Skift Take
Visit Seattle is positioning itself as a broker of innovation, versus a sales conduit for meeting space, by introducing meeting planners nationwide to some of the world's most advanced companies.
The Visit Seattle convention and visitors bureau hosted its inaugural Event Innovation Forum last month, connecting senior meeting planners from around the country with leaders in the region's innovation economy.
Up until 2014, Visit Seattle had a customer advisory board of experienced planners who were flown into the city on an annual basis to help the bureau gain insight into industry trends and best practices. The planners would also meet with convention facilities, hotels, and other tourism and hospitality industry partners.
However, as in many cities, these types of networking events often benefit the host destination more than the planners, who sometimes feel obligated to participate due to their relationship with the bureau as past customers.
Visit Seattle cancelled the process in 2014 because the experience had become somewhat stale and unproductive.
Since then, a growing number of cities worldwide have been promoting their local leaders in their advanced industry sectors to engage meeting planners with a more elevated conversation. Instead of just learning about the convention centers and hotel inventory, planners are now meeting with some of the most innovative people in the city to learn about new developments in business strategy, product development, and customer engagement.
It’s a trend growing across the U.S., and Seattle is in a highly competitive position to leverage that trend. Boeing, Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, Expedia, Weyerhaeuser, and Nordstrom are all headquartered in Seattle, along with a number of smaller companies in retail and hospitality that have built successful brands in the Pacific Northwest over generations.
The new Event Innovation Forum (EIF) is a reworking of the old customer advisory board experience, designed to connect local executives in those above companies with different planners from around the country. The goal is to position Seattle as a world-class hub of innovative companies that visiting organizations can access and leverage with the assistance of Visit Seattle. Furthermore, meeting planners can explore how leaders across Seattle’s innovation economy are disrupting technology, transportation, travel, and other industries at a
