Experiential Education Powers MPI Southern California Chapter's Annual [WE]Con Event

Just over a year ago, in late March 2024, I visited San Diego for first time to attend the Women in Tourism & Hospitality Conference (WITH). I remember falling in love with the destination during the Uber ride from the San Diego International Airport (SAN) to the hotel, admiring everything from the city’s palm-tree-lined streets to the Spanish Revival-style homes along the coast to the excitement buzzing from the Petco Park bleachers—even on a day when the Padres weren’t playing.

That trip is also when I met Mandi Graziano, vice president global accounts at HPN Global. She was delivering a breakout session on networking at WITH and I was in desperate need of stepping up my game. I sat in the back of the room and took notes on everything Graziano said that day.

One year later, I found myself back in San Diego for a different conference—MPI Southern California Chapter’s (MPISCC) annual [WE]Con—in a breakout room for another session about networking from Graziano. This time, though, I had the opportunity to deliver that session with her.

It was the picture-perfect full-circle type of moment, and it gave me the chance to once again experience the magic touch San Diego puts on meetings and events.

Here’s what it was like to attend MPISCC’s annual [WE]Con and experience an event known for featuring education that's one step ahead.

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The History Behind MPI Southern California Chapter’s [WE]Con

A staple on MPISCC’s yearly calendar of events, [WE]Con has drawn meetings industry professionals from Southern California and beyond for the past three decades. 

“Indeed, [WE]Con has a long history as it started almost 25-30 years ago as MPISCC WES (Weekend Educational Summit), having attended many of them,” said Carlos Murillo, director of national accounts at La Quinta Resort & Club and MPISCC president-elect for 2026. 

The annual weekend education conference started with the simple mission of bringing industry professionals together, and year-after-year successes continue to build [WE]Con up as a social SoCal event not to be missed.

"[WE]Con was created for the reason we all are a part of this industry—to connect and bring people together. That is where the [WE] in [WE]Con came from,” said Joe Martin, partner and director of conferences at BDI Events and 2019-2020 president of MPISCC. “That connection organically happens at the event. It’s not forced, it’s not planned, it just happens over unique experiences that attendees get to share with one another, and that’s why stronger relationships are formed."

[Related Podcast: The Z: Navigating the World of Networking With Mandi Graziano]

Experiential Education at [WE]Con

The “unique experiences” [WE]Con attendees share with one another are something MPISCC prioritizes and takes pride in offering at the education conference every year.

“It's been said in the past that [WE]Con is a space where they like members to try new things, experiment with trends in the industry and see how it lands,” Graziano said. “I saw this a couple years ago when [WE]Con brought an improv troupe that is now known as Freestyle+ to the stage. They've invited Amani [Roberts] and I to record our Adventures in Business Live! podcast from the conference, even on the stage. They've had members offer tastings, guac-rock competitions and sound baths before anyone knew what a sound bath was. The locations change from year to year but the feeling of being in an innovative environment where new things are tried, tested and experimented with for the meetings industry remains the same.”

That experimentation could be seen throughout this year’s event, too, when instead of giving one speaker 45 minutes to deliver Friday morning’s general session, MPISCC partnered with Unique Speaker Bureau International (USBI) to feature three speakers who each gave 15-minute “sneak peek” previews of what their breakout sessions later in the day would focus on. After the three sprint sessions, attendees had a better understanding of the topics to choose from and what to expect of each speaker, making it easier for them to pick which breakout to attend that afternoon. 

“Year over year, [planning] really starts with [WE]Con’s roots of being an educational conference space where we want and can be revolutionary with not only the topics we choose but in the way they are delivered and experienced,” said Gabe Romero, senior sales executive at Sheraton San Diego Resort and [WE]Con speaker co-chair.

“Our goal is simple yet ambitious: to create an experience that challenges, informs and inspires—year after year,” added Jennifer Minzey, senior meeting planner at SCPMG Meetings & Events and VP of education for MPISCC.

At this year’s [WE]Con, one standout moment that challenged, informed and inspired all at once was a keynote presentation delivered by Andre Norman, “From Prison to Harvard,” which Minzey and Romero both described as “the most impactful session of the entire event.”

“[Norman’s] passion, authenticity and powerful storytelling captivated the audience, making it impossible not to reflect on the journey that led him to prison—and the transformation that followed,” Minzey said. “Andre wasn’t just an inspiring speaker delivering a heartfelt message—he genuinely lived by his principles. He took the time to connect with attendees individually, offering guidance, support and even direct assistance, including to me…He is the definition of someone who strives to make the world a better place, one person at a time.”

Teary eyes throughout the room reflected the impact Norman left on his audience that morning.

As education continued throughout the afternoon and the rest of the conference, [WE]Con attendees learned valuable lessons from speakers including:

• Richard Bliss, CEO of BlissPoint and an internationally renowned professional speaker, whose knowledge of digital-first leadership and recognition as a distinguished LinkedIn Top Voices Influencer makes him a legend at cracking the professional social media platform’s algorithm. 
• Robin Banks, an international speaker and “mind power coach ,” who used humor and hard truths to help attendees unpack the direct connection between personal standards, consistent effort and lasting success. (And whose energy was electrifyingly infectious!)
• Sucheta Rawal, a keynote speaker and professional food and travel writer whose bylines include Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast, CNN, TIME and more, who told stories from her personal travel experiences to share how cultural dining practices and intentional food choices can deepen inclusivity, spark meaningful connections and elevate shared experiences around the table.
• Lisa Powell Graham, a TEDx and inspirational keynote speaker, women’s leadership coach and retreat leader, and political trainer, who explored how courage and compassion can be superpowers for transformative leadership in a world filled with uncertainty. 

Additional breakout sessions included a candid conversation with three experienced hotel general managers who pulled back the curtain and gave a behind-the-scenes perspective on hotel operations; and a timely panel discussion about security and safety at hotels/meetings and events, featuring four industry professionals who shared firsthand accounts of recent safety threats, including the L.A. wildfires, Maui wildfires and the New Year’s Day attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans; and my session with Graziano, “The XYZ’s of Networking: Building Business Relationships Across the Generations.” 

MPISCC's [WE]Con was certainly an event packed full of experiential education, but it also prioritized the most important thing of all, the reason we all work in the meetings and events industry in the first place: To bring people together to form genuine connections.

I left San Diego not only with knowledge about how to boost my LinkedIn presence and what goes on behind the scenes in hotel operations, but also with new friends and industry connections who I know will be a part of my network for years to come. 

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