Preview Las Vegas focuses on business successes, forecasts for area

The Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce will assemble the largest number of speakers it has ever had at its premier networking and forecasting event, Preview Las Vegas, on Tuesday.

Tickets will be sold — $65 for chamber members and $85 for non-members — up to the 7 a.m. start of the event at the box office of the Thomas & Mack Center. The first speakers will take the stage around 8:30 a.m.

Preview is a hyperlocal mix of trade show and forecasting seminar with more than 100 exhibitors along the Thomas & Mack concourse and a diverse menu of speakers on stage in the adjacent Cox Pavilion.

About 2,000 people are expected to attend the event, which will be capped off with “Preview the Taste,” a collection of food samplings along the concourse featuring Cafe Rio Mexican Grill, Dick’s Last Resort, Maggiano’s Little Italy, Plantone’s Italian Market, Rao’s and The Halal Guys.

“We’ve made so many strides in a lot of areas, lots of innovation, and opening Las Vegas to major-league sports with the introduction of the Vegas Golden Knights,” said Cara Clarke, associate vice president of communications for the chamber.

“We’re not only going to focus on the successes of where we are, but how we can take the next steps for our region and really improve our home-field advantage.”

Kristin McMillan, president and CEO of the chamber, will emcee the event, which will include presentations by Kerry Bubolz, president, and Nehme Abouzeid, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of the Golden Knights, the newest team in the National Hockey League that will begin play at the T-Mobile Arena in October; Robert Lang, executive director of Brookings Mountain West at UNLV; and John Hudak, senior fellow in governance studies for Brookings.

Also speaking will be Rossi Ralenkotter, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority; and John Restrepo, principal of RCG Economics; and Mike PeQueen, managing director of HighTower Las Vegas, co-producers of The Stat Pack, a business and economic news website and newsletter.

In addition, Steve Hill, director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, will lead a panel discussion on innovation featuring representatives of Hyperloop One and Amazon Web Services.

Before, after and during breaks between speakers, attendees will be encouraged to visit the concourse booths, which were sold out earlier than in any year in Preview’s history.

The show floor also will feature a procurement lounge that will include representatives of several government agencies that will meet with business people, particularly those in small business, to help them win government contracts.

Information also will be available from municipalities and agencies on resource row on the concourse.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.