ibtm america combines Nashville´s music tradition with its education topics

International and regional meeting and event planners can now apply to attend as Hosted Buyers by filling out an application online. Besides being flown and hosted for free, these Buyers will receive a diary of up to 30 pre-scheduled, mutually matched 1-to-1 appointments with suppliers, access to a variety of networking events, participation in Discovery Day, and access to the Knowledge Forum. A few days packed with learning and contacts.

In times when exhibitors and buyers complain about their agendas including non-relevant meetings, ibtm america has decided to go for full matching: According to Jaime McAuley (ibtm america Event Director), “we´re rolling out 100% mutual match business appointments which puts both buyers and exhibitors in the driver´s seat, giving them full control to choose who they want to meet with while eliminating non-relevant meetings”.

Networking events will include the ibtm america Welcome Luncheon, which will trade the traditional keynote speaker for a group of songwriters and studio musicians, right in the spirit of the “Music City”. Lyric Crew will engage attendees in a creative team-building songwriting process where the result will be transformed into the ibtm america jingle and theme song.

The Knowledge Forum will include CEU Accredited Sessions (certification is a big issue in the US, hopefully soon in Europe…) and experiential sessions. Topics will include “Digital Security Trends”, an increasingly important topic in this digital world, and “Meeting Design”, exploring for instance storyboard techniques to create fun and effective experiences.

As part of Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) global agreement with oneworld as its exclusive airline alliance partner for 2016, exhibitors are eligible for a discount when booking through oneworld events.