Cindy Nachman-Senders is a relationship person.

“When you have great relationships with people, especially in a place like Las Vegas where properties are so big and there are so many people you’re working with, it’s the key to a successful event. You really need to understand the value of your business, get that information out to them in advance and build a great relationship,” she says.

Nachman-Senders is the senior consultant for meetings and conventions with Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA), which held its 75th Annual Convention & Exposition at Caesars Palace April 30-May 3, 2018.

WSWA brings its annual event to Caesars every even-number year and has since 2008. That kind of longevity couldn’t happen if Nachman-Senders hadn’t built a great relationship with Caesars, specifically Don Ross, vice president of catering for conventions and events for Caesars Entertainment.

“I’ve known Don Ross for many years. He and Mary Ferris [catering and convention service manager at Caesars Palace] and the team there are really great to work with,” she says. “Our show is very difficult to execute because alcohol is not like candy. You don’t just put it in your suitcase and carry it into the exhibit hall. There’s a level of complexity. The hotel has been really great to work with and supports us.”

Ross says that Nachman-Senders’ creativity, passion and willingness to always introduce something new to the show are traits he admires in her.

“Her demand for high quality in food, service and presentation pushes us to be better,” he says. “Whether it be from a production, lighting or branding side or creating new, exciting events or competitions. She continually recreates and stretches the hotel and our team to do it differently. She keeps it fresh and exciting.”

Nachman-Senders goes on to say that Ross is her backstop for everything concerning the event.

“He is a consummate hotelier, really committed to the hospitality industry,” she says. “If Don can’t make it happen, no one can.”

According to WSWA’s 2017 Annual Report, family-owned American wine and spirits distributors employ more than 65,000 workers at 4,000 locations across the U.S. These workers earn more than US$5 billion in wages annually, and the industry generates more than $55 billion in yearly tax revenue.

The association’s membership includes 386 member companies operating in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, representing more than 80 percent of all wine and spirits sold at wholesale in the U.S.

There are two types of attendees for WSWA’s annual convention and exposition—member wholesalers and the wine and spirits manufacturers or service providers.

“Wine and spirits manufacturers come to look for distribution or to meet with existing portfolio partners,” Nachman-Senders says. “Service providers are technology companies that operate in the wine and spirits space and are looking to connect with either distributors or suppliers. Our primary attendees, though, are our wholesalers, the distributors of wine and spirits. The Leadership Series that we launched in 2018 was for our wholesaler member attendees.”

The 75th Annual Convention & Exposition included not only the popular and new Leadership Series, but also keynote speakers Madeleine Albright, former U.S. secretary of state and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes. In addition, there were general sessions, an opening-night reception, a wholesaler mixologist competition and a new Bar Studio.

“We’ve had a TV studio as part of our convention, but this past year we added an interactive Bar Studio, which allowed our social media influencers and celebrity mixologists to interface in an engaging way with some of the alcohol brands and to showcase for online viewers how to make unique cocktails or how trends are created,” Nachman-Senders says. “It was a great opportunity to expand our reach and to share the creative aspects of our show.”

The event also featured Brand Battle, which is WSWA’s take on Shark Tank. Pre-selected brands are given the opportunity to pitch their stories to industry influencers live in front of an audience. Gray Whale Gin won the 2018 battle.

“Winning the 2018 WSWA Brand Battle and the 2018 Hot New Now Media Award at the WSWA Convention and Exposition were the single best investment Gray Whale Gin has made to date,” says Marsh Mokhtari, co-founder and master distiller at Golden State Distillery LLC. “The wins catapulted our fledgling Gray Whale Gin brand into the laps of all the best distributors in the U.S. and around the world. As a result, we are well on our way to garnering a U.S. national distribution footprint.”

Meeting professionals know there are precautions to take when alcohol is served at an event.

“In Nevada, all of the bartenders must have a Techniques of Alcohol Management (TAM) card to pour. The TAM card is awarded upon the successful completion of training so that they don’t over serve patrons,” Nachman-Senders says. “Other states have certification programs as well, such as Training for Intervention ProcedureS (TIPS). Of course, I always recommend that you not serve alcohol without serving food.”

Since WSWA keeps returning to Caesars, the event has several of the same bartenders and servers over and over again.

“The servers that take care of our staff office, they remember us year over year,” Nachman-Senders says. “Whatever we need, they’re just so helpful.”

For example, there is the Wholesaler Iron Mixologist Competition that requires unique and special ingredients.

“We work with Matthew Nitsche, director of banquet operations at Caesars Entertainment,” Nachman-Senders says. “He is great to work with, because he’ll source for us all of the crazy and hard to find ingredients that we need for our mixology competition.”

The timed, live event has mixologists make two different cocktails, a long drink and an aperitif, using a secret ingredient revealed at the beginning of the competition. Past ingredients have included guava and manuka honey and always require special ice.

“It’s really fun,” Nachman-Senders says. “The hotel is right there with us lockstep, helping us to execute with special glassware and re-stocking the mixologist’s pantry.”

Another helpful department for WSWA’s event is Caesars’ shipping and receiving department.

“It’s one of the best shipping and receiving departments of any hotel anywhere in my 30 years of planning meetings and events,” Nachman-Senders says. “Their team is amazing to work with.”

She says the hospitality arrives early in the planning process.

“First of all, I get an email before we arrive, just welcoming me: ‘We can’t wait to have you back,’” Nachman-Senders says. “That makes you feel like a million bucks.”

WSWA has a lot of freight that comes in for the convention, with exhibitor freight arriving through its exhibition management company. However, show management freight often arrives directly at the hotel.

“We’ll be expecting things for a competition or signage that didn’t make it in the initial bulk shipment or things like our program that due to timing must come directly to the hotel,” Nachman-Senders says. “They are so on top of anything that comes in. They email me immediately when it hits the dock and ask me where I want it. They take care of everything and relieve so much pressure and so much anxiety from the planning process because they’re so on top of everything.”

An important aspect Caesars was on top of for the event was VIP handling. Patty Kripitz, former director of VIP operations at Caesars Palace, was kept on as a consultant after she retired and worked with WSWA on its high-profile speakers, such as Albright.

“We had special arrival needs. We had special transportation needs. Albright needed to go out a special door without walking through the crowd of people,” Nachman-Senders says. “Patty was instrumental in helping us execute all of that.”

And WSWA likes working with Caesars because the organization fits well in the hotel’s space.

“I love the fact that one of their towers, the Palace Tower, drops right down into the meeting space,” Nachman-Senders says. “That’s super convenient for us.”

She says the excitement of Las Vegas draws more people compared to the other event produced in the odd-number years. When you think of wine and spirits and the hospitality industry, Nachman-Senders says, it’s definitely aligned.

The WSWA Convention & Exposition is a vital networking and educational event for attendees, offering space to discover new innovations and trends.

“The WSWA Convention team organizes a very thoughtful, productive and fun agenda each year, challenging our industry leaders with relevant discussions and introducing fresh ideas for business development,” says Philana Bouvier, senior vice president of new business development for Young’s Market. “Most importantly, we also have the opportunity to spend time with some of the best people in our business who become our lifelong friends and colleagues.”

In other words, the WSWA event is in the relationship business.