Oregon Education Summit & Marketplace - Global Meetings Industry Day

Pricing:

• $60 - Members - MPI, SGMP, GBTA
• $70 - Non-members
• $199 - Marketplace booth

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Marketplace:
Join us at the Oregon Education Summit & Marketplace and reserve your trade show booth - includes education, lunch, and reception. Use this opportunity to interact with industry leaders and peers in an intimate setting. Limited number available - book your booth today through the registration link!

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Education: Cracking the Code: The Oregon Hospitality Puzzle 

11:00 am • Registration/Networking/Marketplace/Networking Game/Book Drive
12:00-1:30 pm • Lunch - Educational Session: Solving the Revenue Management Strategy Puzzle
1:30-2:00 pm • Break & Marketplace
2:00-3:00 pm • Panel: Piecing Together the Oregon Hospitality Industry
3:00-4:00 pm • Reception & Marketplace

We are excited to partner with the GBTA Oregon Chapter and the Oregon SGMP Chapter to create a day of education and networking to celebrate our industry!  This Oregon Summit and Marketplace is a one-of-a-kind event to join our organizations to learn about topics that are relevant to all of our groups and encourage networking between our chapter members.  

MPI Oregon will be extending our special member rate to both GBTA Oregon and Oregon SGMP members who will be attending this event.

Educational Content and Speakers

12:15-1:15 pm:  Solving the Revenue Management Strategies Puzzle 

Speaker: Jonathan Becker, Area Regional Director of Revenue Management at InnVentures Pacific Northwest Region

Learn how to solve the revenue management puzzle and make all of the different pieces of hotel business fit and work together. Our Speaker, Jonathan Becker, will be discussing the following:

• Group Business vs. Business Travel?  How do government groups fit in the picture?  
• Learn about the process of how revenue managers choose what type of business to accept at what time of year and why.  
• Is Bleisure Travel still a trend and how it has impacted our industry?
• How is our hospitality industry and Portland destination trending for 2024 and beyond. 

It’s a great session for all of our industry groups to experience together and learn about the revenue management side of hospitality and how it affects our day-to-day business.   

2:00-3:00 pm: Panel: Piecing Together the Oregon Hospitality Industry

Moderated By:  Greg Heinze, CMP, MPI Oregon President and Nathan Carlson, GBTA President

Panelists:

• Steve Falustick, General Manager, Visitors Venue (OCC, Portland Expo Center, Portland 5 Centers for the Arts and Oregon Zoo)
• Doug Brecht, Complex Director of Sales, Hilton Portland Downtown and the Duniway Hotel 
• Jason Brandt, President & CEO, Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association  
• Kristi Reed, Director of Sales and Marketing, The Grand Hotel Salem

This panel of Portland Hospitality experts will discuss some of our important and relevant industry questions about the current state of meetings and business travel in Oregon. Our moderators will also ask them questions regarding current trends, travel policy adjustments, and how we are overcoming challenges that are faced by professionals in the meetings and business travel industry.  Bring your questions to this expert panel! 

Speaker Details:

Jonathan Becker has been in the hospitality industry for 30 years.  After spending several years in operations and sales, along with winning the National “Living the Vision” award in 1999 for all of Residence Inn by Marriott Hotels,  he found his passion in 2007 starting his path in Revenue Management handling select service Marriott’s throughout Oregon.   In 2012, he left Marriott Intl., and began working for InnVentures LLC starting as a Revenue Manager and working his way up to Regional Director of Revenue Management where currently he oversees a team of 5, managing 35 hotels across Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Florida with an annual revenue base of over $225 Million.  Along the way, Jonathan was asked to help spearhead a massive acquisition of onboarding over 200 hotels in one day in March of 2021 by hiring and training a team of 25 Inventory, Marketing, and Revenue managers for Highgate Select. When he is not behind his desk pushing buttons and making terrible puns on conference calls, you can find him looking for his next travel adventure. Up next, Switzerland in October! 

Jason Brandt’s expertise revolves around association management and government affairs work at the state and local levels. His vision for the hospitality industry is to continue to build upon the significant tourism growth Oregon has seen over the past decade by helping lead advocacy, communication, and education efforts for restaurants and lodging establishments. Prior to joining ORLA as President & CEO in 2015, Jason served as the CEO of the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a minor in Communication from Pacific Lutheran University. He received a post-graduate certification in Nonprofit Organizational Management from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute Program.

A veteran of Oregon’s travel industry, Steve Faulstick started his career as a busser at the Red Lion Hotel in Medford. His career path took him to hotels around the west before returning to Oregon in 1999, serving as the general manager of Portland-area hotels before becoming the chief sales officer for Travel Portland in 2016. He left Travel Portland shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic began, and is now General Manager of Visitor Venues for Metro.

Kristi Reed is a seasoned hospitality professional with a passion for excellence in sales and guest satisfaction. For over 30 years, Kristi has been a part of the VIPs Industries team.  She began her VIPs journey as a part time front desk agent the she worked her way to Front Desk Manager and then Sales Manager at the Phoenix Inn Suites in South Salem.  For the past 19 years, she has dedicated her focus as the Director of Sales & Marketing to The Grand Hotel in Salem and assisting wherever needed in other areas of the company.  Prior to joining VIPs Industries, she worked for Disney, where she dialed in her passion for guest services.  Kristi leads the sales team at the Grand Hotel in Salem with a focus on fostering strong client relationships.

Under Kristi's leadership, the Grand Hotel in Salem has implemented innovative recycling practices aimed at minimizing waste and reducing its environmental footprint. She has spearheaded efforts such as Earthwise Certification and Clean the World, to make eco-conscious choices an integral part of the hotel's operations. Her passion for recycling in her personal & professional endeavors, enhances the guest experience at the Grand Hotel in Salem but also contributes to a brighter, greener future for Salem and beyond.

Doug Brecht has over 30 years of experience in sales,.  He has a proven track record of being able to identify opportunities and turn them into actionable plans and results. His success has grown based on my passion for the hospitality industry and skills in developing strong client relationships, strategic planning, aggressive sales prospecting, strong leadership and mentoring skills, ability to multi-task under pressure, attention to detail, and TEAM work.  Doug is the Complex Director of Sales a the Hilton Portland Downtown and the Duniway Hotel.

 

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Community Outreach Children's Book Drive

Please bring a book or two and all books collected at the book drive will go to the Children’s Book Bank at SMART Reading.

The Children's Book Bank fills homes and lives with engaging, culturally diverse books because all children deserve to have books of their own. When they do, magical things happen — books ignite curiosity, spark the imagination, and open young minds to limitless possibilities.

Do you remember your favorite childhood book? What do you enjoy reading with your kids, grandkids, younger siblings, nieces/nephews, or favorite little neighbor? 

BOOKS NEEDED:

• This year, there is a high need for picture books and board books aimed at young students (preschool/Kindergarten and younger). Rule of thumb – board books, and picture books that have no more than a paragraph of text per page.
• Other books and topics that are always in need are:
  • Varied Family Structure (adoptive families, stepfamilies, two moms or dads, single parent, kids raised by grandparents/other relatives, parent in prison) 
  • Biracial/Multiracial
  • Neurodivergent (books about autistic kids, kids with ADHD, or other neurodivergent characters, especially non-white neurodivergent characters) 

• We can only accept new or gently used children’s books for babies through preschoolers – board books, and picture books with no more than a paragraph of text per page.
• We are unable to find homes for musty/damaged or scribbled-in books, coloring or activity books, encyclopedias, textbooks, ex-library books, and chapter books.

 Book Donation Questions? – Please contact Lisa Chan, Oregon Convention Center, at lisachan@oregoncc.org or 503.235.7572.