Employee Owned
Save the Date!
2024 Employee Owned Conference
Caesars Palace | Las Vegas, NV
November 13-15, 2024
The Employee Owned Conference, attended annually by more than 2,000 employee-owners, thought leaders, and professional advisors, is the largest ESOP conference in the world. Make sure to join us in Las Vegas for collaboration, networking, and multiple learning tracks designed to help you get the information you need.
Past Conferences:
EO23: The Future of Work is Here
Thank you to everyone who made The ESOP Association’s Employee Owned 2023 one of the largest and greatest gatherings of ESOPs and employee owners in history! With all the positive momentum for ESOPs and employee owners over the last two years, there was a great energy from the crowd throughout the entire three days of EO23, as employee owners convened at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for a deep dive into The Future of Work.
As work and the workplace continue to evolve in the 21st Century, ESOPs must remain at the forefront to retain our competitive advantage and ensure continued success. That’s why this year’s theme, The Future of Work, was incorporated not just in our Main Stage keynotes but throughout EO23 educational sessions and roundtables. And with extensive educational programming ranging from “ESOP 101” topics to CEO roundtables and the most complex ESOP issues, EO23 provided a comprehensive learning experience for all who participated.
Day One of Employee Owned 2023 kicked off with human performance expert Todd Conklin delivering the opening Main Stage keynote. In his unique style, Todd demonstrated how safety is not really about preventing accidents, but instead revolves around creating a culture where all employees are invested in an organization’s mission. Through his humorous and revealing anecdotes, Todd showed how building such a culture leads to higher performance across the board.
As we continued to explore The Future of Work at EO23, our Day Two Main Stage speaker, Adam “Smiley” Poswolsky, captivated the audience with his highly anticipated talk on engaging a multigenerational workforce. Smiley’s topic is especially relevant in today’s post-pandemic workplace, which can have up to five generations of employee owners working at a single company. Smiley’s energy, humor, personality and positivity were a huge hit with attendees as he shared his secrets on creating a culture of belonging in the workplace where all employee owners feel valued and appreciated. Smiley’s keen insights left attendees with many actionable concepts and ideas they can incorporate at their ESOPs to successfully manage the changing nature of the modern workplace.
Our Day Three Main Stage speaker, tech humanist Kate O’Neill, dove into The Future of Work by examining how the workplace will be affected by emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. Kate’s deep experience holding senior roles and being a trusted advisor at some of the world’s leading tech companies made her uniquely qualified to address employee owners on this hot topic. And as attendees learned in our first two keynotes of the conference, it’s still all about people. Kate’s engaging presentation showed that even as companies should embrace new technologies that increase productivity and profitability, the businesses that put people first, who maintain a humanist perspective as the workplace changes, will be best positioned to own the future.
A highlight of any Employee Owned Conference is the many social and networking events that employee owners look forward to each year. Reconnecting with old friends, forging new connections, and spending time socializing with like-minded colleagues are all part of what made EO23 so special. On Wednesday night, attendees flocked to the EO23 welcome reception in our Communities & Pavilion to begin the festivities, followed by the Women in ESOPs social hosted by TEA Board Chair Karen Ellis.
The other signature social event at EO23, the annual Celebration of Employee Ownership, was a night to remember as well. The Eiffel Tower restaurant at the Paris Las Vegas was sold out as employee owners gathered for food, fun, and drinks to benefit the Foundation’s critical mission. The atmosphere this year was especially joyful as the results of ESOPATHON revealed another record-breaking year for the Foundation’s annual fundraising drive. Please see below for the full results of ESOPATHON and our prize winners!
Now a mainstay at the Employee Owned conference, the Annual Awards for Communications Excellence (AACE) luncheon on Thursday was a celebration of the ESOPs who are raising the bar with their innovation and creativity in communicating to internal and external audiences. This year’s AACE Awards were the most competitive ever, as more ESOPs are utilizing the most advanced strategies, tools and best practices to tell the ESOP story and make a positive impact on employee owners and the communities they serve. For a full list of winners, please see the story below.
With the wealth and variety of educational content on offer at EO23, we can’t blame you if you didn’t get to all of the concurrent sessions you were interested in attending, and we’ve got you covered! EO23 attendees have on-demand access to all concurrent sessions (excluding Roundtables and Executive Series) until December 19.
As we close out EO23, TEA would like to thank our many sponsors for their critical support and generosity. Their contributions make it possible for TEA to hold the most comprehensive, informative, and fun events for employee owners, and we greatly appreciate your support.
Thank you to all EO23 attendees, sponsors, and speakers who made EO23 such a big success. We look forward to seeing you at one of our many chapter and national events in 2024!