The highlight of a recent event in Orlando was a motorcycle show featuring three stunt riders flying through the air, performing stunts and captivating the audience—a moment attendees are sure to remember, according to organizer Chloe Hagle (MPI Greater Orlando Chapter), event planning manager for aVenue Event Group, a full-service event planning, venue management and corporate travel company headquartered in Orlando.

The motorcycle show, held at Orlando Harley-Davidson for aviation aftermarket parts and repair specialists HEICO and Chromalloy, served as the finale of MRO Americas 2026, an aviation maintenance show that attracts more than 17,000 participants to Orlando. More than 1,000 attendees converged on Harley-Davidson for a full night of entertainment that included a live band, an Elton John impersonator, a custom t-shirt station, cigar rolling, photo ops, motorcycle activations and more, according to Hagle.

Seriously unique

“MRO Americas is the most significant aviation maintenance gathering in America and it was important that our client have the brand exposure with this audience,” Hagle says. “This conference is one of the only chances this industry has to meet in person and the client wanted to capitalize on the networking opportunities it provides.”

While hosting the motorcycle show at Harley-Davidson helped to make it unique, there were also some logistical challenges, Hagle says.

“Since Harley operates as a dealership and showroom during the day, we were a bit limited in the time allowed for setup. I had to coordinate with all the vendors to schedule them accordingly so that everything got set in time,” she says. “The facility is also not used to handling 800+ guests at once, which meant we needed to bring in additional power and restrooms so that everything would flow seamlessly. The result was a seriously unique and truly memorable experience for our client and their guests." 

Hand-selected experiences

Orlando makes sense as host city for MRO Americas because it offers the combination of infrastructure, accessibility and industry relevance that a major aviation trade show requires, according to Hagle.

“The Orange County Convention Center can support a large-scale exhibition,” she says. “Orlando International Airport provides strong domestic and international air access, and the region has a meaningful aviation, aerospace, simulation and defense ecosystem. Lastly, the city has the hotel inventory, transportation network and hospitality infrastructure needed to accommodate thousands of attendees, exhibitors, sponsors and related networking events.”

Using creative spaces, non-traditional venues and fun activations gets guests out of their comfort zones in a fun way, according to Hagle, and that is what builds memories and relationships that last far beyond the trade show.  

“We also look at the audience our client is targeting or inviting and curate tailored experiences to drive the most engagement,” she says. “In relation to this event, we had a large male audience, so we hand-selected experiences that would pique their interest such as cigar rolling and a motorcycle show.”

Building a community

Recognizing the different needs of different target audiences, Jennifer Jarmin and the core event team at the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) always keep the attendee experience top of mind when planning the only national event where state regulators, nonbank industry representatives, consumer advocates and policymakers come together to shape nonbank regulation.

More than 900 attendees convened at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando in February for the 2026 NMLS Annual Conference and Training, which featured three general sessions, five concurrent breakouts, a breakfast, a lunch and a “Meet Your Regulator” session (essentially an exhibit hall)—along with two offsite receptions. NMLS (Nationwide Mortgage License System) is a CSBS-owned system that non-bank financial services people are required to use for their businesses, and the conference featured education geared toward system updates/usage and policy that impacts users while also providing great opportunities to network.

“One of our core goals for the conference is to focus on building a community. We offer various ways in which to do this through both formal networking events and offsite receptions, as well as informal items such as a fun run, tabletop conversation starters, an event theme song, community workspaces and more,” says Jarmin, senior director, meeting services for CSBS. “We do our best to provide ways for attendees to have meaningful engagements across audiences by using different-colored lanyards and ribbons for visual awareness. We use an event app that gives attendees opportunity to connect and learn more about each other. We provide good signage, space and time for networking and collaboration.”

Impromptu conversations

One of the challenges Jarmin and her team faces is outreach to new attendees.

“Some industry members find the conference too expensive to attend but find it very valuable to experience,” she says. “We have to establish the right registration fee to cover the cost of the event while making it affordable for people to come.”

It can also be challenging to find a venue with adequate space, offering easy access between sessions on one floor.

“We want the space to have good networking areas so that during breaks and meals the attendees can easily access each other and have comfortable impromptu conversations,” Jarmin says.

Having hotel room blocks that accommodate varied needs has historically been a challenge for host hotels to manage.

“We always fill our regular room block but need to hold the other (scholarship and staff) open until closer to the cut-off date,” Jarmin says. “This usually ends in attendees booking elsewhere and/or we secure an additional room block at a nearby hotel. We cannot accurately track the actual number of hotel rooms that this program needs because of the attendees who book elsewhere.”

The Meet Your Regulator component is a key draw because it offers the opportunity for people from the financial services industry to engage with those who regulate their business, according to Jarmin.

“It is set up with tables for each state agency, and the agency staff are at the tables with materials and branded giveaways,” she says. “The industry attendees roam the room to talk with the regulators most important to them.”

In the past, the space for Meet Your Regulator has been too small, too warm and too crowded, according to Jarmin.

“The Meet Your Regulator event essentially requires a second ballroom. The space that we used at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress was exactly what was needed,” she says. “It was roomy, had windows for natural light and opened into the main hallway outside of the general session room. The attendees easily navigated the space and were happy with the engagements.”

A great place

While the conference needs to remain under one roof, the team also avoids convention centers, which makes finding just the right location a challenge.

“We rotate the location from east to west to middle of the country—all in the south as the event is in February and the desire is to be someplace warm. The 2026 rotation took us to the southeast,” Jarmin says. “We look for locations where our attendees will want to add on to their conference trip—extending the weekend before or after to explore the city we are in.”

Orlando was a great place for add-ons, she says, and offered the opportunity to host a large offsite reception as a block party at Universal CityWalk, which was a hit with attendees.

“Visit Orlando was helpful to us when we were doing the initial venue selection and when we were securing offsite reception venues,” she says. “They connected us with Disney and Universal to provide our attendees with convention discounted tickets.”

The Hyatt Grand Cypress Resort proposed the space, room block and concessions that program needed, she says.

“It was a beautiful hotel that also offered guests additional value with the high-level restaurant, multiple pools, a lake with water activities and golf,” Jarmin says.