The Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) celebrated excellence in themed entertainment across the globe through its reimagined event, newly named TEA INSPIRE Week.
The event, held at Disneyland Resort – Anaheim, April 13th through 15th, drew nearly 700 industry professionals from 12 countries.
What the TEA INSPIRE week offers
TEA INSPIRE week included the inaugural TEA Leadership Forum, TEA INSPIRE sessions and the much-anticipated Annual Thea Awards Gala.
Candid roundtable discussions and engaging sessions facilitated by Bob Kodzis, Facilitator and Founder, Flight of Ideas Inc completed participants’ forum experiences and resulted in insights that will shape the future direction of many companies.
The INSPIRE program, which was facilitated by Brian Morrow, B Morrow Production and included insights from individual award winners including Roland Mack, Founder and Managing Partner of Europa Park, Susana Tubert, Creative Director, Disney Live Entertainment, and Chevy Humphrey, President and CEO, Museum of Science and Industry Chicago, delivered inspiration, creative solutions, and best practices from across the industry.
The enhancements made to the program, including extended live Q&A with the award recipients, expanded structured and unstructured networking, breakout Q&A sessions for case studies and more time with the Catalyst Award recipients, were deeply appreciated by attendees.
TEA INSPIRE week inspires attendees
“Connecting with designers from around the world and outside of my direct business segment was very enlightening; I loved seeing how others are using similar technology and technique to reach audiences,” reported one attendee in the post-event survey.
Finally, the 29th Annual Thea Awards Gala concluded the week in glamorous style as the industry recognized its latest set of winners of the prestigious awards.
The Thea Awards were founded in 1994 and celebrate hundreds of people and companies for remarkable achievements and contributions to the themed entertainment industry.
Honorees, and their teams share expertise in storytelling, design, economics, logistics, architecture, construction, manufacturing, and more.
“We’re thrilled with the success of INSPIRE week,” said TEA Executive Director, Lindsey Nelson. “We felt this was our chance to bring something innovative and fresh to our industry that they would find valuable, and all the positive feedback we’ve received makes us feel like we did just that.”
TEA announced that TEA INSPIRE Week will move to Hollywood, CA next March 14-16 and next year’s Thea Awards Gala will be held at the Dolby Ballroom, at the home of The Oscars.