How the Tennessee Centennial Exposition made Nashville an IT City 125 Years Later

What can meeting and event professionals learn from the largest event that took place in Tennessee?

Our speaker, David Ewing, is a 9thgeneration Nashville native who has over 25,000 followers on his Instagram page @TheNashvilleIwishIknew. He also has the largest private collection of Nashville memorabilia and many items from his 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition Collection are on display at the Parthenon until the end of the year.

David’s presentation will feature the six-month event that took place in Nashville in 1897 when 1.8 million people visited the grounds of Centennial Park. While this event took place over 100 years ago, there are some powerful lessons to be uncovered as well as important Tennessee history for meeting & event planners to know.

Key learning objectives from this event include:

1. The power of partnerships: how to organize an event including the whole State of Tennessee.
2. Getting positive press, word of mouth to create excitement for your event.
3. When to delay an event to make it better, sacrificing an important anniversary date.
4. Create awards that celebrate the best of Tennessee.
5. How to keep the organizers of your event together even when the big event is over.
6. The importance of great speakers and music.