Las Vegas has always been a masterclass in marketing. The Strip glows like a global billboard, sports franchises sell out seasons before jerseys even drop, and a single viral moment from a nightclub stage can echo around the world by morning. Yet for a city that exports attention as a product, there’s never been a truly homegrown, annual gathering where the people who actually build that attention—brand leaders, content creators, designers, strategists, and students hungry to become all of the above—could swap playbooks and push the industry forward together.
That changes on Saturday, September 13, 2025, when Social Media & Marketing Pro Conference lands at the UNLV Student Union Theater, launching what its organizers hope will become the city’s signature social media and marketing conference. Founded by Las Vegas marketer and community connector Kevin Marco Roxas in partnership with the UNLV American Marketing Association (AMA), the event is designed to do more than run panels and hand out swag. Social Media & Marketing Pro Conference wants to give Las Vegas the community stage it’s been missing—and to make sure students and emerging talent have an affordable seat in the room.
Why now, why Vegas
If you work in marketing, entertainment, hospitality, or the creator economy, the last few years in Las Vegas have been…well, a lot. Blockbuster residencies. A Super Bowl. A Formula 1 takeover. A brand-new, planet-sized LED monument to content (hello, Sphere). Layer on the nonstop evolution of social platforms and the rise of short-form video, and Vegas has become a living laboratory for how culture, commerce, and creativity collide.
Roxas saw both a gap and an opportunity. The city routinely imports national conferences led by out-of-town voices, but it hasn’t consistently showcased the homegrown leaders building world-class campaigns in our backyard—or the students who want to join them. Social Media & Marketing Pro Conference flips that script. It’s local by design, built with UNLV students in the room, and invites the city’s best brand storytellers to share what really works in a market where “too much” is just Tuesday.
The venue choice underscores the point. The UNLV Student Union Theater seats just under 300, giving the day an intimate, workshop-driven feel rather than the anonymous sprawl of a convention center. Think practical frameworks, candid Q\&As, and handshakes that turn into internships or collaborations. If year one hits the mark, the plan is to grow it into an annual tradition—Vegas’s own, proudly local answer to the national conferences that tend to skip over what makes this city unique.
A speaker lineup with Vegas fingerprints
That local-first vision shows up in the roster. Attendees can expect insights from leaders who have shaped some of the city’s most visible brands and moments:
• Randy Topham — A seasoned marketing executive whose career includes leadership roles at Wynn and Encore and, more recently, Light & Wonder.
• Nehme Abouzeid — A veteran of luxury hospitality and major-brand launches, with experience tied to Encore, the Sphere, and the Vegas Golden Knights.
• Larissa Brizuela — Marketing director at the iconic Golden Steer Steakhouse, a master class in heritage branding that still knows how to trend.
• Alex Acuna — A leader associated with Station Casinos, with deep ties to Vegas hospitality and brand building.
• Richelle Rice — Former VP of Social & Digital for the Las Vegas Super Bowl Host Committee, with hard-won lessons on how to mobilize a city’s digital voice.
• Cody Sims — A commercial strategist with a creative streak and a commitment to community.
• Creators & Influencers including JP Dhillon and Heather Collins, who’ve built loyal audiences by blending authenticity with craft.
The program’s headline keynote comes from a viral content creator who gained national attention by documenting his life as a full-time caregiver to his grandmother—proof that purpose-driven storytelling, shot on a phone and delivered with heart, can travel farther than any ad buy. His session explores how vulnerability, consistency, and mission can build not just audiences but communities.
In short: the people on stage are the ones who ship the work. Expect case studies that go beyond the highlight reel and dig into the messy, human choices behind the metrics.
What the day looks like
Social Media & Marketing Pro Conference promises to be part playbook, part pep talk, and part talent marketplace. The schedule blends a keynote, featured conversations, and panels with practical breakouts where attendees can get specific about their own challenges. While the final agenda is still rolling out, here’s the kind of content you can expect across the day:
Platform reality checks. Each major platform has its own logic—what it rewards, what it punishes, and what it secretly loves.
Brand-building in the age of “always on.” Whether you’re running a hospitality giant or an indie boutique, the fundamentals still matter: voice, positioning, and a consistent promise.
Influencer partnerships that actually move the needle. Everyone says “authenticity” until it’s time to brief a creator.
Content operations, simplified. From one-person social teams to sprawling brand studios, we all need an efficient pipeline.
Crisis, risk, and the post-viral hangover. When a comment thread sparks or a post blows up, what you do next matters.
The money conversation. Creators and freelancers: pricing, packaging, and negotiation strategies.
Threaded through the day are networking touchpoints—structured and serendipitous—plus opportunities for students to connect with hiring managers, mentors, and potential clients.
For students: access, confidence, and a running start
Student access isn’t a side note—it’s the core of the event. Through a Changemaker sponsorship option, community partners can underwrite student tickets so cost isn’t a barrier to entry. That means more first-gen, Pell-eligible, and working students sitting next to senior directors and founders, hearing the same ideas at the same time. If you’ve ever been the student hovering at the back of the room, waiting to ask one question, this format is an invitation to take up space.
The UNLV AMA partnership extends beyond ticketing. Student volunteers are involved in community outreach, speaker liaison work, social media, and on-the-ground logistics—real-world experience that belongs on a résumé. And because Social Media & Marketing Pro Conference is built in collaboration with the business school, the event is positioned not as a one-off moment but as the seed of a long-term tradition. Think of it as a Las Vegas counterpart to legacy campus events like UNLVino—only this time, the vintage is ideas, and you don’t have to be 21 to sample them.
For creators: turn your following into a foundation
If you’re an influencer, videographer, photographer, or social-first creative, the conference speaks your language. The program tilts toward what creators tell us they need most: clearer briefs, smarter contracts, healthier timelines, better rates, and brands that respect the audience you’ve built.
Expect sessions on tightening your brand story, using data without losing your voice, and packaging your expertise so your proposals stop getting “circling back” replies. You’ll also hear candid takes from creators who’ve navigated platform shifts, brand pivots, and burnout, and who have returned to craft and community as the North Star.
The keynote caregiver story is more than a feel-good arc; it’s a template. The lesson isn’t “go be vulnerable” so much as “tell the true story that only you can tell—and then build systems that let you tell it consistently.” That balance between heart and discipline is exactly what separates the creators who last from the ones who flash.
For brands and agencies: make Vegas your unfair advantage
Brands operating in Las Vegas have challenges other markets envy. A single city block can contain a dozen globally recognized trademarks. Surprise-and-delight moments are table stakes. Audience segments range from global tourists to hyperlocal loyalists, often inside the same venue at the same hour.
That density is an advantage if you know how to work it. Panels with hospitality and entertainment leaders break down how teams coordinate across properties, partners, PR, and paid media to produce one coherent brand signal in an environment that never sleeps. You’ll hear what actually changed after the Super Bowl descended on the valley, how hospitality teams partner with creators without losing brand equity, and why “we’ll figure it out later” is not a content strategy.
Expect special attention to measurement—what to track, how to interpret it, and when to admit that the number you want doesn’t exist yet. This is the kind of honesty that saves time and careers.
Networking that doesn’t feel like homework
Let’s be honest: too many industry events treat networking like a scavenger hunt for LinkedIn connections. Social Media & Marketing Pro Conference is designed to be more human. With under 300 seats, you’ll see the same faces more than once, which means the second conversation can build on the first. Look for facilitated meetups by role (students, creators, hiring managers), micro-roundtables on specific challenges (UGC rights, nightlife partnerships, accessibility best practices), and speaker office hours so you can get answers without elbowing your way through a crowd.
And because it’s Vegas, expect a little stagecraft. You’ll see creator showcases, branded photo moments, and a vibe that leans celebratory without losing the professional through line. The whole point is to make it easier to say, “We should do something together,” and actually mean it.
A deliberate lens on inclusion
The marketing and entertainment worlds have long benefited from LGBTQ+ talent—strategy decks, stage direction, styling, scripting, community building. Social Media & Marketing Pro Conference acknowledges that history and pushes it forward. Representation is intentionally baked into the program, and the conference aims to normalize the presence of queer professionals not as a once-a-year Pride cameo but as the backbone of the work, every day.
For QVegas readers, that matters. This conference is a place where LGBTQ+ students can see futures that look like them, where industry leaders can recruit out in the open, and where brands can see the creative dividends of building teams that reflect the audiences they want to reach. Inclusion here isn’t a panel topic; it’s a premise.
How Social Media & Marketing Pro Conference came together
Roxas didn’t build the conference alone. It’s a collaboration with the UNLV AMA, whose student leaders have stepped into real roles—from partnership outreach to social content to day-of operations. That scaffolding matters. It means the conference isn’t just a stage; it’s a training ground. It also means that as the event grows, the leadership pipeline grows with it.
Proceeds from the conference support the AMA’s efforts to recruit and retain members, fund student programming, and make professional development accessible to a broader range of students. In other words: buying a ticket is also an investment in the city’s creative future.
The vibe: practical, personal, and proudly Vegas
If you’ve ever sat through a panel where no one actually answered the question, you’ll appreciate Social Media & Marketing Pro Conference’s promise to keep things grounded. Speakers have been tapped not just for their titles, but for their willingness to talk through what didn’t work, how they course-corrected, and what they’d do differently next time. Expect “here’s the deck” energy, not “synergy of transformational storytelling at scale” word soup.
And then there’s the sense of place. Vegas has a way of turning even the most niche meetup into a moment. The conference leans into that—from the heritage-brand wisdom of Golden Steer to the kinetic spectacle of our nightlife scene, from hospitality powerhouses to independent creators who built audiences from scratch. The through line is the same: this city rewards bold ideas and the discipline to execute them. Social Media & Marketing Pro Conference is built for people who do both.
Who should be there
Students who want internships, mentors, or a clear picture of what jobs actually exist in the field. Creators who want to turn momentum into sustainable business. Brand and property marketers navigating the 24/7 cycle. Agency folks looking for fresh collaborators and local insight. Small business owners who need repeatable strategies, not shiny jargon. Nonprofits who want to punch above their budget by telling truer stories.
If any of that sounds like you—or like the person you’re trying to become—this room is for you.
Final word
Every creative city has a moment when its makers decide to stop waiting for permission and build the thing they wish already existed. Social Media & Marketing Pro Conference feels like one of those moments for Las Vegas. It’s not a trade show. It’s not an out-of-town roadshow. It’s a locally rooted, student-forward, results-obsessed gathering of the people who make this city’s stories travel.
If you’re ready to sharpen your craft, expand your circle, and claim a seat in the conversation shaping how Las Vegas shows up to the world, this is your invitation.
Social Media & Marketing Pro Conference launches September 13, 2025 at UNLV. Follow @Social Media & Marketing Pro Conference for the latest speaker lineup, student access options, and registration. We’ll see you there—on campus, in the room, and, inevitably, on your feed.
Date: Saturday, September 13, 2025
Location: UNLV Student Union Theater