Kyle Espeleta Photography Los Angeles Event Photographer
Convention · Los Angeles

IPW Los Angeles 2024: what full coverage looks like

By · Published · Updated

Diana Ross performing on a lit stage at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before a large IPW opening-night crowd
Illuminated U.S. Travel IPW Los Angeles 2024 marquee letters at night with delegates gathered around them
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024The IPW Los Angeles 2024 marquee letters.
A long U.S. Registration desk staffed along a wall printed with the U.S. Travel IPW Los Angeles 2024 logo as delegates check in
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024Registration under the IPW Los Angeles 2024 banner.
The Los Angeles Convention Center lobby filled with IPW delegates beneath a Thank You For Attending screen and escalators
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024The Convention Center lobby between sessions.
Delegates streaming through the Brand USA Marketplace Hall entrance at IPW beneath the IPW Los Angeles 2024 sign
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024Into the Brand USA Marketplace Hall.
Diana Ross singing in a white fur coat under blue and red stage light at the IPW opening at the L.A. Coliseum
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024Diana Ross, opening night.
Keanu Reeves playing bass with his band Dogstar on a lit stage in front of a Los Angeles cityscape screen at IPW
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024Keanu Reeves with Dogstar.
The band Dogstar performing on a wide lit stage before a standing crowd on IPW opening night
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024Dogstar on stage.
A large seated crowd lit blue at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during the IPW opening-night concert
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024The opening-night crowd at the Coliseum.
The exterior peristyle of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum lit pink at dusk with IPW delegates arriving
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024The Coliseum lit for opening night.
U.S. Travel Association president Geoff Freeman speaking on the IPW main stage before a large IPW Los Angeles 2024 city-skyline screen
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024Geoff Freeman of the U.S. Travel Association on the main stage.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaking at a podium in front of a Los Angeles skyline screen at IPW
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024Mayor Karen Bass welcoming IPW to Los Angeles.
Three panelists seated on stage at the U.S. Travel Association press conference before a screen showing the U.S. Capitol
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024The U.S. Travel Association press conference.
A speaker presenting on the IPW main stage in front of a Visit California sunset screen with a band set up beside the stage
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024A general session against the Visit California stage.
A line of travel-industry executives cutting a red ribbon to open the IPW Marketplace beneath a Discover Endless Possibilities USA screen
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024The Marketplace ribbon cutting.
Award winners standing on stage holding certificates beneath a 2024 Winners Travel Writer Awards screen at IPW
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024The 2024 Travel Writer Awards winners.
Two people presenting an oversized American Express prize-drawing check for $2,500 to an IPW buyer on the trade-show floor
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024The American Express buyer prize drawing.
A wide view of the IPW Media Marketplace hall filled with rows of appointment tables and meeting delegates
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024The Media Marketplace in full swing.
An overhead view of the IPW Marketplace floor with destination booths and string lights across the hall
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024The Marketplace floor from above.
Delegates meeting in a lounge area among destination stands on the Brand USA Marketplace floor at IPW
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024Destination stands on the Marketplace floor.
Delegates walking the Los Angeles Convention Center concourse past a California the Ultimate Playground display at IPW
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024The Convention Center concourse.
IPW delegates gathered on the travertine steps of the Getty Center at an offsite press event above Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024A press event on the steps at the Getty Center.
IPW delegates passing under a Welcome to Los Angeles gateway hung with papel picado banners at an outdoor reception
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024The Welcome to Los Angeles gateway.
Guests posing beside a California Route 66 highway sign at an outdoor activation in IPW’s California Plaza
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024A Route 66 photo moment at California Plaza.
Two ballet folklórico dancers in red and green dresses performing on a blue carpet under trees at an IPW offsite event
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024Ballet folklórico dancers at an offsite reception.
A group of women mariachi musicians performing in traditional charro suits for IPW delegates
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024A mariachi group performing for delegates.
A chef plating food at a Thai culinary station beneath a THAI backdrop as a guest is served at an IPW reception
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024A Thai food station on opening night.
A delegate photographing a large HOLLYWOOD letter installation at an outdoor IPW activation
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024A Hollywood-sign photo moment.
Guests pressing into a large pin-art interactive wall beneath a glowing VENICE sign at an IPW activation
LOS ANGELES — IPW 2024A Venice-themed interactive wall.
IPW delegates arriving at the closing party under the Universal Studios arch strung with welcome balloons in many languages
UNIVERSAL CITY — IPW 2024The closing party at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Costumed Mario and Luigi characters posing with IPW guests in Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood
UNIVERSAL CITY — IPW 2024Super Nintendo World at the closing party.
Fireworks bursting over the crowd at the IPW closing party at Universal Studios Hollywood at night
UNIVERSAL CITY — IPW 2024Fireworks over the closing party.

IPW is the U.S. travel industry's big one — the U.S. Travel Association's international marketplace, where destinations, hotels, and attractions from across the country meet the tour operators, buyers, and travel media who send the world here. It moves cities every year. In 2024 it came to Los Angeles: thousands of delegates through the Los Angeles Convention Center for a week, with the whole city turned into the welcome.

The U.S. Travel Association, which runs IPW, hired me directly to cover it — and I covered the whole thing solo. A week this size would usually run with a crew, so a single camera changes the job. IPW isn't one room. It's the Marketplace floor with its thousands of pre-booked appointments, the general sessions and keynotes, the U.S. Travel press conferences, the Brand USA marketplace ribbon cutting — and then it leaves the building entirely.

Opening night was at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, with Diana Ross performing and Keanu Reeves's band Dogstar after her. Mayor Karen Bass welcomed the industry to the city. Then the offsite events, all over Los Angeles: a press brunch at the Getty, activations in California Plaza — Route 66, ballet folklórico, mariachi, a Thai food station — a Welcome to Los Angeles gateway, and a closing party that took over Universal Studios Hollywood, Super Nintendo World and fireworks included. One photographer, a lot of city.

The one hard requirement was same-day selects. They needed images going out while the event was still happening, so I'd break when I could, get to the work room they'd set up, and pull and color a set to send — then get back out before I missed the next thing. That's the real skill on a program this size solo: knowing what you can't miss, covering it, and still turning files around same-day.

What "full coverage" means here is that a week this big comes back usable for everything a destination-marketing team needs afterward — the website, the sponsor and partner recaps, the internal and board decks, next year's pitch to the host city, press, and social. Not just the keynote. The branding, the buyers at work, the VIPs, the crowds, the food, the culture, the offsite spectacle — the whole record of what the week actually was.

Producing a multi-day conference, convention, or citywide program in Los Angeles? Tell me about your event, or see more corporate and convention coverage.

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