Connect @ Bett - Did you do it?

[Net-Ctrl]

Hello all,

 

I was hoping to get some of your thoughts on Connect @ Bett. This is their meeting booking option that's supposed to align attendees/exhibitors with a mutual interest in a 15-minute meeting at the venue.

 

Have you done it before, if not, would you consider doing it?

 

I am currently looking at sorting our stand for BETT 2023 and part of the package offered included Connect @ Bett.

 

I can see the benefit for attendees as they can book meetings concerning potential projects, with exhibitors they would want to speak to, streamlining the process of attending BETT, but I'm not sure how popular this is and with everything from BETT it has got a nice price tag associated to us taking part.

 

There is more information available here - https://uk.bettshow.com/connect-bett/education-institution-government-attendees

 

Many thanks for your thoughts.

 

Josh

[Primus]

I tried it for the first time last year - mainly for the money they paid towards the cost of attending.

 

In the end I didn't attend a single meeting - they asked when I was available and then scheduled me loads at mega early times like 07:30. Even after I told them I wasn't available and declined the meetings I then had loads of companies ringing me asking where I was.

 

So in the end we didn't receive the money as we didn't attend any meetings, all I got was a load of hassle - never again.

[Net-Ctrl]

Thank you @Primus for your thoughts - sounds like a terrible experience.

[Primus]

Actually it would seem that programme was called "Hosted leaders" rather than "Connect".

[Net-Ctrl]

I have just Googled 'Hosted Leaders' and it seems to be the same as 'Connect' - perhaps just re-brand. Not too surprising if other people's experiences were the same, or similar, to yours.

 

Hosted Leaders Programme:

Brought to you by Bett and Learnit, the Hosted Leaders Programme is improved for Bett 2022 and will connect global school, university and government leaders with relevant and thoughtfully selected Education Solution Providers through carefully curated 1:1 meetings.

 

Participating educator leaders identify challenges they are trying to overcome and products and services they are looking to source, and education solution providers request meetings with leaders who are actively searching for the products and services they deliver.

 

No random meetings or forced connections, just high-quality conversations between two parties who are perfectly matched to do business. This invaluable initiative provides tangible ROI for all participants. The event has sold out for the previous three years, so book early to avoid missing out.

[ict-direct]

We took place in the virtual event in 2021, the leads were poorly arranged for us - it was a free test event, however, it was disappointing.

 

We were asked to subscribe to the Hosted Leaders this year, but decided not to do it due to our experience the previous year.

 

We booked our stand a few months ago, a couple of weeks ago we received an addendum invoice for Connect @ BETT for 2023. I wrote back to say that we weren't happy being invoiced for something that we hadn't agreed to do. I had a meeting with our relationship manager and said how disappointed we were with their pushy methods. The ever-increasing costs and perceived lower value for money are other points of contention for us. This feedback was going to be sent to their management.

 

She did say that next years Connect @ BETT is being contracted to a specialist company (personatech.com) that offers a better solution than in previous years. They say there will be dual opt-in for the supplier and customer - I think we'd to see a demo of the system.

 

We are waiting for their response.