Chantel Beaupre
Co-Founder

Before launching Say Something Communications Inc., her international conference management company, Chantel cut her teeth as a conference manager for a Crown Corporation in Ottawa, and got her very first taste of the industry at the Hemisphere Summit Office at the Department of Foreign Affairs. These days, she’s a member of a number of industry associations, and a “sometimes willing” face on industry panels talking about the meetings industry and where its headed.

Chantel will tell you she’s an introvert, but don’t let that fool you, she’s far from shy. Put her in a room full of strangers and she’ll happily be the one starting the conversation, usually with a joke that has no business landing as well as it does. Humour is superpower: the second a room gets stiff or a networking moment turns awkward, count on Chantel to crack it wide open with a perfectly timed (and often completely inappropriate) joke.

When she’s not organizing conferences across the globe, you’ll find her with a guitar in hand, or halfway across the world on her next travel adventure. Her philosophy at DDC is simple: the best business happens in real conversations, not rushed ones, so expect fewer stiff handshakes, more laughs, and relationships that actually stick.

As conference organizers, we have seen a steady shift in the way business is done. Way back in the ‘old days’ it used to be that meeting planners and association executives would draft their RFPs, print them up, bring them to the closest trade show, hand them out and meet industry colleagues (DMO’s, hotels, GSO’s, AV providers, etc…) who they could build a relationship with and call (or fax – depending on how old the ‘old days’ are that we’re talking about here) when they were ready to place their groups.

Fast forward to the present day. When industry colleagues, meeting planners & association executives head to a trade show now – we’re bombarded with so much information, so many booths, so many hugs and so many opportunities to catch up with old friends that all talk of business seems to fly right out the window. Not to mention the interruptions if we do try to talk business for a second, because there’s always someone coming up the aisle behind you who also needs a hug from the person you’re chatting with!

Okay, now that we’ve insulted you and called you old, give us a minute to redeem ourselves and explain how DDC can help you get the most out of your time during Ottawa Meet Week.

The DDC Hosted Buyer program is unique in the MICE industry (MICE = Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions, not the Mickey and Minnie kind).  We’re all used to Hosted Buyer programs that have the buyers moving around the trade show floor to meet the sellers.

At DDC, the DMOs are all in their own suites, in an all suite hotel, branded with their own identity, colours, swag and everything that makes them shine. The hosted buyers have a schedule and based on meetings they get to pre-select through a matchmaking software, they join the DMO rep in the suite for a 15 minute uninterrupted conversation.

Imagine what you could do with 15 minutes with DMOs from most Canadian provinces and territories! You could meet with almost all the destination representatives across Canada and figure out in less than two days which cities CAN actually host your next conference. You can ask DMOs about financial incentives and other cost-saving benefits if you do bring your group to their city. You can ask them anything you want! These DMOs participate in DDC because they want to meet planners like you, planners who can bring a convention to their city and who need a local contact to help make that event spectacular.