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Annual Customer Conference Shows Attendees How to Live Like a Local

The Event

Visit Anaheim welcomed  Maritz Global Events’ annual e4 conference in 2018, allowing attendees to get to know the city from a local’s perspective.

Hosted by Experient and Maritz Travel, e4 is an annual customer conference designed to highlight premier destinations and venues while showcasing what’s next for the global events industry. Once a year, Maritz Global Events executives and clients come together for four days of industry-specific education sessions and peer-to-peer networking receptions.

“e4 is an opportunity to have our leadership spend time with our clients—to extend the relationship, expand the relationship and help them get to know our organization better,” said Karen Watson, Senior Director of Strategic Events, Maritz Global Events. “It is actually focused around looking at the future of the industry and designing it together with our clients. It’s intended to be very forward-thinking, which ties in beautifully with this year’s theme, ‘What’s Your Next?’”

The 2018 event took place August 12-15 in Anaheim, welcoming 500 individuals to sunny Southern California. While learning activations and receptions took place at the Anaheim Convention Center and its outdoor plazas, attendee stayed at three walkable campus hotels and participated in unique offsite events.

“Breaking [e4] guests up between multiple hotels and holding all the meetings at the convention center, sets the bar for how are we going to pull this all together to give the experience that the attendee has had in the past, but elevated it and made it unique for Anaheim,” said Mindy Abel, Senior Vice President Strategic Alliance & Partnership, Visit Anaheim. “Instead of under one roof, we .. create[d] a three location, one roof experience.”

The Objectives

In the spirit of the year’s theme—“What’s Your Next?”—the 2018 e4 conference diverged from its typical single-hotel model, which posed a unique set of challenges. How could the event not only provide the necessary networking and educational opportunities in close proximity and also capture the spirit of the destination to surprise and delight attendees?

“We worked closely with Maritz Global Events to design the experience, and one of the things we really were all on the same page about was the experience of the lifestyle of Southern California,” said Abel. “... e4 became a showcase for scalable possibilities and inspiration for future groups.”

Three objectives remained top of mind for the strategic teams: 

  1. Take advantage of ample outdoor spaces to create a unified event experience on the Anaheim Campus
  2. Taking a forward-thinking approach to event planning by showcasing what's next in the industry
  3. Introduce attendees to a unexpected side of Anaheim by infusing local culture into the conference

Food and Beverage Innovations
The arrival festivities continued later on Sunday evening after the opening general session. Another ACC outdoor space, the Arena Plaza was the site for the welcome reception. Catering Services pulled out all the stops, with a pop-up collaboration featuring three local celebrity chefs from well-known California food trucks. The concept of “threes” extended to beverages as well, with different types of martinis, bourbon cocktails and California wines available to sip and savor. From SoCal’s popular date shakes to smoked rib-eye grilled to order, it was a true celebration of the best of local cuisine.

The trend of shattering expectations of food and beverage options for group events continued throughout the rest of the conference.

“It's all about sharing the best of the best and what's new, what's trendy, what they’d never seen before,” said Debbie Juliani, Director of Marketing & VIP Services, Catering Services. “We did ramen for 500 people, which was challenging but we wanted to step out of the box and do something that no one would ever expect.”

About Anaheim

Located conveniently between Los Angeles and San Diego, Anaheim is a vibrant metropolis spanning more than 50 square miles in Orange County, California. A temperate climate and 300 days of sunshine make it easy for visitors to enjoy a vibrant arts, dining and entertainment scene all year long. With 1.8 million square feet of function space at the convention center, 150-plus hotels and proximity to four local airports, the city is uniquely primed to host memorable meetings and events of any scale.

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Creating an Arrivals Plaza
e4 attendees were able to take immediate advantage of ACC’s ample outdoor space from the minute they arrived at the conference. Guests were dropped off at the Grand Plaza, a pedestrian only area between the three hotels, where an open-air lounge provided an all-in-one experience with hotel registration and luggage drop-off. Instead of departing immediately for their rooms, attendees enjoyed a the SoCal sunshine while exploring pop-up food and beverage activations by Catering Servicesincluding a smoked tacos station, Mexican-style corn, Newport Beach’s famous chocolate-covered bananas and a signature cocktail with dry ice.

“There’s only one other year that we’ve used convention center space, so part of our concern was losing that camaraderie and networking when people see each other in the lobby or wherever it may be,” Watson said. “Having the Grand Plaza was fantastic—it really does instill that campus feeling for Anaheim and gives planners that common area.”

How Were the Objectives Achieved?

A highlight of every e4 conference is the opportunity to explore the local area. In Anaheim, that included a host of several events, including a buyout of the House of Blues and a silent disco on the Lanai Deck at Hilton Anaheim. The pinnacle activity, however, was an afternoon excursion to Huntington Beach.

“Usually everybody splinters off to different tours and activities and then comes back together for dinner  Maritz Global Events said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to do a beach party and keep everybody together?” said Visit Anaheim’s Abel.

That concept evolved into a day of surf and sun at SeaLegs at the Beach, an outdoor oceanside venue in Huntington Beach just 20 minutes south of Anaheim. There was something for everyone at the big beach bash, including a local shopping shuttle for those who didn’t want to get their toes in the sand. Surf lessons filled up quickly, while others played beach volleyball or enjoyed food truck bites and alcoholic beverages right on the sand. The highlight of the afternoon, however, was the rare opportunity for attendees to just relax and rejuvenate—like a local.

“We wanted to show our clients there’s more to Anaheim than people may know and that they have choices in whatever destination we go to, things they may not think about” Watson said. “And what would locals do if they were going to go to the beach? Just hang out, have fun with a casual afternoon of play.”

SeaLegs at the Beach Excursion

The Results

e4 proved to be an engaging, inspiring and thought-provoking week in Anaheim—one that surprised returning guests with a new side of Anaheim and delighted those who were discovering the city for the first time.

“Anaheim performed great,” said Watson. “People truly loved that arrival experience and how we utilized that space. They really liked going out to the beach—it was something different and unexpected. Catering Services just did a phenomenal job. I have worked with Visit Anaheim on a previous occasion and the trust is there that they will make it happen. Great remarks all the way around.”

A Local Welcome 

An amenity bar awaited e4 attendees at the arrivals block party, held on the Grand Plaza of the Anaheim Convention Center. The locally inspired gift bag put a spotlight on innovation and entrepreneurism right here in Orange County.

Freewaters: 
Known for its colorful footwear, this surf-inspired brand is based in San Clemente but supports clean drinking water projects around the world.

Stance Socks:
Stylish socks from this San Clemente can transform any outfit. With wild patterns and bold prints, wearers can choose a pair that captures their unique personality.

Purpose Jewelry: 
Handcrafted by women rescued from human trafficking, these necklaces, bracelets, earrings and rings serve a higher purpose. The Irvine-based social enterprise organization has employed hundreds of women around the world and provides personal skills training, education, health care and counseling for those in need.

Build-your-own ramen for the final sit-down lunch was just the cherry on top of an incredible week of culinary surprises. Paying homage to California’s farm-to-fork culture was a farmers market salad served in garden planter boxes and mason jars with hand-pickled vegetables, all sourced within a 150-mile radius. The experiential element remained in the forefront even during breaks, when Aramark created  activations like chocolate bark made-to-order with liquid nitrogen, mini cookie dough cones and watermelon pizza slices.

“We want to be interactive with our guests,” Juliani explained. “People want something different, something fresh. … We make sure that we put that in the mix of what we're doing.”

Annual Customer Conference Shows Attendees How to Live Like a Local