We are delighted to welcome Kelly Knowlen, currently the Vice President of Sales Engagement and Special Events at Hilton, as our guest today. Kelly joins us today to share her career journey and talk about her work in the meetings and events industry. This episode will be of particular interest to event planners who own their businesses and want to increase their engagement, using events as a strategic tool for their organizations.
Career Background
Kelly has been with Hilton for over three decades, holding various positions that have taken her from sales management to corporate leadership. She now serves as Vice President of Sales Engagement and Special Events, overseeing their internal conferences and incentive programs in addition to about 200 customer events annually.
Culture
Hilton’s approach to meetings and events is rooted in company culture, creating exceptional guest experiences, empowering teams, and ensuring purpose-driven leadership. That culture guides their event design and execution, influencing everything from internal gatherings to large-scale customer conferences.
Shifting Attendee Expectations
Post-pandemic work trends, hybrid roles, and the arrival of Gen Z in the workforce have changed attendee needs. Research has revealed four key priorities:
The Meeting Maximizer Report
Hilton partnered with Ipsos and generational expert Jason Dorsey to survey 1,000 event attendees, uncovering what energizes or frustrates them. Findings confirmed that in-person events are still highly valued across generations, especially for career advancement and building relationships, even though Gen Z attendees often tend to feel anxious and seek extra support.
World’s Most Welcoming Events Playbook
Hilton developed the World’s Most Welcoming Events Playbook as part of its Event Ready program to provide event planners with practical, budget-friendly strategies to make their gatherings more inclusive and engaging. It combines research findings, ROI insights, and step-by-step recommendations that planners can adapt for any event, from small meetings to conferences with 10,000 attendees.
Practical Event Adjustments
The playbook highlights the adjustments made to Hilton’s events, such as sending menus and detailed dress code visuals in advance, hosting first-timer meetups to ease networking anxiety, providing welcome hosts and social channels for pre-event connection, offering virtual etiquette classes, and structuring schedules with more rest and personal time.
AI in Event Planning
Even though AI can assist with messaging, idea generation, and streamlining planning processes, the personal interactions, relationship-building, and in-person networking that define successful events remain essential. Hilton employs AI across technology platforms and customer service operations, while Kelly focuses on using it to enhance their attendee experience without forsaking the human connection.
Looking Ahead
Hilton is expanding the World’s Most Welcoming Events initiative globally, conducting research with event attendees worldwide, to gain a better understanding of regional and cultural differences. The next phase will explore new markets, such as large-scale weddings, and refine best practices for every type of event. Their goal is to provide actionable insights and solutions that ensure all attendees are informed, comfortable, and excited about participating.
Bio: Kelly Knowlen
Kelly Knowlen is a dynamic leader in the global hospitality industry with over 30 years of experience at Hilton, where she currently serves as Vice President, Sales Engagement and Special Events. In this role, she leads the execution and strategic priorities of Hilton Worldwide Sales customer events, industry events, and internal conferences for the Americas.
Under her leadership, Hilton has launched groundbreaking initiatives such as the World’s Most Welcoming Events campaign, which leverages original research to unveil the future of the meetings and events industry. In recent years, Knowlen led the commercial workstreams to create and launch Hilton EventReady with CleanStay and the EventReady Playbook, a proprietary tool providing curated resources for teams and event planner customers.
Before her current role, she spearheaded the launch of Global Week of Sales and Ready to Rise, two global initiatives focused on increasing sales engagement across the enterprise.
Beginning her Hilton career as a Sales Manager at DoubleTree Concourse in Atlanta, Knowlen has since held more than 10 key positions, including Director of Sales and Marketing at several Hilton properties. Her journey continued as Regional Director of Sales and Marketing and into critical roles at Hilton Corporate, working in sales operations, global engagement, and events.
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