Venue Connect – What a time!

My colleague Patty Monaghan and I had the pleasure of attending IAAM’s Venue Connect conference in Houston from July 23-27. It was the first time MeetingMatrix exhibited, and it was a fantastic experience.

First, the atmosphere that IAAM seeks to create, in my humble opinion, is one of openness and exploration. People in attendance are curious what you do. We had an incredible amount of our current customers in attendance as well, and it was great to see every one of them. The best part is when you are talking with someone who is interested in your services, and a current customer comes up and says, ‘Oh wow you guys are here?!? We use your Product every day and we LOVE it!’ That is the best feeling in the world.

IAAM puts on several networking events during the conference, from the First Timers breakfast, to the Chairman’s Reception, and various independent receptions for Chapters, Alumni, and other organizations. We also attended a Houston Astros game. They lost to the Cubs, but hey this girl is a Red Sox and Rockies fan, given that I spent 9 years in the great city of Boston, and have been in Colorado for 12. Minute Maid Park is a beautiful and well thought out Stadium, and the staff members were very gracious. In fact, throughout the whole city of Houston, from our stay at the Doubletree, to the staff at the local restaurants, we found every person we encountered to be friendly and really ‘get’ what the Hospitality Industry is all about.

The Chairman’s Reception, hosted at the House of Blues, was an incredible networking experience, and again we had the opportunity to talk with our current customers, we encountered some who we have talked with but maybe not done business with yet, and made new friends. House of Blues put on a great event; I was really impressed with the layout of the Venue, quality of their food, and overall presentation.

Fellow Exhibitors were also curious about what we do, and we learned a lot about them too. Making connections among Businesses you have commonality with goes a long way in our world.

IAAM’s Venue Connect will be in Phoenix in 2011, and when we selected our Booth space it seemed clear that it will be another successful event. I look forward to seeing new faces and reconnection with friends and colleagues

Lydia Montgomery
Sales & Strategic Alliance Manager