71: How the Meetings and Events Industry Changes the World with Mike Massari

We are honored and happy to be speaking to an incredible businessperson today! Mike Massari is the Chief Sales Officer of Caesars Entertainment and the new Co-chair of Meetings Mean Business.

Mike has had a massive impact on the Meetings and Events industry. In today’s episode, he talks about his career and discusses how he operates his business. He also explains the value of Meetings Mean Business and shares some points for business owners to focus on to build and grow their businesses and keep in touch with people.

We hope you enjoy listening to our conversation with Mike Massari today!

Michael (Mike) Massari’s bio:

Chief Sales Officer Michael Massari is a leader and innovator in the travel and tourism industry as the leader for the meetings, conventions, and events business for Caesars Entertainment’s portfolio with more than 50 U.S. properties. 

Michael Massari was recently appointed co-chair for Meetings Means Business and has served on the board for Meeting Professionals International. 

Since 2011, he has successfully led a nationwide reorganization of Caesars Entertainment’s property meetings businesses into one team including sales, catering, convention services, and banquet operations. This provides unique benefits for customers. The restructured sales force-placed team members in metro areas throughout the country to be closer to customers. 

The unique organizational structure gave the company a competitive advantage, changing the paradigm for the company’s meetings business and redefining managing multiple properties within a market. The groundbreaking strategies paid significant dividends for Caesars Entertainment, increasing revenue and market share and establishing Caesars Entertainment as a leader in the meetings and events industry under Massari’s guidance. 

In March 2020, Caesars Entertainment opened CAESARS FORUM, a 550,000 square-foot conference facility that redefined offerings for meetings and events in Las Vegas. 

Massari also made a significant impact on Atlantic City. He staked his career on the building and opening of the Waterfront Conference Center, which is an innovative meeting experience and the largest hotel conference center complex from Baltimore to Boston. This ushered in a new era for Atlantic City, resulting in a substantial boost in travel.

Massari has spent more than twenty years in various executive roles within Caesars Entertainment. Before he was appointed the head of the meetings and events division, Massari was the Vice President of Las Vegas Meetings. 

A Philadelphia native, Massari earned his bachelor’s degree from Cabrini University before achieving an MBA from the University of California, Irvine. He currently resides in Las Vegas with his wife and two daughters. 

Athletics

Mike sees it as no coincidence that so many executives today have had athletic careers. He is happy to have had an athletic background because those experiences have helped him in his business career.

Mike’s career

Mike has had a wonderful career! He worked at a catered event for the first time in Pennsylvania, in 1985, at the age of fifteen, and since then, all his work has involved catered events. He has done every job possible in the meetings and events world and enjoyed every moment! He has been with Caesars Entertainment for the last twenty years.  

Keeping in touch

LinkedIn has been a savior for Mike to know what others are up to and keeping in touch with them. 

Properties

Caesars Entertainment has many different properties in their company. Most of their business happens at their properties in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Lake Tahoe, and Reno. 

Sales

Mike came up through the operations side of the business before transitioning to the sales side, where he spent a good portion of his career.

Sell or die 

Mike runs a business that has only one channel. It is direct sales because that is the only way that you can purchase a meeting or event. In Mike’s business, if they don’t sell, they die. So they spend a lot of their time on sales. 

Operating a business

Mike urges everyone in the Meetings and Events business to keep reminding themselves that they are operating a business.

Mike Massari’s formula for a successful sales process

In a small business, the proprietor is often the primary salesperson. To transition to a larger business, they would have to put an executable, scalable, and repeatable sales process in place. That process should not be based on the charisma or the network of the proprietor, according to Mike. Unfortunately, most small business owners tend to struggle with doing that.

Team members

Mike has a great team! His team members are treated with dignity and respect. They are happy to have well-paid jobs in a great environment and help execute meetings and events again! 

Las Vegas

For the last thirty years, Las Vegas has been one of the fastest-growing markets in the country. It is now reaching a point where it is big enough to warrant the extra things that smaller cities generally do not have, like the big NHL games. Mike believes that Las Vegas will continue to grow.

Mike Massari and Meetings Mean Business

Meetings Mean Business started just after the recession began in 2007-2008. Mike was a founding member and has been a proud partner ever since then. For Mike, Meetings Mean Business is about advocacy for the Meetings and Events industry. 

There are two things that people tend not to understand about Meetings Mean Business: The first is that nothing good in this world has ever happened without someone having had a meeting first. The second is that every part of society that the Meetings and Events industry touches benefits from meetings and events happening in their community. Meetings Mean Business exists to articulate that to everyone, but mostly to government officials, to help them understand how they can help their communities. 

Get involved

Mike urges everyone in the Meetings and Events industry to get involved with Meetings Mean Business. Many people do not understand what the meetings and events business does, so that needs to be articulated to help them understand. The strength of MMB lies in its distribution, so more people advocating both locally and nationally will ultimately be better for everyone involved.

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Connect with Mike Massari

Email Mike: mmassari@caesars.com