CanPlan produced, and in its 4th year, Destination Direct has continued to be a successful hosted buyer program that takes away the trade show floor, giving meeting planners and association executives an opportunity to meet with Canadian Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO’s) in a private suite with one on one, no interruptions and no worries, 15 min conversations.

DDC is organized by meeting planners with meeting planners’ needs in mind. As meeting planners, we really wanted to get business done, and we share the frustration of many of our industry colleagues about how difficult it was to talk shop on the tradeshow floor. The other thing that we noticed is that a lot of our colleagues don’t understand the value of engaging the DMO at the outset of their search for a host city. We saw a problem and ultimately, our DMO partners helped us identify the solution! A niche Hosted Buyer show for association executives and meeting planners to meet one-on-one with DMOs.

The DDC Hosted Buyer program is unique in the MICE industry (MICE = Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions).  We were all used to Hosted Buyer programs that have the buyers moving around the trade show floor to meet the sellers. At DDC – the DMOs are all in their own suites, in an all-suite hotel, branded with their own identity, colours, swag and everything that makes them shine. The hosted buyers have an agenda and based on meetings they get to pre-select through a matchmaking software, they join the DMO rep in the suite for a 15 minute uninterrupted conversation.

DDC has continued to grow over the last three years, starting with 21 Destinations and 21 Buyers in 2016 to 25 Destinations and 28 Buyers in 2018.

CanPlan designs, produces and manages the marketing, communication and materials for the program, from the website http://destinationdirectcanada.ca/, to the sponsorship prospectus, http://destinationdirectcanada.ca/supplier-partners/partner-information-package/  and an on-line application form for buyers http://destinationdirectcanada.ca/hosted-buyers/hosted-buyer-application/. We also provide all the participating DMO’s a link to register http://destinationdirectcanada.ca/supplier-partners/dmo-registration-form-2018/  as well as a link to complete their Destination and personal profiles. Our goal is to streamline the process for all participants, both buyers and sellers, making this show one of the easiest to sign up for and manage on all levels.