The 24th annual Experiential Marketing Summit kicked off May 18 at MGM Grand Las Vegas with a theme that meets the moment: human connection in the digital age. As AI automates nearly every facet of business—and daily life—live experiences are increasingly the last line of defense for brands aiming to build real, meaningful relationships with real people. And EMS 2026 was designed, from the ground up, to prove it.
This year’s show brought new energy to the floor, deeper programming on measurement and impact, and more ways than ever to connect with peers on- and off-site. Read on for a recap of everything that went down on day one.
FIELD TRIPS
Off-site tours are an EMS tradition, and 2026 delivered the most varied lineup yet. The day kicked off with a private, lights-on, behind-the-scenes tour of Universal Horror Unleashed, featuring an exclusive walkthrough of two haunted house experiences on rotation at the permanent Las Vegas attraction.
For attendees in search of some creative inspo, a trip to Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart and its surreal story-driven, art-centric environment, all designed for interactivity and discovery, offered a masterclass in experiential design.
A new addition to the field trip roster this year was a tour of the PUMA Las Vegas flagship, which directly followed a session with the brand’s director of direct to consumer store development. Visitors got to experience, firsthand, the venue’s key design themes of discovery, exploration and exclusivity.
THE FORUMS
EMS 2026 programming launched with two dedicated pre-conference forums. Senior brand-side marketers gathered for the invite-only B-to-B Executive Forum, a half-day deep dive that opened with a keynote on the “Rise of the Transformation Economy” before moving into a trust-focused panel featuring leaders from Cisco and ServiceNow. A strategy lab rounded out the afternoon.
Meanwhile, exhibit and trade show leaders had their own dedicated home at the Exhibit Strategies & Trade Show Forum, presented by Sparks. The session offered a full slate of programming built specifically for exhibit pros, spanning candid conversations and panels with marketers from Kia America, GE HealthCare and Bosch on smarter exhibit strategies that go beyond traditional ROI metrics.
HALL OF IDEAS
The Hall of Ideas has always been a core element of EMS, but for 2026, based on attendee feedback, exhibit guidelines were overhauled to permit bigger, more dimensional builds, allowing exhibitors to bring more comprehensive and interactive booth experiences to the show floor. In addition, content sessions were moved off the floor into dedicated breakout spaces, giving the hall breathing room and the spotlight it deserves.
Community meetups in the hall were also on tap, with gatherings for curated groups, like EMS first-timers, plus the Opening Reception that gave attendees a chance to mix and mingle.
MEASUREMENT IN FOCUS
A through-line of this year’s programming is a commitment to proving impact, and EMS started strong on day one. Across multiple sessions, speakers tackled the tactics that actually move the needle, from CultureCon founder Imani Ellis sharing the playbook behind her community-driven event strategy and how her team measures what matters, to Intel’s strategy for using hard data to prove ROI to stakeholders.
EX AWARDS
The industry’s most anticipated night of the year, the Ex Awards Gala, brought the experiential marketing community together to celebrate the 2026 Ex Awards, the best event campaigns of the year—and the marketers who engineered them. And honorees took the “main character energy” theme to heart.
The evening’s highest honor, the Grand Ex Award, went to Google Cloud, and agency partners Opus Agency and Gramercy Tech, for “Tech Immersion 2025” training events, a sophisticated and complex experiential learning program marked by immersive and discoverable soundscapes, community moments and a flexible design.
And that’s a wrap on day one. Stay tuned for more action from EMS 2026.
