Sonia Trejo stumbled into the events industry in 2003 after transitioning away from her career in social work. Her initial role was as meeting-room coordinator at the Anaheim Convention Center, an entry-level position that she fell in love with, as many who fall into this industry do.
“I just love that every day is different,” she said. “We get to do so many things, different types of events, and network with different types of people in different industries.”
Now, more than 20 years later, Trejo was appointed to a new position at the Los Angeles Convention Center: director of events and special projects. In her new role, Trejo is a liasion who helps clients navigate the center’s $2.6 billion expansion and modernization project. She also collaborates with event planners to ensure events run smoothly and seamlessly.
[Related: Crystal Springs Resort Welcomes New Chief Sales Officer]
In this Q&A with Meetings Today, Trejo shared the convention center’s long-term strategy.
Meetings Today: You are stepping into a newly created position, so what’s your strategy for growth in this role, and what will you carry over from your previous role?
Sonia Trejo: Customer service and making sure that our clients have the best experience with us and their attendees as well. As a senior event manager, I worked directly with our clients to manage events in our building. That still continues in my new role; I'll still be working with clients, vendors and contractors.
In your experience, what is the most important thing you’ve learned about working with planners on their events?
Collaboration is huge. We're partners. I'm not just the director of events, I'm an extension of their team. Collaboration is huge when we're planning their event in the building, and that's huge in my new role as well because we have to navigate this expansion.
[Related: Caesars’ Vice President of Meeting Operations Talks Attendee Safety]
What do planners say they like the most about having their shows at the LACC?
I mean across the board, what I keep hearing from our clients, vendors and contractors is that they love our team. They have a great experience working with our teams, whether it be event services, security or parking. I just feel that we collaborate and we really work with them and they enjoy being here. The general-service contractors are constantly telling us, ‘we love being in LA, we love doing shows in LA. You guys are so easy to work with.’ That's always so awesome to hear.
The spotlight for global events is presently shining on Los Angeles. Do you take this into consideration as you step into your new role? How does it affect your planning and programming?
We're thinking long-term because with the expansion, we're adding this additional space, and we're able to now reach out to those events that didn't fit in our building as it exists currently. It's super exciting that we're able to look at things globally and grow our space, but also our portfolio of events that we host here. Events that never looked at or thought of LA because they just couldn't fit are now looking at us. So that's huge.
In Los Angeles, this is such a transformative time for the convention center, for the city. We've got really exciting things coming up here in the next few years. We're hosting five Olympic events during the 2028 Olympics. We're the venue that has the most events under one roof so that's really exciting for us.
Read about more moves and appointments in the meetings industry
