Second annual Spirit of Hospitality Summit takes event to new heights with fresh sessions, speaker lineup

October 5, 2023

Written By: Rebecca Hoffa, rhoffa@purdue.edu

People sit in rows in a full room listening to a speaker at a podium.

On Oct. 19 and 20, hundreds of industry professionals and alumni will arrive on Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus to attend the second annual Spirit of Hospitality Summit curated by the White Lodging-J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM). This distinct two-day event offers opportunities for industry leaders, alumni, faculty and students to network and learn from sessions that explore key topics in experience innovation, including digital transformation, experience design, luxury, sustainability, entertainment, technology and more.

“The summit is our way of augmenting our academic programs and our research by bringing together all of our stakeholders – industry partners, students, alumni, faculty – to continue to explore what’s at the frontier of our respective industries that we serve in the school,” said Ceridwyn King, White Lodging Services Head of HTM.

Alongside King and a committee of roughly 15 undergraduate HTM students, Stephen Leitch, clinical assistant professor and HTM director of undergraduate programs and student engagement, is leading the efforts to blend the school’s four focus areas into an unforgettable event for all who attend. Leitch noted there are many significant speakers coming to this year’s event, including introductory keynote Kendra Bracken-Ferguson, founder and CEO of BrainTrust, as well as notable individuals from leading organizations, such as Amazon, IBM, International Foodservice Manufacturers Association, Pacers Sports & Entertainment, White Lodging, and Walt Disney World.

Seven women and one man pose with a plaque in a networking reception.

“It’s exciting; it’s fun,” Leitch said. “It helps to put Purdue on the map and showcase what we do here. We’ve got four majors. It’s not just hospitality and tourism management — it’s selling and sales management, financial counseling and planning, and retail management. If you look at the speaker list, there’s very few just focused on hotels and restaurants. It’s much broader — leadership development, marketing — things that are applicable to all these areas.”

In addition to the noteworthy speakers, on Oct. 19, the summit will feature a networking reception, which is named in honor of the late HTM lecturer Keith Molter. It will allow attendees to network, learn more about local businesses and explore opportunities to connect with HTM research centers. It will also present an award to a small business in the Greater Lafayette area that promotes leadership in the community. On Oct. 20, an industry roundtable will take place for industry leaders and Purdue faculty to engage in thought-provoking discussion about experience-related fields in the era of artificial intelligence.

“There’s two days, 32 sessions, and so you have a choice from anything from digital transformation to sports entertainment to culture to sustainability and starting a business — you name it,” Leitch said. “You have the opportunity to go to as many or few sessions as you want. It’s a professional development opportunity as well as networking with other industry folks and future leaders — our students.”

The second day of the conference will culminate in a celebration gala, which will take on a 1970s theme this year, complete with pinball machines, a live band and some planned surprises.

Libby Loprete and Madi Lindsey stand back-to-back in business attire in a grassy area

The Spirit of Hospitality Summit is part of a larger Spirit of Hospitality Week within HTM to provide professional development and networking opportunities to students. The students who help plan the summit gain even more through real-world event planning experience. Madi Lindsey, one of the co-presidents for the Spirit of Hospitality Summit student committee, explained that helping plan the summit has provided an exceptional opportunity to gain hands-on experience in event planning through a large-scale event.

“Not every student can say they’ve had this kind of experience in general but especially this kind of event to this extent — I think it’s really unique and something that will stick out,” Lindsey said. “It’s real planning. It’s real events.”

Fellow co-president Libby Loprete echoed these thoughts, noting her excitement to see some of her fellow committee members experience their hard work come to life at the industry conference.

“When people want to get involved, that’s when you know it’s been a successful event,” Loprete said. “I’m excited to see how our members experience it — going through last year, there were so many emotions.”

Last year, the Spirit of Hospitality Summit drew about 1,100 people, and this year, Leitch said the event is on track to match or possibly outpace last year’s attendance, bringing in more industry leaders as well as others from across Purdue’s campus, such as the School of Industrial Engineering and the Fusion Studio for Entertainment and Engineering.

“When you walk through and you feel the energy and see that everybody’s clicking and everybody’s walking out getting something out of it, that’s what I’m looking forward to,” Leitch said. “The energy was palpable last year. There was just so much excitement around people being together.”

The Spirit of Hospitality Summit is already becoming a staple within the school, and King and Leitch both anticipate that the event will continue to gain traction and grow with time.

“I’m really excited as more people, both on campus and outside of campus, see the value of the way we want to bring people from different facets together to learn about experience innovation,” King said. “I’m looking forward to seeing the different people who come out and engage with people they perhaps otherwise wouldn’t have.”

Register for the event and view the full summit schedule on the Spirit of Hospitality Summit website. Registration is free for all Purdue faculty, staff and students.