Recap by: Mario Caballero Letras

On May 23, LVIMA members gathered for our Spring Fling, an evening filled with smart conversations, fresh perspectives, and the kind of genuine connection that reminds us why this community matters.

The night kicked off with a fireside chat featuring Nate Ludens, VP of Marketing for Boomer’s Sportsbook and Narin Brooks, Senior Director at media.net. During their conversation, they explored how AI is reshaping modern marketing, gaming, customer engagement, and performance strategy.

Nate shared how AI is rapidly transforming the way marketers work, from research and creative concepting to personalization and optimization, while emphasizing that the human element remains irreplaceable.

“Chat can’t read the room,” Nate noted during the discussion, underscoring the importance of context, authenticity, and trust in modern marketing.

The conversation highlighted how gaming and hospitality brands are evolving beyond simple acquisition metrics and focusing more deeply on retention, lifetime value, and smarter first-party data strategies. Nate also spoke candidly about the realities of competing in today’s crowded digital ecosystem, reminding marketers that creativity and loyalty-building matter more than ever.

One of the biggest themes of the evening centered around balance: where AI can accelerate efficiency, and where human intuition still leads. While AI excels at research, modeling, and generating creative variations, the panel reinforced that authentic storytelling, emotional intelligence, and relationship-building still belong firmly in human hands.

That conversation carried naturally into the evening’s speed networking sessions, where attendees gathered around tables to debate, discuss, and share how AI is already showing up in their day-to-day work. From favorite tools and workflows to concerns around over-automation, the discussions were thoughtful, honest, and refreshingly candid.

But more than anything, Spring Fling captured the spirit of LVIMA perfectly.

There was laughter between introductions, marketers swapping ideas between rounds, new members instantly welcomed into conversations, and familiar faces reconnecting after busy seasons. The energy in the room was optimistic, collaborative, and deeply human, a reminder that while AI may continue to transform our industry, community is still our greatest competitive advantage.

Because at the end of the day, marketing has never just been about technology. It’s about people. And Spring Fling proved that the best ideas still happen when smart humans come together around the table.

Event Photo Album

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