Imagine this….

You have been travelling to your organization’s conferences and annual meetings for years. Now it’s your turn to host your colleagues in your home province. Or, even more challenging, you have been assigned the task of organizing a major convention on the opposite coast.

“Yikes,” you think, “Where do I even start?”

This is the point where you call in your new BFF – the Destination Marketing Organization (DMO). A DMO promotes a town, city, region or country to increase the number of visitors. It promotes the development and marketing of a destination, focusing on conventions sales, tourism marketing and services. So if you are bringing in people for a meeting or conference, the DMO is ready, willing and able to assist. Sounds like just what you need, yes?

First things first

The DMO provides you with a meeting planning guide to get you started. Then it partners with you to achieve your goals and objectives. And if you are not clear on what they are, the DMO can help you sort them out. Is teambuilding the prime objective of the event? Or does your organization have considerable business to conduct? Maybe attendees have earned their participation through an incentive program. Being clear upfront on what you want to accomplish will make the planning and execution go much smoother.

Next, you will need to get bids from the various providers of accommodations, goods and services needed to make your meeting a success. The DMO helps with that, saving you countless emails and phone calls from those vying for your business. Rather, armed with your RFP, the DMO receives all the proposals, distills them, and presents an organized bid from the destination. All you have to do is review and choose your meeting location.

DMO folks know their location and what it offers better than anyone else. Therefore, they have the inside track when it comes to helping you develop programming and any social or teambuilding experiences you want to incorporate into your event. From culture to clam-digging, from theatre to tours, from sailing to sandcastle building, your DMO knows how to find just what you are seeking.

Perhaps you would feel more comfortable seeing the location and meeting the providers in person prior to the event. No problem. Your new BFF can plan a familiarization (fam) tour for you to get acquainted and finalize arrangements. You will be in good hands as you see for yourself what the destination is like and what it offers.

Now it’s time talk up the event and generate excitement so your organization’s members are keen to attend. And, yes, the DMO helps with that, too. It has lots of lots of ideas and information – including videos and other promotional items – to have delegates hankering to attend your event.

Just as your BFF would help you out of the goodness of his or her heart, so does the DMO. In other words, their assistance and support are absolutely free. After all, you are bringing visitors to their destination.

Meetings & Conventions Prince Edward Island is the Island’s DMO. It markets PEI as Canada’s premiere coastal meeting destination by providing event planning solutions to meeting planners and anyone with potential to bring meeting and convention business to PEI. Fill out a request for proposal or Contact your new BFF today!