Meetings, events, travel and tourism industry leader, Connect is gearing up to launch a second signature conference next year. Set for May 22-24, 2022 at the Puerto Rico Convention Center, Connect Puerto Rico will host more than 2,000 meeting and event professionals at a multi-track event designed to serve as a hub for networking and business development for corporate, association and sports planners. Connect will host a second large-scale conference in Detroit, Aug. 8-10.

The 2022 plans come on the heels of Connect’s successful 2021 marketplace in Tampa, Fla. Held Aug. 30-Sept. 1 at the Tampa Convention Center, Connect Tampa hosted roughly 2,500 corporate, association, sports and specialty event professionals. The event included a vibrant trade show with more than 100 booths, as well as featured keynote speakers such as world champion gymnast Simone Biles and storied former NFL wide receiver Jerry Rice to the delight of those in attendance. 

Connect Puerto Rico will bear all the hallmarks of the company’s industry-leading conferences, including reverse-style one-on-one appointments and a bustling trade show. It will also serve as a destination showcase for the island of Puerto Rico, which recently completed Distrito T-Mobile, San Juan’s premier entertainment center offering a mix of hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues and retail stores just steps from the convention center.

“Connect is very excited to go to Puerto Rico next year,” said Connect President Chris Collinson. “It’s always been a great destination to bring events, but the addition of the Distrito T-Mobile takes it to a whole new level. We look forward to working together with Discover Puerto Rico to put on a great conference for 2,000 members of the best event professionals in the industry.”

With goals to generate more than 35,000 one-on-one, private and preset business appointments between meeting and hospitality professionals, Connect Puerto Rico will be home to some of Connect’s extensive repertoire of education and events, with specific tracks to include:

• Corporate: Financial, Insurance, Technology
• Association
• Diversity
• Sports, including Sports LGBTQ Summit and Women in Sports Forum
• Luxury and Incentive
• Citywide

In addition to hosting the conference, Discover Puerto Rico will surely be pulling out all the stops to create a memorable experience for planners, with pre- and post-event FAM trips in the planning stages that will provide event professionals with a full experience of the island, where natural beauty and attractions abound. 

“This event will further elevate Puerto Rico as a world-class meetings destination and accelerate the recovery of our island by hosting key buyers and demonstrating the spectacular and one-of-a-kind experiences that Puerto Rico has to offer,” said Brad Dean, CEO of Discover Puerto Rico. 

Encouraged by the Tampa conference’s showing and positive attendee feedback, Connect hopes to build off this momentum with its 2022 conferences, which include Connect Detroit. Set for Aug. 8-10 at TCF Center and occupying the traditional time frame that Connect attendees are accustomed to, the annual large-scale signature event is also expected to attract thousands of event professionals from across North America.

“If attendees liked 2021, they’re going to love 2022,” said Patrick Higgins, senior vice president of industry relations for Connect Meetings. “We’ve already gone to work on how we’re going to plan and put together the trade show floor. [At Connect Tampa] the trade show floor was a huge hit—nobody left that floor after their appointments, everybody stuck around, they gathered, they played, they ate together. We have some really fun stuff planned for next year!”

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