Rebecca Grinnals and Kathryn Arce, wedding industry veterans of greater than 20 years, met within the early ’90s whereas working at The Walt Disney World Resort, the place they grew Disney‘s Fairy Story Weddings to a $100 million per 12 months operation. “It was a little bit bit like lightning in a bottle the primary time that we had the possibility to work collectively,” Grinnals tells Entrepreneur. “We had the possibility to collaborate on some actually cool initiatives, and it was a extremely formative time.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Have interaction! Summits. Kathryn Arce, left, and Rebecca Grinnals, proper.
After Disney, Grinnals and Arce began consulting, serving to resorts, resorts and tourism boards world wide develop their marriage ceremony and honeymoon companies. That is how the duo found a major hole within the trade: There wasn’t an occasion that introduced collectively completely different consumers, suppliers and distributors targeted on luxurious weddings.
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 What if we have been in a position to put everyone collectively in a room and have these actually unimaginable, significant conversations to assist assist the entrepreneurs and small businesses that energy the marriage trade? The co-founders thought.
So Grinnals and Arce established a convention to just do that: Have interaction! Summits, now a multimillion-dollar brand.
Picture Credit score: Corbin Gurkin. Have interaction! in Paris, 2023.
It was April 2008 when the co-founders determined to maneuver ahead with their thought for Have interaction! Summits — and their first convention can be that June. With simply six weeks to tug off the one-day occasion at Orlando’s Celebration Resort, Grinnals and Arce set to work and leaned on their trade contacts. Seventy-five individuals attended.
“We have been in a position to invite [celebrity wedding planners] Preston Bailey and Marcy Blum to be our VIP audio system,” Arce recollects. “We additionally invited Concord Walton, founding father of The Bridal Bar, to come back and supply some perception on the traits that she was seeing. After which an editor from Vacation spot Weddings & Honeymoons.”
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The occasion was a success. Bailey and Blum opened up about constructing their very own successful businesses through the years and the challenges alongside the best way — relatable experiences for everybody in attendance. The morning after the convention, an attendee blogged about how priceless it was and mentioned that she could not wait to attend once more.
That is when Grinnals and Arce knew they have been heading in the right direction. They continued with their consulting work and constructed Have interaction! Summits as a type of “side hustle” for the following decade, internet hosting one or two occasions annually earlier than going full-time with their model in 2018.
“In lots of circumstances, [we had one business] serve the opposite in a really natural and pure method.”
Naturally, the co-founders leaned on their trade expertise, making the most of crossover alternatives wherever attainable to develop Have interaction! Summits into the powerhouse it’s right this moment. For instance, the Cayman Islands Division of Tourism was a long-time consulting shopper, they usually’ve hosted Have interaction! Summits within the Cayman Islands 5 occasions.
“In lots of circumstances, [we had one business] serve the opposite in a really natural and pure method,” Grinnals explains. “I believe lots of people who’ve their very own companies discover methods to do this so they are not completely divergent however are in a position to converge and assist one another.”
Following occasions hosted in Mexico and the Caribbean, Have interaction! Summits placed on its first Europe-based occasion in Puglia, Italy, in 2016, which drew its most worldwide viewers as much as that time and kicked off years of internet hosting throughout the globe. Have interaction! Summit’s upcoming occasion in Tuscany will mark its forty eighth, and the model will rejoice its fiftieth in London this July.
All through its 17-year run up to now, Have interaction! Summits has hosted 43 sold-out occasions at 50 five-star luxurious properties, with greater than 7,500 attendees from 45 states and 35 international locations. The model additionally boasts greater than 100 million social media and media impressions.
Picture Credit score: Anya Kernes. Have interaction! in Boca Raton, 2023.
“Essentially, small enterprise homeowners and entrepreneurs want group.”
The conferences proceed to domesticate an surroundings the place enterprise homeowners can join in particular person, a chance that may be arduous to come back by in right this moment’s digital-first world. Digital connections and social media relationships might be helpful networking tools, however they’re no substitute for these in-person conversations, notably for entrepreneurs, the co-founders say.
“Being an entrepreneur is de facto thrilling however will also be very isolating,” Grinnals says, “particularly if you’re sitting in your workplace all day on Zoom, it is really easy to suppose that everyone else is doing higher than you might be or no person else struggles. Essentially, small enterprise homeowners and entrepreneurs want group. They want the flexibility to be in a protected house with out purchasers to share greatest practices.”
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An Have interaction! Summits occasion in Tuscany may host distributors from 22 completely different international locations, bringing them collectively in a single place to speak via challenges and assist one another. As a result of irrespective of a enterprise proprietor’s explicit space of experience, they share one purpose: serving their {couples} as greatest they’ll.
“Having the ability to run via completely different eventualities in particular person with [other business owners is something] we have now discovered you may’t replicate and is de facto invaluable in constructing profitable and powerful profitable businesses,” Grinnals provides.
“We wished to dream larger and higher with every occasion.”
The co-founders encourage aspiring entrepreneurs who’ve an thought for their very own event-based enterprise to maintain chasing their large ambitions, even when they appear daunting within the early days.
“ We weren’t afraid to ask for issues,” Arce says. “We wished to dream larger and higher with every occasion. When you’ve got an thought, map it out to one of the best of your potential and see how issues go. Continue to learn, making adjustments and transferring ahead. Encompass your self with love and constructive individuals who imagine in what you are doing. There is no restrict to something you may create and dream.”
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Grinnals agrees and provides that networking to ascertain casual “advisory councils or boards of administrators” exterior of your particular enterprise may help you stage up as an entrepreneur.
“It is  straightforward to remain actually laser-focused on the one that’s doing all of your sort of enterprise,” Grinnals explains, “but it surely’s actually highly effective to create a community of various individuals who perceive the nuances of your corporation but additionally do it another way and perceive [the industry-specific challenges]. Discover individuals to be a sounding board, giving and getting advice from one another, and having that small group of individuals you may name [on] and belief.”
This text is a part of our ongoing Girls Entrepreneur® sequence highlighting the tales, challenges and triumphs of working a enterprise as a lady
