.
Erika has served for more than 18 years on the board of the Las Vegas Hospitality Association (LVHA), as well as having served on IAEE’s CEM Commission and the Community, Engagement and Belonging Committee. She currently serves on the CEM Faculty, the Chapter Leaders Council and is the Immediate Past Chairperson of the IAEE Southwest Chapter (SWIAEE) Throughout her career, she has served on boards for tourism, professional education and philanthropic associations.
Erika invariably incorporates her education from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and art experience within her profession. In her free time, she enjoys an assortment of art projects, reading, skiing, and hiking.
Here, Erika shares her views on how technology fits into the ever-evolving exhibitions and events business landscape.
What inspired you to serve on this committee and how do you see your role in bridging the gap between technical expertise and events business knowledge?
As an independent event planner, I’m involved in a variety of roles in the exhibitions and events world with large and small events covering a multitude of industries and demographics. Wearing many hats, I dip into the technology role from time to time, and am by no means an expert although I have a passion for tech. I have an extreme appreciation for technology experts and feel that, overall in our industry, and even within large organizations housing their own technology departments, we all need to access/seek and rely on technology expertise as much as we possibly can especially as technology is growing and changing rapidly.
How do you think the committee’s work can be leveraged to enhance IT member experiences within the association?
I think we need to create more awareness of our tech community and the huge effect they have in our industry’s day-to-day operations. We also need to increase membership involvement in the committee, and influence/encourage member organizations’ tech staff to be involved.
What emerging technologies do you believe have the potential to disrupt the exhibitions and events industry in the near future?
AI and machine-learning, and how that affects information and security, as well as big data and data analytics and how to harness data for best use on current and future goals. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) offer huge opportunities to enhance education, marketing and data.
What topics do you think are most crucial to address in education sessions addressing event technologies, and why?
Since we have small, medium and large size exhibitions/events among IAEE members and corresponding vendor organizations (some of which wear many hats and some who are focused to one expertise such as technology), perhaps we could take a multi-level approach to learning such as tech education/information Level One, Level Two, etc. Through many conversations I’ve been hearing, the need for information on all levels – from basic, such as glossary of terms, on up to more complicated scenarios – is a consideration we should explore.
In your opinion, what are the key components that should be included in a digital event technologies toolkit, and how would this resource serve the exhibitions and events industry?
The toolkit should include a terminology handbook/glossary, case studies, best practices, and what to know for x, y and z, etc. We have top level international tech experts as IAEE members, and I feel we should leverage their knowledge as a key resource with a focus on best practices and highest standards within the rapidly growing and changing technology in our industry.
