NEXT GENERATION SUMMIT

Next Generation Summit
Build Your Place in the Meetings Industry

The NextGen Summit is a space designed to inspire, train, and activate the new generations of the meetings industry.

Aimed at final-year students from careers related to tourism, events, hospitality, and related fields, as well as young professionals with less than five years of experience in the sector, this program seeks to help participants quickly understand how the industry works, identify real opportunities for professional development, and strengthen key skills to build a career with greater clarity, leadership, and projection.

The activity will combine industry vision, leadership, personal branding, LinkedIn, teamwork, an applied challenge, and a special participation by IAPCO, which will present a unique opportunity for Emerging Leaders in Latin America.

Activity Leaders

• Álvaro Rojas
  General Manager, Costa Rica Convention Center
• José Alberto Quan
  Meetings industry, LinkedIn, and personal branding specialist
• Macarena Murillo
  Guest facilitator
• Andrés Castro
  Guest facilitator
• Natalia Roblero
  Guest facilitator

Special Participation

IAPCO — International Association of Professional Congress Organisers

IAPCO will have a special space within the program to present a new regional opportunity aimed at the next generations of professionals in the meetings industry.

This intervention will bring participants closer to the international standards of professionalization, quality, and talent development promoted by IAPCO globally.

In addition, the IAPCO representative may participate, together with the activity coordinators, in the selection process of the winners of the final challenge.

General Agenda

3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Welcome and Introduction to NextGen

Opening of the activity and presentation of the program’s purpose: to help new generations understand the industry, develop key skills, and begin building their place within the professional meetings ecosystem.

3:15 p.m. – 3:35 p.m.

Understanding the Meetings Industry

Where You Stand and Where You Can Grow

A quick and clear immersion into the world of the meetings industry: destinations, convention bureaux, PCOs, DMCs, hotels, venues, associations, organizers, suppliers, buyers, and international organizations.

The objective will be for each participant to understand that the meetings industry is not only about event organization, but also a platform for economic development, knowledge, networking, impact, business, and destination positioning.

3:35 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.

Leading Before Having a Title

Led by Álvaro Rojas

An inspiring and practical space on early leadership, professional purpose, and the development of human skills.

The session will focus on one central idea: leadership does not begin when a person receives a formal title, but when they develop judgment, responsibility, the ability to learn, a service attitude, and a commitment to generating value.

Participants will reflect on how to stand out in the first years of their career, how to build trust, how to adapt to change, and how to prepare to grow in an increasingly demanding, international, and dynamic industry.

4:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

IAPCO Opportunity for Emerging Leaders

A Unique Initiative for Latin America

Special presentation by IAPCO on the opportunity being developed for young talent in the meetings industry across the region.

This block will highlight the importance of professionalizing from the early stages, connecting with international standards, and opening new pathways for training, mentoring, and professional development.

4:30 p.m. – 5:10 p.m.

LinkedIn and Personal Branding for Young Professionals

Led by José Alberto Quan

A practical workshop to strengthen professional presence on LinkedIn and learn how to communicate personal value more effectively.

The focus will not be a generic social media workshop, but rather a session applied to young professionals who are beginning their careers in the meetings industry and need to build visibility, credibility, and relevant connections.

The session will work on how to improve a professional profile, how to communicate who you are even with limited experience, how to transform studies, internships, volunteer work, and projects into professional value, how to publish with purpose, and how to connect with leaders and organizations in the industry.

5:10 p.m. – 5:40 p.m.

Applied Challenge

My First Impact Project for the Industry

Participants will work in teams to solve a practical challenge linked to the future of talent in the meetings industry.

The challenge will be to design an initiative that helps bring more young people closer to the industry, showing its professional opportunities, its impact on destinations, and its value for community development.

Each team must build a brief, clear, and applicable proposal, considering the problem it seeks to solve, the target audience, the main action, the necessary allies, the communication approach, and its possible implementation within 90 days.

5:40 p.m. – 5:55 p.m.

Proposal Presentations and Selection of Winners

Teams will present their proposals before the facilitators and the IAPCO representative.

The selection will consider the clarity of the idea, its real applicability, connection with the meetings industry, creativity, impact potential, quality of communication, and short-term feasibility.

5:55 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Closing

From Participant to Protagonist

The activity will close with an action-oriented message, inviting young participants to stop seeing themselves as observers of the industry and begin positioning themselves as protagonists of their own professional development.

The meetings industry does not need young people waiting for their turn. It needs young people who are prepared, visible, connected, and ready to contribute today.

Expected Outcomes

By the end of the NextGen Leaders Lab, participants will have achieved the following:

• Quickly understand how the meetings industry works.
  • Identify real career opportunities within the ecosystem.
  • Develop an initial perspective on professional leadership.
  • Strengthen personal branding and LinkedIn positioning criteria.
  • Learn about the regional opportunity promoted together with IAPCO.
  • Work as a team on a practical impact challenge.
  • Leave with concrete tools to apply in their daily professional life.

The NextGen Leaders Lab will be an experience designed for new generations to understand the industry, develop skills, build professional visibility, and begin occupying their place in the future of the meetings industry.