15th Chicago Seminars at Holiday Inn Heritage Edition 2025

This site is for registration for the 15th Chicago Seminars at Holiday Inn Heritage Edition 2025.

Holiday Inn Chicago Oakbrook, 17 W, 350 W 22nd St, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181. NOT Elk Grove Village, which is in the process of a transformation in 2025.

Chicago Seminars room block at Holiday Inn Chicago Oakbrook is $129/night + tax and includes breakfast for one adult, book . (No increase from 2024 event rate.)

There is no hotel airport shuttle. Oakbrook is a bit closer to Chicago Midway Airport (MDW) than Chicago O'Hare Airport (ORD). We are working on shared airport transport options. Updates will be added to this and page and emailed to the email you provided at ticket registration.

There are many dining and entertainment options walkable and short drive nearby to Oakbrook Terrace shopping mall and surrounds for those who are explorers of brands.

Event full schedule to be announced in August 2025.

The Friday Masterclasses are separately ticketed half-day in-depth programs, each consisting of four 45-minute sessions. These allow more intensive coverage than can be fit in the traditional weekend program. Whereas the weekend might have 1-2 sessions on a topic, the Masterclasses can cover the subject in more depth.

Each Masterclass is $99 with no discount codes and are space limited.

Weekend Seminars registration is required to attend a Masterclass. If you have purchased your weekend Seminars registration and later would like to add a Masterclass, please contact the organizers as we are working with EventBrite on a ticketing solution.

You have the option to attend one in the morning, one in the afternoon, both morning and afternoon, or none at all. For the continuity of the learning process, there is no switching among the Masterclasses.

Each masterclass consists of four 45-minute sessions . Co-directors of each Masterclass work with the speakers to have the sessions build on the prior for as comprehensive program.

All of these topics will be covered in the weekend Seminars in at least one session, though not necessarily the same speakers or focus area.

The Masterclasses are:

Friday Morning Masterclasses (8 am - 12 pm; registration opens at 7:30 am):

• Gift Cards, directed by Michael Cao and Shabbir Hakim
• Churning, directed by Andrew Derthick and Candace Keene
• Beginners, directed by Chris Carley and Dave Homyak
• Extreme and Exotic Travel, directed by Andy Hicks and Lusy Hsu

Friday Afternoon Masterclasses (1-5 pm):

• Buying Groups and Gold, directed by Aaron Hurd and Matthew Weyer
• Award Booking, directed by Sarah Ramkissoon and Rachel Yuan
• Canada Focus, directed by Andrew D'Amours and Moli
• Content Creators, directed by Ben Komenkul and Julia Menez

Masterclasses full speaker and sessions list to be announced in August 2025.

The weekend Seminars are the traditional program, with an extra breakout room that will allow up to 4 concurrent sessions in smaller group setting.

A NON-REFUNDABLE registration fee of $219, includes:

1. Admittance to the Seminars sessions that kickoff Friday 5:30 pm and run through the weekend. Excludes Friday morning and afternoon Masterclasses.
2. Lunch Saturday and Sunday.
3. Coffee/snack breaks.
4. Two drink tickets for Saturday eventing reception.

Use promo code IMUSTHAVEAPROMOCODE20 for $20 off.

Excess funds donated to event charities. 2025 event charities TBA.

Seminars October 24-26 Schedule Times:

All Seminars sessions included with Seminars ticket.

Friday, October 24:

• 4:00 pm registration opens
• 5:30-8:00 pm evening program, keynote speakers, music proformance and comedy show

Saturday, October 25:

• 8:00 am registration opens
• 9:00 am-6:00 pm seminars sessions (lunch included)
• 6:00-7:00 pm reception (2 drink tickets included)
• 7:00 pm-late self-planned group dinners and parties

Sunday, October 26:

• 8:00 am registration opens
• 9:00 am-5:00 pm seminars sessions (lunch included)
• 5:00 pm see you next year!

Seminars Speakers:

• Mindy Bumgarner, MS FIRE
• Chris Carley of Eye of the Flyer
• Eunice Chow of Points Alchemy
• Andrew D'Amours of Flytrippers
• Andrew Derthick
• Amy M. Gardner
• Shabbir Hakim of cardZTravel
• Andy Hicks, everycountryby50
• Dave Homyak, bikeguy
• Aaron Hurd, PointsAndTravel
• Chris Hutchins of All the Hacks Podcast
• Lucy Hsu of Every Passport Stamp Facebook Group
• Kathy Kass of Will Run for Miles
• Ben Komenkul of Ben's Big Deal
• Stefan Krasowski of Rapid Travel Chai
• Linda Lay from SoloPear Travel
• Moli of Maple Miles
• Julia Menez of Geobreeze Travel Podcast
• Sarah Ramkissoon
• Dawn Royski of Share Traveler
• Anshul Singh of Points Miles and Bling
• Justin Vacula of Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast
• Rachel Yuan of Prince of Travel
• more to come!

Volunteer Staff:

• Michael Cao
• Candace Keene
• Angie Burrus
• Lela Shifton
• Prat Parekh, chevygiant
• Jerry Udell, jigger
• Sadaf W.
• Matthew Weyer

Sponsors:

• Aligned Incentives
• Bullion Gold Store
• Eye of the Flyer
• M and A Industries
• Mobius Enterprises

Transfer Policy: registration is transferable for a $50 processing fee (100% donated to charity). Transfers must be completed by October 18, 2025 at 11:59 pm CDT—email [email protected] your ticket informaiton and information of your transfer recipient.

Recording Policy: no audio or video recording of sessions is permitted without express written consent. Unauthorized recording may result in ejection without refund. Photos of presentation slides are permitted only with verbal consent of the presenter.

By registering for this event, you accept the and .

Host or Publisher Chicago Seminars