The tables are turned.
The Meet the Planner Marketplace puts meeting planners in the driver’s seat. Planners stay put in their booths and suppliers go to see them. Each appointment is prearranged, based on computer matches of planner/supplier requests. Suppliers are asked to leave marketing materials at home so meeting planners don’t have to deal with bulky brochures and sales materials.
Solid information in six minutes.
During each six-minute appointment, planners and suppliers talk over options and opportunities. By the end of each day’s two-hour Marketplace, meeting planners leave the brief conversations with solid information about meeting destinations and venues.
Networking, networking and more networking.
Conversations start at the Marketplace but don’t end there. At every turn, planners and suppliers are elbow to elbow, sometimes arm in arm. Suppliers and planners share meals and visit over canapes and cocktails at receptions and aboard motorcoaches on city tours. In a business that’s all about relationships, the SMM conference gives attendees ample opportunities to relate.
The upsides of small.
Meeting planners who previously opted for Orlando, Fla., or Las Vegas learn that Jacksonville, Fla., and Henderson, Nev., deserve their consideration and that second and third tier don’t mean second rate when it comes to meeting sites.
