• PCMA is using MustMeet, Grip’s AI-powered meeting scheduler, for its in-person Hosted Buyer Program at Convening Leaders 2023 (Jan 8 - 11, 2023)
• Over 350 one-to-one meetings with event industry professionals will be automatically scheduled, managed and hosted at the in-person event using MustMeet

PCMA, the world’s largest community for business events strategists, providing senior-level education, networking, and market intelligence for the global business events industry, has selected Grip as its technology partner for the Convening Leaders 2023 event.

The flagship hybrid education and networking event in Columbus, Ohio (Jan 8 - 11, 2023), which brings together over 3,000 event professionals, will use MustMeet, Grip’s new AI-powered meeting scheduler.  

Grip’s MustMeet software is helping PCMA automatically schedule and manage over 350 in-person, one-to-one meetings during its Hosted Buyer Program, which takes place on January 8th. These transformational meetings will take place between two types of participants: business events strategists responsible for contracting destinations and services (i.e. buyers); and pre-qualified suppliers looking to sell to this audience.

The benefits to participants of these AI-powered meetings, include: 

• An acceleration of their buying and sales process by only connecting the right people.
• Being able to conduct months’ worth of meetings in only a few days (or less).
• The chance to connect and learn from leading industry experts and peers in a facilitated, one-to-one format.

Thanks to MustMeet, PCMA will gain vital process efficiencies enabling it to dramatically expand and enhance the program with ease. The membership organization will easily be able to host complex meeting formats automatically, saving hours of manual work. For example, previously it would have taken several hundred post-it notes, spreadsheets and hours of manual work to schedule Hosted Buyer meetings. Plus, last minute dropouts would have thrown carefully planned schedules into disarray. Additional hours would also be spent distributing, collecting and analyzing participants’ paper feedback forms post-event to assess the effectiveness and quality of the Hosted Buyer Program. 

“Our members come to Convening Leaders to meet the right people, those who can advance their business,” said Meredith Rollins, Chief Community Officer at PCMA. “Often they want to find their next host destination or identify the right partner for their production or design needs. That’s why this year we’re using Grip’s MustMeet software to expand and enhance our Hosted Buyer Program. It will help us facilitate even more valuable business discussions between qualified buyers and our valued partners.”

Tim Groot, Founder and CEO of Grip, explained: “We’ve seen a record 80% increase in demand for events where meetings are a core part of the experience. This trend continues with our partnership with PCMA, which provides highly effective meeting programs, enabling participants to meet the right people, generate transformational outcomes and get a real return on investment. 

“In 2023, the demand for facilitated meeting programs will only increase as more organizers want to drive better outcomes for participants and revenue for their own organizations. Whether these events are ‘hosted’ or not, MustMeet ensures we are ready to surf this wave of demand for events that have meetings as a core part of the experience.” 

For more information on MustMeet, click here to watch the explainer video.