How does a hosted buyer program work?
The show’s organizer identifies professional buyers with real projects and budget, often from international markets it wants to attract, and covers their travel, accommodation and accreditation. In return, each hosted buyer commits to a minimum number of meetings with exhibitors, scheduled before the event through the show’s matchmaking system.
The program benefits all three sides. The buyer resolves in two days a supplier round that would take weeks, the exhibitor gets access to verified decision-makers with purchase intent, and the show raises the commercial quality of its edition, which is its best argument for selling booths the following year. The figure is common across the MICE world, especially at travel, food and fashion fairs.
How do exhibitors get meetings with hosted buyers?
Competition is fierce, because hosted buyers receive far more requests than their agenda can hold. The meetings go to exhibitors who act early, as soon as the program’s platform opens its agendas, and to those who present a worked profile, with a clear company description and a concrete proposal for the buyer’s project rather than a generic message.
It also pays not to stop at the official program. Hosted buyers are a small fraction of the buyers in the venue, and many equally valuable decision-makers attend as regular trade visitors. Working the event’s full company list against your ideal customer profile builds a meeting agenda of your own without depending on a quota, which is exactly the approach DataOrigin automates in its event directory.