Laura Hammarstrom, professional event manager, travel director, and entrepreneur can attest to how world travel has improved her skills as an event manager in the incentive industry. As an event manager and travel director, she utilizes these skills and experiences to deliver VIP experiences, corporate meetings, international conferences, pharmaceutical meetings, festivals, and incentive programs.
Hammarstrom discovered her passion for events as a Senior Event and Project Manager for the Walmart International President and CEO. In that role, Hammarstrom managed strategic projects and events, both domestically and internationally. Having personally already found her passion for world travel, Hammarstrom decided to follow her dream and marry her two passions – travel and event management – to start her own event management company focused on incentive travel. Laura Hammarstrom, CMP, LLC, provides a comprehensive suite of professional, customer-focused, on-site event management services on a global scale.
As a world traveler, having traveled to 62 countries, Hammarstrom utilizes her first-hand travel knowledge to create lasting and memorable experiences for others. With that, there are many other skills Hammarstrom has honed as a traveler that align perfectly with being an event manager, including organization, time management, communication, adaptability, and problem-solving.
“Leaving the security of working for the world’s largest company to be an entrepreneur running my own business was daunting but exciting. Planning events for Walmart International gave me a glimpse into creating experiences of a lifetime for attendees. I wanted every attendee to go home with a better appreciation and love for the country they just visited. I was hooked and wanted to find out more,” said Laura Hammarstrom.
Hammarstrom said that the transition in her career had opened many doors for her, including travel opportunities, world-class destination site visits, creative freedom, and the chance to work with a vast array of different companies. Her transition in her career also led her to join the Society of Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) and receive her Certified Incentive Specialist (CIS) certification.
Incentive travel falls into the industry of Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE). It is often used as an effective management strategy to provide incentive-based travel perks to motivate employees or partners. Companies use incentive travel to encourage goal progression and top performers. Incentive travel can be a corporate-sponsored meeting, a rewarding trip, or an event of recognition, usually revolving around a theme of some sort.
About Laura Hammarstrom
Laura Hammarstrom is a professional event manager, travel director, and entrepreneur with a diverse skill set and professional background, including domestic and international initiatives for Fortune 1 executives, high-net-worth families, and the Northwest Arkansas community. She spent over 10 years in event management and communications roles at Walmart Corporate. Notably, she was Senior Event and Project Manager for the Walmart International President and CEO, Director of Special Projects in the United Kingdom, and Director of Global Associate and Executive Communications. Pursuing her passion for events, she received her Certified Meeting Professional designation and served as the Events and Experiences Manager for the Walton Enterprises Family Office.
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