The Business of Meetings 284: Beyond Logistics: How to Create the World’s Most Welcoming Events with Kelly Knowlen
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.
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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Email Kelly Knowlen: kelly.knowlen@hilton.com