Prevue Meetings & Incentives, a multiplatform brand that inspires meeting and incentive planners by providing immersive experiential travel coverage, professional development and thought leadership, hosted the Global Meeting Leaders’ Visionary Summit on June 3-4, 2019 at the MGM National Harbor, MD. This custom Visionary Summit, sponsored exclusively by VisitBritain, was a mix of education and business development meetings with representatives from 21 destinations/facilities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and 31 corporate and association meeting planners from North America.
The event kicked off with an opening reception in the posh VIP lounge of MGM’s theater featuring none other than an Austin Powers impersonator, who posed for selfies with the group. Attendees immersed themselves in British culture by sampling various delicacies and sweets from different regions of Great Britain while mingling with peers and new friends to learn more about this exciting destination. Meeting planners also had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with a variety of U.K. destinations and facilities to explore new opportunities and sites for their future events.
“It was wonderful meeting with many of my event planner peers, where we learned valuable tools on dealing with the UK, Brexit, GDPR, and more,” said Aimee Mangan, Senior Event Manager, AHM, an IQVIA Company, “I loved meeting with the UK venue suppliers as well and I can’t wait to bring them some business!”
VisitBritain and its partners were delighted to showcase everything that their countries have to offer to the North American meeting planner audience. In two days, VisitBritain and partners were able to both identify what makes their destinations a one-of-a-kind event for planners next great meeting, while also leaving the event with new connections for future business.
Gavin Landry, Director Americas at VisitBritain said: “The USA is home to hundreds of association and incentive travel planners who meet regularly across the globe, making it an incredibly important business events source market for us. The UK is a fantastic location to host meetings and events for the US, not just because it is the most connected destination in the world via air, but also because we are home to some of the leading innovators globally within a number of sectors including life sciences, artificial intelligence and financial technology. Events held in the UK find themselves immersed in a centre of excellence and surrounded by world-class destinations which gives momentum to all meetings and events.”
Kerrin MacPhie, Head of Business Events at VisitBritain, said: “This two-day event brought together experts from the international meetings industry, providing valuable opportunities to build relationships outside the conventional meeting and events setting. It was great to see both planners and partners side-by-side in all activities making the most of the one-to-one networking, business meetings and also educational sessions which provided excellent and topical content including a presentation from UKVI, providing clarity on getting a VISA and access to the UK for the US market. VisitBritain is committed to developing Business Events across the global meetings industry and successful events such as Prevue’s Global Meeting Leaders’ Visionary Summit support us to achieve this growth.”
“Prevue was thrilled to team up with VisitBritain and its partners to successfully bring together a group of highly qualified US based senior level association and corporate planners.” said Barbara Scofidio, Editor at Prevue and Curator of the Prevue Visionary Summit Series. “The event was filled with exceptional education, business development meetings and networking and we are proud to have turned VisitBritain’s vision into reality.”
Stephanie Newton, Head of Business Tourism at Marketing Manchester said: “Prevue’s Global Meeting Leaders’ Visionary Summit provided a great platform to showcase Manchester as a global conference destination along with Manchester Central, the city’s convention centre. The buyers were well qualified for potential future business to the UK, including a good mix of corporate, association and incentive organisers aligned to Manchester’s key sectors.”
For more information on upcoming events with Prevue Meetings & Incentives, please visit https://www.prevuemeetings.com/events/. For more information on VisitBritain/VisitEngland, please visit http://www.eventsaregreat.com