CEMA exists to give the people who manage event marketing for North America’s biggest brands a place to discuss emerging industry issues, make new connections, and most importantly, connect with each other honestly. The Corporate Event Marketing Association — now a division of PCMA — builds its annual Summit around that mission. It brings the industry together and allows attendees to compare strategies in a community format, enforcing it with one rule: no hard selling.
In Toronto this August, Sparks sponsored the CEMA Summit, with the opportunity to speak on the main stage and moderate the annual Town Hall. Melissa Meloro, VP of Strategy at Sparks, ran the sessions. Her core observation: according to Sparks data, most event marketers already know something needs to change, yet those changes are not necessarily being made. Her call to action: remember that face-to-face events and in-person brand experiences remain the top driver of trust for consumers. Make changes based on data and information — and the change will come.
It’s also a rejection of a tradeoff the industry treats as inevitable. “You can look incredible and actually be functional at the same time,” she said. “Put your audience first, understand how you want to communicate, and meet them. That’s how you succeed.”
Meloro sees it as the reason CEMA trusted Sparks with the Town Hall: “Sparks being trusted as a sponsor and a caretaker of the Town Hall signifies the trust CEMA has in us as an agency, because we believe so strongly in experiential marketing being a full method and strategy — not just a tactic employed by marketing.”
Closing Out the Main Stage
Meloro moderated the Town Hall on Tuesday, with leadership panelists Sherrif Karamat, President & CEO of PCMA/CEMA; Gary Murakami, CMP-Fellow, CMM, DES, Chair of the CEMA Advisory Board; and Kara Wooten of the CEMA Advisory Board and of Dell Technologies. The conversations covered questions from member surveys, and seemed to focus largely on connection: How to leverage membership. How to deepen networks. The value of being an event marketer in our industry today, and what is on the horizon.
Off the Agenda
Not every conversation happened on stage. On the Summit’s opening afternoon, Sparks led a small group of industry peers and partners on a walking tour through Toronto’s Graffiti Alley — trading the agenda for a couple of unstructured hours among the murals and side streets.
A Shared Belief
What Sparks and CEMA share is simple: the strongest relationships between a brand and its audience are still built together, in a room, not manufactured at scale. Toronto was a chance to put that into practice — and a reminder that the best work in this industry still happens when people show up for each other.
Frequently Asked Questions About CEMA Summit
The CEMA Summit is the annual gathering of the Corporate Event Marketing Association — now a division of PCMA — for senior event marketers at North America’s largest brands. Its “no hard selling” rule makes it one of the few venues where in-house planners compare strategies candidly with peers.
The 2026 CEMA Summit was held in Toronto in August 2026. Sparks sponsored the Summit, spoke on the main stage, and moderated the annual Town Hall.
Melissa Meloro, VP of Strategy at Sparks, ran Sparks’ main-stage sessions and moderated the CEMA Summit Town Hall in Toronto.
The 2026 Town Hall panel was moderated by Melissa Meloro (VP of Strategy, Sparks) with Sherrif Karamat (President & CEO, PCMA/CEMA), Gary Murakami (Chair, CEMA Advisory Board), and Kara Wooten (CEMA Advisory Board).
Sparks led attendees on a walking tour of Toronto’s Graffiti Alley with Sparks-branded disposable cameras, capping the Summit with a photo-scavenger experience through one of Toronto’s landmark street-art neighborhoods.
