Meetings, Events, Exhibitions & Convention Management SIG

The Meetings, Events, Exhibitions, and Conventions Management (MEECM) SIG provides opportunities for cross-collaboration, information sharing, and bridge building across all segments of the hospitality industry and interested groups (e.g., teachers, researchers, industry/practitioners) in the multi-faceted area of meetings and events.

Chair

 [email protected]

Vice Chair

 [email protected]

ABOUT OUR SIG LEADERSHIP 

Meet your SIG Chair

Shawn Jung, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at Purdue University. He has global experience in the hospitality and events industry, having worked with Shepard Exposition Services in the U.S. and COEX Intercontinental Hotel in South Korea. Dr. Jung earned his MBA and Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His research focuses on sustainable event tourism, event experience design, and technology integration. He has published in leading academic journals, including Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, and Tourism Management, and serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Convention and Event Tourism and Event Management Journal.

Meet your SIG Vice Chair

Jessica Wiitala, Ph.D., MBA, CMM, is an Assistant Professor of Event Management at High Point University, where she teaches courses in experience design, experiential and services marketing, event sponsorship, finance, and risk management. She’s even taken students abroad, leading a study abroad program that culminated at IMEX Frankfurt. She brings over a decade of industry experience in hospitality and event operations, including hotel group sales, boutique property management, and large-scale venue services. 

Her research focuses on tourism risk perception, experience design, event marketing, and professional resiliency, with growing interests in transformative event and tourism strategies. Her work appears in top, A-ranked journals such as the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and Event Management. She also serves on the Editorial Board for Event Management. She has supported event scholarship by serving on the scientific committees for the 7th International Conference on Events (ICE2025) and the inaugural International Conference on Destinations, Events and Sports (ICDES). She also regularly presents at academic and industry conferences.