 Convention carded for April 30th - Saturday May 3rd, 2008
Plans for the ninth annual TRADE & INVESTMENT CONVENTION (TIC 2008) are well underway, hot on the heels of the tremendous success of TIC 2007.
The Trade and Investment Convention 2008 will be held from Wednesday April 30th to Saturday May 3rd, 2008, incorporating three consecutive days of strictly business-to-business activity, with one day (Saturday) reserved for business-to-consumer activity, allowing for market research, testing, sampling, and other interactions with the general public.
In line with the Organising Committee's mandate of continuous improvement, TIC 2008 will feature a redesigned trade show floor, incorporating 10 Large Booths (6’x18’), 258 Medium Booths (10’x10’), and 24 Small Booths 6’x6’). At TIC 2007, 215 companies exhibited in 225 booths and 12 kiosks.
TIC is geared specifically to building local, intra-regional and international trade, and is a key platform of the TTMA’s effort to expand trade horizons for member manufacturers. The Convention includes exhibits by manufacturers, exporters and service providers, as well as financial institutions, investors, and regulatory agencies responsible for trade.
Hundreds of regional and international buyers and distributors attend each year. Special networking events ensure that participants have ample opportunity to meet and build business partnerships and relationships.
Exhibitor feedback: Results for TIC 2007 indicate that more than three quarters of the exhibitors at the Convention intend to return in 2008, as a result of their positive business experiences. Exhibitors also reported that more than 50% of the inquiries they received from visitors at TIC 2007 qualified as “new leads”.
TIC 2007 was especially exciting with many innovative and creative booth designs and interactive displays which attracted local and foreign visitors alike. The Convention did justice to exhibitors’ hard work and enthusiastic efforts, with the introduction of the “Best of TIC Booth Awards” judged by the Business Editors of the Trinidad Guardian and the Newsday. This proved to be a highly popular event, and the winning booths, including the Best Booth Award in the large category, the “Agri-tunnel”, received excellent news coverage, as did the Opening Ceremony of the Convention, with Feature Speaker, The Honourable Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
Overseas exhibits: Some 72 companies from 15 countries exhibited at TIC 2007, roughly one-third of the exhibitors at the Convention. The largest foreign contingent was from Brazil, followed by newcomer India, then Costa Rica which has exhibited with TIC almost since inception. Curaçao also mounted one of the larger exhibits at the Convention. Long-time exhibitor Austria exhibited for the fifth year running, while first-timer exhibitors included the Embassy of the United States of America, the Embassy of Guatemala, the Grenada Industrial Development Corporation, and the Grenada Board of Tourism.
Sectors on Show: TIC is a uniquely multi-sectoral event. Sectors on show included food and beverage, business services, pharmaceuticals, construction, household, information technology, plastics, printing and packaging, transport and distribution, furniture and appliances, energy, automotive, telecommunications, electro-electrical, training and development, engineering, marine, trade facilitation, chemicals, and much more.
Attendance: More than 2,000 buyers seeking new sources of products and services attended TIC 2007, ranging from individual businesses, to wholesalers, to large distributors. An additional 1,500 consumers visited the Convention on the single business-to-consumer day. Overseas buyers came to T&T for TIC 2007 from: Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, China, Commonwealth of Dominica, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curaçao, England, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Isla de Margarita, Jamaica, Korea , Montserrat, North Ghana, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Suriname, UK, USA, Venezuela.
To register as a TIC 2008 Exhibitor, and to find out about special rates for TTMA Members, contact Khazana Rasool, TIC Sales Co-Ordinator, at (868) 675 8862.
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