The Meetings Show UK is to invest £1m in a “high value, high quality hosted buyer programme”. When news of the show’s launch was first broken by CN on 6 March, organiser Centaur was projecting 1,000 hosted buyers in July 2013. Now Centaur has upped its game and says exhibitors can expect to benefit from 13,500 scheduled appointments from 1,500 qualified hosted buyers.
Centaur claims the investment will give The Meetings Show UK “the UK’s most engaging and rewarding hosted buyer programme”.
The programme will be run by a full time, dedicated hosted buyer management team, assisted by recruitment and marketing specialists in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Eastern Europe and the UK.
Centaur has also recruited specialists to focus on attracting association buyers as well as professional qualifiers in an attempt to ensure buyers have legitimate meeting requirements.
The show’s diary and registration system will be created by delegate and attendee management specialists RefTech, the company that has supported hosted buyer programmes for both The Business Travel Show and IMEX.
The Meetings Show UK Event Director, Steve Knight, said: “Hosted buyer programmes have continually demonstrated the fact that they are fundamental to a successful show that delivers a high return on exhibitor investment. Through financial commitment to the hosted buyer programme, Centaur has clearly demonstrated its desire to deliver an industry leading show that meets the needs of all attendees.”
The organiser will fully host the buyers for the three-day show. They will have to commit two hours a day to appointments, leaving them the majority of the day to tour the show and participate in the professional education programme and business networking events.
Buyers will also have the opportunity to participate in a fam trip programme which will run after the show.
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