Speed Dating with Venues

Yes, you read that right. For the second consecutive year I’ve had the chance to attend the Rejuvenate Marketplace. The Marketplace is a gathering of meeting planners (such as CIY) and religious meeting suppliers (primarily Convention and Visitor’s Bureaus along with specific hotels and convention centers). The idea is to put the planners together with the suppliers and give them time to figure out how one may serve the other.

One of the unique parts of this particular gathering are the pre-arranged appointments. Each planner is scheduled to meet with 38 – yes, that’s right 38 – suppliers in a two-day period. The way it works is that the Marketplace creates a table for each planner, who then sits as the suppliers scurry from planner to planner on their schedule. Every 7 minutes the chimes ring and it’s time for a new face, new city, new list of reasons why the planner should bring their meeting to a given location. You can’t really watch or experience this process without being reminded of speed-dating scenes you’ve watched on TV or in movies. Heck, even the Marketplace staff acknowledges the similarities.

This morning I got the chance to talk to lots of great potential venues. Many of which may never host a CIY event, some of which already are, and a few may indeed land a MOVE, Believe, or SuperStart event as a direct result of this event.

As entertaining as this is and as much value as it has, for me there is also great value in connecting with previous acquaintances and taking in educational sessions. The educational sessions at events like this might tend to take a backseat and be treated like an afterthought. Thankfully the people at Collinson Publishing saw the value in investing in quality presenters and providing information and training that are of great value to the planners (and in some cases the suppliers as well). While what I do is not quite what the typical planner might do, I’m probably the closest thing at CIY to a planner – based on my understanding of what a planner does. The difference is that I don’t really operate in that world most of the year. But at certain times I have to put my planner hat on – which makes this very, very valuable.

I observed this afternoon that an added benefit for me (and CIY) of attending an event like this is getting to see how other planners plan events. You have to figure Dean Jones – who is the planner in charge of this event – knows his stuff for Collinson to put him in charge of planning a meeting for planners. And clearly he does. Things are well thought through and well done.

The event is just small enough that the staff (at least one of them) will call you by name. In my case it’s Chris Collinson, who called me and personally registered me for the event. He picked me out across the room and called me by name (no chance he could have read my name badge from where he was). Certainly they accomplish what we at CIY need to be doing in terms of connecting with their clientèle. I’m generally skeptical, but this event – for the second year – has taken away my skepticism specifically because knowing my name and genuinely caring that I enjoy and benefit from the event stands to benefit the Marketplace staff none. No really. Reason? Because what CIY paid for me to be here doesn’t even cover the cost of the hotel & meals they’re serving – not to mention the cost of the event. So Rejuvenate doesn’t benefit financially from me. Certainly they need planners who have viable events to offer in order to make the show go – that’s what causes the suppliers to put up what I suspect is fairly big money to fund the event. I definitely give the staff an A investing in the people who attend and making us feel valued.