The Corporate Event Marketing Association (CEMA), a PCMA subsidiary, closed its 2026 Summit in Toronto, Canada, having staged the largest gathering in the organisation’s 27-year history.
This year marked only the second time in the organisation’s history that the Summit has been held outside the United States.
More than 850 corporate event marketers, strategists, and industry partners gathered at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, 9–11 August for three days of practitioner-led education, global case studies, and conversations under this year’s theme, ‘Where the World Comes Together’.
The Summit welcomed 383 first-time participants, with 19 countries represented.
Sherrif Karamat, CAE, president & CEO, PCMA and CEMA, said: “As events leaders face increasingly complex challenges around leadership, AI, audience engagement, and business impact, that spirit of collaboration only grows more valuable. And as this community keeps expanding globally, it’s what will keep helping events leaders advance their organisations, develop their teams, and create meaningful impact for years to come.”
Event programming across the three-day Summit focused on three pillars – impact, influence, and intention.
Main Stage highlights included a keynote from Ebony Beckwith, executive coach, founder of Framework; Innovation Nation pitches and a CMO fireside chat with Contentful’s Elizabeth Maxson. The closing keynote was delivered by Omar Johnson, CEO and founder, Øpus United and Øpus Intelligence.
The CEMA Town Hall, moderated by Melissa Meloro, VP, Sparks, heard PCMA and CEMA leaders detail how direct member feedback is reshaping the roadmap.
“You told us you want and need dedicated programming built for where you are within an organisation – and it’s not more general sessions,” said Karamat.
CEMA’s enhanced executive event portfolio now includes Executive Forum, Exhale and Executive Mystery Retreats.
The Events Marketing ROI Benchmarking Model and Toolkit were previewed as the latest tool for event marketers to prove the value of what they do. The product is built by corporate event marketers, for corporate event marketers, giving this industry a credible way to measure and prove exactly what events are worth. Early findings were shared during a breakout session, with the full model designed as an evergreen, annually updated benchmark.
RainFocus took top honors at this year’s Innovation Nation, the Summit platform where participants share how creative technology and unexpected partnerships helped to solve real-world event challenges. Mark Williams, vice president of Strategic Programs and Experiences at RainFocus, delivered the winning pitch on MCP, his organisation’s AI-powered event scheduling.
Williams grounded the concept in a scenario every event marketer recognises: “Picture this: two weeks before your event. 300 sessions, 20 rooms, speaker conflicts, and someone just told you your biggest draw sold out last year and needs a bigger room. That’s a spreadsheet nightmare.” Williams described how RainFocus now connects that live event data directly to the AI tools organisations already use.
