Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Portland may have not have a lot in common but they have found joining forces has helped boost their convention and meeting business.
Under the partnership, formed in 2003, the visitors’ bureaus share contact information. They also refer each others’ cities to associations and trade organizations.
When presenting at large trade shows, marketing dollars can be stretched because the partnership shares costs, allowing them to sell their cities to more association executives.
The partners’ plan is to attract conventions that will bring between 2,700 and 5,000 people to their respective areas. Conventions of that size could bring as much as $3 million in out-of-state money per city, per convention, Jack Moneypenny, Visit Milwaukee’s vice president of sales operations, said in news reports.
It was Mr Moneypenny’s idea to collaborate with two noncompetitive, midsize cities to attract more large conventions. Since conventions rotate between east, central and west U.S. locations, Moneypenny thought the partnering cities should be in those locations.
Pittsburgh and Portland were natural selections because they have similar demographics to Milwaukee; plus, the sales executives already knew each other from previous meetings at trade shows.
The cities also have similar exhibit space and are ideal for similar conventions in the business industry and industries such as education, health care, religion, technology and engineering, according to Mr Moneypenny.
Since 2003, the visitors’ bureaus report that more association convention planners have been seeking information on all three cities.
Report by David Wilkening
