Montana Promotion Division

MEETINGS & CONVENTIONS

Montana continues to grow as a key destination consideration for convention and meeting planners nationwide.

Travel Montana, in cooperation with the Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs), designed a comprehensive program for the promotion of meetings and conventions. The goals of this program are to:

  • build and maintain a positive image with prospective meeting and convention planners
  • generate and distribute leads to the CVBs for convention facilities in their areas.

MEDIA CAMPAIGN

To further increase awareness of Montana as a desirable location for meetings, conventions and seminars, Travel Montana implemented an Internet advertising campaign. By utilizing search engines, we are reaching high-quality traffic and only paying for a per visitor click-through to our website. Search engines for Travel Montana's Internet media campaign include: Overture.com and Findwhat.com with about 30 key words on each site.

LEADS
Please login to view the leads area.
User Name:
Password:

FULFILLMENT

All inquiries will be fulfilled with a Montana Meeting Planner’s Guide. Those leads will then be distributed on a regular basis to the participating Convention and Visitors Bureaus.

MEETING PLANNER'S GUIDE

The Montana Meeting Planner’s Guide provides a complete resource for meeting planners—from cozy, three-person retreats to large-scale conventions. This four-color guide also includes essential information on related services such as transportation and meeting coordinators. The information from the publication can also be found on the Internet at http://montanameetings.com.

PRESS RELEASES

Travel Montana prepares and distributes several press releases over the course of the year to keep Montana visible in appropriate trade publications.

INVITE-A-CONVENTION

This campaign promotes Montana as a great location for conventions and conferences. A letter is sent from the governor to Montana based corporations, associations and agencies, as well as to state employees, urging them to bid on conventions. Additionally, the program encourages these organizations to contact Travel Montana for a Convention Kit containing tips on bidding and planning conventions, as well as a Meeting Planners Guide listing convention and meeting facilities statewide.

Once a Montana convention site is chosen, a letter from the governor, along with a Vacation Planning Kit, is sent to the potential participants. This letter encourages them to attend the scheduled convention and invites them to extend their stay in Montana beyond the event.

EVALUATION MECHANISMS

Travel Montana tracks the number of inquiries received from the trade shows and Internet to measure the level of interest in Montana as a convention destination. Distribution of all Invite-a-Convention packets and Meeting Planner's Guides are tracked as well. Convention and Visitors Bureaus also track these leads and report them to Travel Montana on a quarterly basis.

TRADE SHOW ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

This program assists Montana recognized Regions and Convention Visitors Bureaus (CVB’s) in exploring new domestic markets by encouraging first-time exhibition at business to business meeting and convention trade shows outside of the state. It is not only for Regions/CVB’s new to trade show exhibition, but can also be useful for established Regions/CVB’s who are looking to exhibit at a show that they have never been to before. It is not intended for a Region/CVB to use for a trade show at which it currently exhibits. The assistance comes in the form of fifty (50%) percent reimbursement of qualified and approved expenses for trade show exhibition.