Grip Launches Innovate Tool to Help Event Organizers Monetize Buyer-Supplier Meetings and Boost ROI

December 16, 2022

Grip, a leading artificial intelligence (AI)-powered event platform, unveiled MustMeet, a robust meeting scheduler for event organizers, in response to a surge in demand for more valuable and impactful interactions between buyers and suppliers at events.

MustMeet uses AI to help organizers increase revenue and demonstrate ROI by easily adding transformational meetings to their events with automated meeting schedules. They can now automatically schedule, manage and host a range of meetings for participants at their in-person and virtual events with ease.

The benefits to buyers and suppliers include being able to conduct months’ worth of meetings in only a few days (or less), accelerate their buying and selling processes by only connecting the right people, and learn from leading industry experts and peers.

As the economic downturn worsens, Grip has seen a record 80% increase in demand for events where meetings are a core part of the experience. The company attributes that increase to attendees, sponsors and exhibitors demanding more value from events they commit to and organizers wanting new ways to grow. To meet this demand, Grip is now seeing organizers offering more facilitated meeting programs, such as hosted buyer events, to deliver ROI and increase revenue.

“The way meetings are scheduled today at events is ad hoc and unplanned, resulting in a poor experience for participants,” said Tim Groot, founder and CEO of Grip. “For example, many event organizers hope to connect the right participants at their events, but they’re not very deliberate about ensuring the right people meet one another.”

He added, “But now, as a result of the global economic slowdown, event organizers are focusing more on ‘interaction-led events’ to deliver greater ROI.”

In Grip’s experience, the reason is that most sponsors and exhibitors are looking to have more valuable meetings at events, according to Groot.

“It’s their main reason for participating in the first place,” he said. They want to quickly discover and then meet potential new customers at events they invest in.”

Complex meeting formats can now be deployed by event organizers automatically with MustMeet. Previously this would have taken several hundred post-it notes, spreadsheets and hours of manual work, and 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 meeting programs.

MustMeet, enables organizers to deliver the following meeting formats with intuitive, automated scheduling.

One-to-one meetings: Two mutually beneficial sides (buyer and supplier) are matched by Grip’s AI (as part of a hosted buyer event). MustMeet automatically confirms the meeting, puts it in participants’ event schedules (plus work calendars), books the location where they’ll meet (a booth, table or meeting room at the event), and enables both parties to rate the meeting easily.
One-to-many meetings: This meeting format is where one participant wants to meet various people at once. For example, a CEO connects with three different investors during one meeting.
Many-to-many meetings: Numerous Grip customers use MustMeet to host roundtables where 10-plus participants join a 90-minute meeting to discuss a hot topic. An example is where 10 CIOs and two enterprise technology vendor reps meet to discuss hot industry issues.

Through MustMeet, the event organizer’s strategy is executed with a meeting program, where meeting formats are agreed, implemented and made an integral part of their events, according to Groot.

“Crucially, organizers we work with see meetings as a valuable component that creates new revenue streams, important during this difficult economic period,” he said. “It also allows them to prove the ROI of their shows to exhibitors and sponsors with robust metrics, like the number and quality of the meetings that took place during the event.”

Specific benefits of MustMeet include:

An increase of as much as 20% in event revenue, as more valuable sponsor packages with meetings can be sold.
A reduction of up to 95% of time spent arranging meetings, compared to traditional manual matchmaking solutions.
Achieving record-breaking NPS scores, thanks to an improvement in participant meeting quality.
A dramatic increase in exhibitor re-bookings, as organizers are now able to demonstrate the ROI by showing them the number of meetings they scheduled before, during and after the event.

MustMeet’s first customers include the organizers of large events such as the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and the National Retail Federation, as well as smaller, more intimate events like MIP Cancun, Female Founders Office Hours and m&i Healthcare Europe.

Following are examples of how MustMeet is being used by participants at these leading industry events.

Hundreds of souvenir manufacturers in the U.S. met with airports, zoos and museum gift shops to win new orders and increase revenue.
Over 2,000 meetings were booked between TV executives and TV producers looking to sell their programs to streaming providers, resulting in millions seeing their shows.
Over 400 female founders met investors to secure funding over the course of 1,800 meetings.

All these meetings resulted in vital new opportunities created, thousands in additional revenue generated and hundreds of hours saved, according to Groot.

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Partner Voices

Women at the Helm: Lisa Messina, Chief Sales Officer, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority

Less than six months ago, Lisa Messina joined the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) as the first-ever chief sales officer after leading the sales team at Caesars Entertainment. A 12-year Las Vegas resident, Messina is a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and serves on MPI International’s board of directors. TSNN had a chance to catch up with this dynamic leader and talk to her about her vision for the new role, current shifts in the trade show industry, creating more diversity and equity within the organization, and advice to future female leaders. Lisa Messina, Chief Sales Officer, LVCVA With Las Vegas becoming The Greatest Arena on EarthTM, what are some of the things you’re most excited about in your role? Our team was at The Big Game’s handoff ceremony earlier this month, and I couldn’t help but think, “We’re going to crush it next year!” These high-profile events and venues not only drive excitement, but also provide unmatched opportunities for event planners. Allegiant Stadium hosts events from 10 to 65,000 people and offers on-field experiences. Formula 1 Grand Prix will take place in Las Vegas in November, after the year-one F1 race, the four-story paddock building will be available for buyouts and will also offer daily ride-along experiences that will be available for groups. And, of course, the MSG Sphere officially announced that it will open in September, ahead of schedule, with a U2 residency. It’s going to be the most technologically advanced venue as far as lighting, sound, feel, and even scent, and it will be available for buyouts and next-level sponsorships inside and outside. There’s no ceiling to what you can do when you’re doing events in Las Vegas. Allegiant Stadium As the trade show and convention business returns to the pre-pandemic levels, what shifts are you noticing and how do you think they will impact the industry going forward? Our trade show organizers are very focused on driving customer experience. Most of our organizers are reporting stronger exhibitor numbers and increased numbers of new exhibitors, with trade shows proving to be almost or above 2019 levels. Now our organizers are really doubling down on driving attendance and focusing on the data to provide that individualized, customized experience to help attendees meet their goals and get the best value. Some companies continue to be cautiously optimistic with their organizational spend when it comes to sending attendees, but I think it will continue to improve. As the U.S. Travel Association makes more progress on the U.S. visa situation, we also expect a growing influx of international attendees. What are some innovative ways the LVCVA helps trade show and convention organizers deliver the most value for their events? We focus on customer experience in the same way that trade show organizers are thinking about it. We got rave reviews with the West Hall Expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), so over the next two years, we will be renovating the North and the Central halls, which will include not just the same look and feel, but also the digital experiences that can be leveraged for branding and sponsorship opportunities. Vegas Loop, the underground transportation system designed by The Boring Company, is also a way we have enhanced the customer experience. Vegas Loop at the LVCC has transported more than 900,000 convention attendees across the campus since its 2021 launch. Last summer, Resorts World and The Boring Company opened the first resort stop at the Resorts World Las Vegas , with plans to expand throughout the resort corridor, including downtown Las Vegas, Allegiant Stadium and Harry Reid International Airport. The LVCVA also purchased the Las Vegas Monorail in 2020, the 3.9-mile-long elevated transportation system that connects eight resorts directly to the convention center campus. This is the only rail system in the world that integrates fares directly into show badges and registration. For trade show organizers, these transportation options mean saving time, money and effort when it comes to moving groups from the hotels to LVCC and around the city. Also, the more we can focus on building the infrastructure around the convention center, the more it supports the customer experience and ultimately supports our trade show organizers. Scheduled to debut in Q4, Fontainebleau Las Vegas will offer 3,700 hotel rooms and 550,000 square feet of meeting and convention space next to LVCC. What are some of the plans for advancing DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) within your organization? We’re currently partnering with instead of working with a leading consulting firm, to lay the foundation and create a solid DEI plan and be the leader when it comes to DEI initiatives. The heart of that journey with the consulting firm is also talking to our customers about their strategic approaches to DEI and driving innovation in this space. What are your favorite ways to recharge? My husband and I have an RV and we’re outdoorsy people. So, while we have over 150,000 world-class hotel rooms and renowned restaurants right outside our doorstep, one of my favorite things to do is get out to Red Rock Canyon, the Valley of Fire, and Lake Mead. Five of the top national parks are within a three-hour drive from Las Vegas, so there’s a lot you can do. We love balancing the energy of Las Vegas with nature, and we’re noticing that a lot of attendees add activities off the Strip when they come here. Valley of Fire What advice would you give to women following leadership paths in destination marketing? I think it’s about being laser-focused on what you want to accomplish; building a team around you that lifts you and helps you achieve your goals; and being humble and realizing that you do it as a group. No one gets this done alone. Thankfully, there are a lot of women in leadership in this organization, in our customers’ organizations, and in this city that we can be really proud of. We’re a formidable force that is making things happen. This interview has been edited and condensed. This article is exclusively sponsored by the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority. For more information, visit HERE.