MEETINGS 2008 Does the Business

PRESS RELEASE

MEETINGS 2008 Does the Business

15 August 2008, Auckland: Exhibitors and hosted buyers alike are saying the recent MEETINGS 2008 tradeshow in Christchurch is the best yet.

Buyers from New Zealand, Australia and India were at the two-day show at the end of July, where 174 exhibitors showcased a diverse range of New Zealand’s key destinations, venues, hotels, products and services for conventions, meetings, exhibitions, events and incentive travel programmes.

The extra floor space at this year’s venue, the ease of moving around the show, quality of hosted buyers and professionalism of exhibitors all contributed to excellent feedback.

Jeanette Stanton, MEETINGS 2008 Exhibition Manager says the luxury of additional space at Westpac Arena was a real highlight for this year’s event.

“The central meeting place and additional lounge space was a real bonus enabling buyers and exhibitors to have additional networking space. Vbase, our venue partner was extremely helpful in both the planning and delivery of the event and added enormously with support and sponsorship,” she says.

“Christchurch suppliers were once again a pleasure to work with and we appreciated the support of many local supporting sponsors who contributed to the fantastic social events.”

Alan Trotter, Conventions & Incentives New Zealand (CINZ) CEO echoes the positive comments about MEETINGS 2008.

“It was a great show and I’m sure of huge benefit to both exhibitors and buyers. Christchurch as the host city did a fantastic job as always and magnificently showcased its range of venues – and event creativity - to the buyers.”

Exhibitor Kylie Brittain, Queenstown Convention Bureau Manager says that the quality of hosted buyers, venue and layout of the show as well as the ease of organising their appointment schedule was fantastic.

“Feedback from the Queenstown operators has been extremely positive and many are staying it was the best MEETINGS they have attended so far. We’ve got a number of quality leads to follow up on so fingers crossed for business for Queenstown!”

Another exhibitor Terry Holt, Crowne Plaza Auckland Business Development Director, says the venue worked well and his team was impressed with the quality of buyers.

“We were very busy, both in set appointments – a full schedule – as well as extra meetings with both hosted and day buyers. We have a number of quotes for business between 2008 – 2010 with more to be confirmed.”

162 buyers from Australia, New Zealand and India participated in the MEETINGS 2008 appointment programme, 83 buyers from Australia, 5 from India and the balance from New Zealand.

This year a one day hosted day buyer programme was offered for the first time to New Zealand buyers with 11 buyers participating in the one day appointment schedule and hosting, which included air travel and one night’s accommodation.

Ms Stanton adds that the support of all MEETINGS 2008 sponsors is hugely appreciated and long-standing relationships with the show’s principal sponsor, Air New Zealand and other major sponsors has allowed the organising team to work together to continue to add value to the event during the many months of preparation and planning.

Final figures are still being tallied for business booked during the show but for MEETINGS 2007 $25 million of C&I business was booked during the show, with a further $164 million worth of business planned in the subsequent 6 – 12 months. MEETINGS 2008 organisers are predicting that this year’s event will offer exhibitors similar business benefits.

Planning will soon begin for MEETINGS 2009 which is being held at SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre on July 22 & 23 2009.

MEETINGS is New Zealand’s only annual national convention and incentive (C&I) tradeshow and is hosted by Conventions and Incentives New Zealand (CINZ).

ENDS

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