KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

More Details

More Details about this year's IFEA Convention

Opening Keynote Speaker

Scheduled to kick off the first official day of the Convention on Monday, October 9, 2023, the Convention Opening Show and Keynote traditionally attracts one of our largest gatherings. Immediately following the show, our Opening Keynote speaker will share their own unique insights and experiences with an inspirational and educational session that can be applied to virtually any aspect of the festivals and events business.

Ripple Effect: Lessons Learned In A Magic Kingdom

Louie Gravance

Speaker, Author, Customer Experience Expert; Louie Gravance Creative Content

Few pebbles in the festivals and events industry pond have created a longer, wider, or deeper ripple effect on other events (and other industries) – of all genres – than Disney. Throughout most of our professional careers Disney has been recognized as a bar to be strived for…in creativity; experience design; cleanliness; merchandising; customer service; and the often-unrecognized creation of memories that can last a lifetime, as a result. To be compared to Disney (in any way) is among the highest compliments that we in the festivals and events industry can receive for our own brands.

Join us at the 66th Annual IFEA Convention, Expo and Retreat for our Opening Keynote Speaker, Louie Gravance, a customer experience expert and author who spent three decades with the Walt Disney World Resort, ranging from live-entertainment experiences to running the customer service training programs through the Disney Institute in Orlando, Florida. Gravance has been credited with “literally changing the consciousness of business in America” through his successful corporate service campaigns and initiatives for companies such as Bank of America, Nikon, Choice Hotels, ING Financial, Microbac Technologies and The American Council of Independent Laboratories, among others. And, helping to keep the magic alive for audiences everywhere, in 2014 his entertainment and training experience was called upon as part of the opening team for the Harry Potter Diagon Alley expansion at Universal, Orlando.

Gravance understands, better than anyone, the origin of ripple effects…how to create them and how to maintain them…through lessons learned in a Magic Kingdom!