More than 6,000 votes decided who made this year's Event Industry Power 50, a list of planners, designers, and producers who'll be honored on stage later this month at New York's 92nd Street Y. EMRG Media announced the 2026 class Friday, and the company says the voting pace alone tells a story: over 1,000 ballots came in within the first 24 hours, and the final count more than doubled the program's inaugural vote total from last year.
The honorees span event planning, production, design, entertainment, hospitality, venues, and experiential marketing, according to PR Newswire. Each honoree gets a yearlong profile — photo, name, title, and company — on a digital wall now live at eventpower50.com/2026, plus a badge meant for LinkedIn profiles and email signatures. Selection splits down the middle: half public vote, half editorial panel review.
Who Gets to Call Themselves Power 50
Jessica Stewart, VP of marketing for The Event Planner Expo, framed the list as recognition for people who actually control budgets rather than just agency brand names. Power 50 honorees “run companies and move real budgets,” she said, describing them as the people who “book venues, produce galas, and set standards in the business,” per the same PR Newswire release.
That framing echoes the program's first class. The inaugural 2025 Power 50 honored celebrity event designers Colin Cowie, Mindy Weiss, Preston Bailey, Marcy Blum, and David Stark, along with PartySlate founder Julie Novack, according to EMRG Media. Now in its second year, the award appears to be building momentum alongside the broader trade show it's tied to.
A Three-Day Manhattan Itinerary
The 2026 honorees will be celebrated across all three days of The Event Planner Expo, with their formal stage recognition set for the speaker series at 92NY on Tuesday, October 27. The conference opens that same day with a party at LAVAN Midtown, and the Speaker Series takes place at 92NY on Lexington Avenue on Tuesday, October 27. By Thursday, October 29, the action shifts downtown to Chelsea's Metropolitan Pavilion at 125 West 18th Street, where the trade show floor features more than 150 exhibitors, fireside chats, a VIP lounge, and an official after-party at NEBULA.
Per the PR Newswire release, organizers expect more than 2,000 event professionals across the three days, with 150-plus exhibitors spread over two floors and 60 speakers on the schedule. The education program's headliner is Ed Mylett, author of #MAXOUT Your Life and The Power of One More, whom USA Today ranked the number one mindset and performance coach in the world. Mylett's path to the stage ran through counseling disadvantaged youth before he rose to senior executive at World Financial Group and landed on Forbes' 50 Wealthiest Under 50, according to the Harry Walker Agency.
Luxury Production Talent on the Speaker List
Also on the lineup is Ed Libby, the designer behind the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens in Las Vegas, per the release. Libby's resume runs deeper than that single credit: he serves as creative director for the Nemacolin luxury resort and oversees the seasonal floral experiences at the Bellagio Conservatory, according to Meeting SpotLight. Hall of Fame speaker and bestselling author Dr. Delatorro McNeal II rounds out the announced headliners, per PR Newswire. The expo sells speaker series tickets, education passes, VIP education passes, and all-access passes for attendees who want in on any portion of the three days.
Behind the Expo: A 25-Year-Old NYC Production Company
EMRG Media, the New York City-based corporate event planning and production company behind both the Power 50 and the expo itself, has operated since 2001 and says it has produced more than 1,100 events over its 25 years in business, including work for Google, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Netflix, Bloomberg, LVMH, and Condé Nast. The Event Planner Expo is an annual three-day New York City gathering, according to PartySlate.
The expo's growth tracks a broader expansion in the industry it serves. The U.S. event management market was valued at $285.18 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $471.44 billion by 2033, a 5.7% compound annual growth rate, according to Grand View Research.
