International
Attendees Praise Successful Meetings University in Bermuda
By William Ng
November 18, 2011
Meeting planners and group hospitality exhibitors alike came away from Successful Meetings University Caribbean & Islands in Bermuda feeling rejuvenated and with business prospects in tow. The two-day hosted-buyer event staged by Successful Meetings at host property Fairmont Southampton featured site tours of Bermuda’s top meetings and incentive resorts as well as one-on-one business meetings between corporate, association, and incentive planners and hospitality suppliers from other destinations.
“The show was very good, and Successful Meetings always does a fantastic job [with its University series],” said Terri Matley, New Berlin, WI-based meeting planner for ABB Inc., who praised the event for giving her the opportunity to see the wide range of meetings properties on Bermuda.
Jeff Weber, Cincinnati, OH-based executive vice president of Winspire, said the event was beneficial to him because, as a potential meeting buyer, it was important to put a “human face” on Bermuda. He noted that the relationships formed during the event “are key to driving long-term business” between him and the island’s hospitality community.
Suppliers that attended Successful Meetings University Caribbean & Islands voiced their satisfaction with business leads from well-qualified hosted buyers.
Claudia Davila, corporate tourism director for Proexport Colombia, the country’s convention and tourism marketing arm, said the show presented her with the chance to give meeting planners an “eye-opening” introduction to the fledgling South American business and incentive destination.
“Planners are already inquiring about us, and we have leads and request for proposals,” Davila said. Proexport Colombia sponsored the show’s opening keynote address, allowing Davila to give an audience of about 30 well-qualified buyers a 10-minute video briefing on the country. “We planted a seed [in their minds] that hadn’t existed. The quality of the buyers is what I love about Successful Meetings University.”
“The show was extremely productive,” added Dyhalma Torres, the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau’s Hollywood, FL-based director of sales. “We already have leads to work on, and the quality of planners was high.”
It was a productive show, as well, for Jim Curtis, area director of sales and marketing for the Westin St. John Resort and Villas. “The one-to-one meetings were beneficial, and all of the planners have histories of placing meetings in the Caribbean,” he noted. He said those meetings, which took place under a round-robin format, were well-organized and even suggested that they be 20 minutes apiece to extend the fruitful business conversations.
All of the Successful Meetings University attendees worked, played, and bonded together over two-plus days, gathering intelligence on property site inspections and off-site tours during each day and enjoying receptions and dinners at sponsoring properties in the evenings.
The planners, which were from all over the United States, toured the Fairmont Southampton and its sister property, Fairmont Hamilton Princess; Elbow Beach Bermuda, a resort managed by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group; the Grotto Bay Beach Resort; and Rosewood Tucker’s Point, giving them looks at properties across a range of class segments.
Some spent their afternoons visiting Bermuda’s Royal Naval Dockyard and lighthouse on the first day, while others enjoyed an afternoon cruise aboard the 100-foot yacht Venetian—also a group venue—on the second day. Those who went to the Royal Naval Dockyard also took in a pedestrian mall suitable for attendee off-site downtime, with arts-and-crafts shops like Dockyard Glassworks.
But all of the hosted buyers soaked in useful and practical lessons to become better at their jobs as meeting planners from futurist and Oprah.com contributor David Houle, the opening keynote speaker who gave them a view of what meetings could well be like in the near future, as well as from Dr. Jerry Teplitz, of Virginia Beach-based Jerry Teplitz Enterprises, who conducted a highly interactive presentation on positive thinking and mental preparation.
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