Productivity Expert Juliet Funt to Speak at HSMAI'S MEET West Conference


NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Feb 18, 2014) - Juliet Funt, humorous business speaker and daughter of the late Allen Funt, creator and host of the TV show Candid Camera from the 1940s to 1980s, will be the keynote speaker at the 17th annual HSMAI's MEET West event, presented by Questex Hospitality + Travel.

The event, to be held June 16-17 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront in California, is expected to draw more than 500 attendees this year, including leading meeting planners and suppliers representing hotels, resorts and meeting venues, convention and visitors bureaus and technology, event services and promotional and marketing products vendors.

Funt, a nationally recognized expert in coping with the "Age of Overload," will discuss her WhiteSpace® concept designed to help audiences become more engaged and more creative despite their too-busy, over-committed lives.

Marilyn McHugh, vice president of global events for Questex Hospitality + Travel, said Funt is a high-impact, high-energy speaker who uses humor "to help people shift the way they think about daily pressures so they can prioritize their time, reclaim their passion for work and reach their goals.

"As part of our commitment to delivering dynamic educational content, we are proud to present relevant and inspiring speakers like Juliet to energize our conference attendees," she said. "The meeting and event-planning professionals who will participate in MEET West will be engaged on topics relevant to both their personal and business development."

Funt is the founder and owner of WhiteSpace at Work, a training and consulting firm that helps organizations, their leaders and employees flip the norms of business in order to reclaim their creativity, productivity and engage people.

Using thought-provoking content and immediately actionable tools, Funt's deeper mission is to show organizations how WhiteSpace can change the negative patterns and behaviors that prevent them from achieving optimum results. Her clients include a number of Fortune 100 companies including American Express, P&G, Costco and Pepsi and span a wide array of industries including financial services, technology and manufacturing as well as the military.

HSMAI's MEET (Meetings, Events, Education, & Technology) expos are trade shows designed for hospitality sales and marketing professionals to present their properties, destinations and services to the industry's leading planners and decision-makers. Questex Hospitality + Travel manages the MEET series of events under a strategic agreement with Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI).

Advance registration is complimentary through June 13 for qualified meeting planners and event professionals. For exhibitor inquiries and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Victoria Farrell, Questex Travel Group regional account representative, at (212) 895-8268 or vfarrell@questex.com.

For more information about HSMAI's MEET series of events, visit MEETConference.com

About Questex Hospitality + Travel

Questex Hospitality + Travel, the largest multimedia organization in the world dedicated to travel and lodging, drives revenue, productivity and value-creation for these related industries through strategic investment and deal-making forums, powerful lead-generation tools, interactive online business solutions, world-class events and industry-leading publications.

Questex Travel Group, a division of Questex Hospitality + Travel, serves travel marketers globally through its TravelAgentCentral.com, LuxuryTravelAdvisor.com, TravelAgentUniversity and International Meetings Review online portals. It operates the leading luxury travel booking site, FiveStarAlliance.com, publishes Travel Agent and Luxury Travel Advisor magazines and produces leisure events: Luxury Travel Exchange International, ULTRA Luxury Summit, Young Travel Leaders Conference and Hawaii Travel Exchange and MICE events: Global Meeting & Incentive Travel Exchanges and CONFEC conferences.

Questex Hospitality + Travel also provides business development, marketing and training services to national tourism organizations/destination marketing associations, hotel, gaming, resort and cruise companies, online travel agencies and travel advisors worldwide. Questex Hospitality + Travel is a division of Questex Media Group LLC, headquartered in Newton, Mass., with offices throughout the world.

HSMAI's MEET