Ten Years of Industry Recognition
Event Marketer has announced its 2026 B-to-B Dream Team, marking the 10th anniversary of the recognition program that celebrates outstanding event marketing professionals. This year's selection includes nine honorees from major corporations who excel in executing conferences, trade shows, and corporate events.
The 2026 Dream Team comprises Collin Hummel, Director-Global Partnerships & Events at 3M; Tom Flynn, VP-Global Events & Experiences, B2B at American Express; Jeremy Youett, Head of Proprietary Events at Atlassian; Dannielle Simpson, North America Event Marketing Manager at Chiquita; Pam Corcoran, VP-Global Events at CrowdStrike; Amy Loskutoff, Director-Events at Google Cloud; Shawn Wagner, VP-Global Events at HPE; Danielle Damiano Medeiros, Global Head of Tentpole Events, Executive COE at LinkedIn; and Julie DeQuattro, Senior Manager-Global Marketing Events at UKG.
AI Impact and In-Person Event Value
Across conversations with the honorees, several industry themes emerged, with artificial intelligence being a prominent topic of discussion. While AI technology is making positive impacts by streamlining event operations and logistics, personalizing experiences, and unlocking efficiencies, the professionals recognize it is also reinforcing the value of in-person experiences.
"Given the fast pace of AI and what it's doing right now, it leaves us a little skeptical of what we're seeing online," says Shawn Wagner, VP-Global Events at HPE. "With that skepticism, I believe people are going to want to go to in-person events. They're going to want to touch and feel and look someone in the eyes when they're talking to them and know that they're having that real, human experience."
Quality Over Quantity Approach
The Dream Team members emphasized the growing importance of prioritizing quality over quantity in engagement and audience curation. This approach spans across their diverse portfolios, which include both large-scale global conferences and trade show presentations as well as intimate, curated meetings and customer events.
The honorees agreed on a fundamental principle: success lies in getting the right people into the right room at the right time, regardless of event format or scale.
Event Marketer's recognition program has spent the past decade highlighting luminaries in the business-to-business event sector, examining their career journeys, portfolios, sources of inspiration, best practices, and industry predictions. The 2026 honorees continue this tradition, demonstrating that for these professionals, event marketing represents more than just a career—it's a calling.
Based on reporting by Event Marketer. Read the original article.