#NordicMeetings

Guidelines on content preparation

• Familiarize with your audience & learn about the target group: Study the profile of tour operators you are meeting  with and get an overview of their portfolio. Is the tour operator specialized in groups or individual travelers? Are the guests more active or rather interested in more relaxed activities? Do they need assistance during their stay by a local guide or are the guests totally independent maybe even with their own transportation? Can you offer a product according to the tour operator's needs?
• What is your USP? Define your unique selling proposition/ point (USP) to specify what you are selling and whom you want to address. Be bold but truthful and remember what’s evident to you is not necessarily to your opposite. Read more on analyzing and determining the USP in English or Finnish.
• Present you company & tell your story: Tell the tour operator who you are and with which values you operate your business – don’t take investments for granted.
  Your company is family owned since many generations? You are offering locally produced food from the nearby forests or a local farm? Tell them! The tour operators' guests are looking for authentic experiences. They expect to meet the locals and taste food from the region.
• Catch emotions: Create an intriguing story that appeals to your audience’s emotion. It can be a story which refers to hard life in former times, to a specific happening in the past or just the exiting history of the current owners.
• Tailor-made presentations: Take your different opponent into account and always adjust your speech to the specific tour operator you are meeting.
  When your minimum number of participants is 15 (according to your calculation) when you offer e.g. a meet and greet with your reindeers - don’t try to sell this group activity to tour operators who are working with individual travelers from 1 to 4 persons.
• Gain confidence: Practice your speech (elevator pitch) - it will help you to make a good impression during the meeting. What's this elevator pitch all about? Read more here in English or Finnish.

Recommendations for one-to-one meetings

• Leave a good first impression: Greet your audience properly and allow yourself one minute small talk before you start your presentation – you can even start with a fun fact about your company to anchor yourself in the tour operators memory.
• Keep the time in mind: Adhere to the present timetable and remember everyone’s span of attention is limited.
• Make sure your audience follows you: Speak slowly and clearly and catch your audiences’ attention. Try to be concise.
• Interact with your audience: Engage the tour operator after your presentation by asking questions. 
• Smile: Body language is important, also in a digital meeting.
• Be flexible: Signalize that you are flexible and can adjust your products according to tour operators' needs.

Information about the tour operators

• Tour operator profiles: We provide you with detailed profiles of all tour operators you are meeting online. 
• Insight into portfolio and segments: The profiles contain basic information as well as details about their product portfolio and specialization.
• Valuable information for preparation: We recommend to use this valuable information for preparation – to learn about the tour operators and their clients.

Access to the meeting room | sound & audio check

• Introduction to the meeting tool: Before conducting your #NordicMeeting you will receive a comprehensive introduction to the features of the meeting tool. Please have a look at the technical instructions below as an introduction. 
• Joint rehearsal: We will also hold a short live introduction session to show you all the features in action so that you are well equipped and feel safe and comfortable when the meeting with the tour operator starts. We will be present to guide you through the needed functions and answer all your questions.
• Sound & audio check: Shortly before the tour operators join the meeting, we meet in the webinar room and test video and audio connection. We will also have pre-loaded your presentation materials into the program beforehand.

The roles of everyone involved

• The role of the moderators, team NordicMarketing: Our team is always present as we act as a moderator between you and the tour operator, so you won't be alone. In the beginning, we welcome both you and the tour operator and hand over to you after a short introduction. Our team also collects all incoming questions during your presentation and forwards them to you in the end.
  We also record the full #NordicMeeting.
• The role of the presenter, you: You will be activated in the beginning of the session. After a short welcome and introduction by us, it is your turn to start your presentation. You take care of clicking through your slides at your own pace. In the end there is time to answer questions and to discuss.
• The role of your audience, the tour operator: The tour operator will be activated at the beginning of the meeting for a short greeting and introduction. During your presentation the tour operator has also the opportunity to post questions via chat.

The course of the #NordicMeeting

• We begin with a meet & great: We will introduce both sides to each other before the stage is yours. We recommend to start the #NordicMeeting with a warm welcome talk before you go over to the hard facts in your presentation. Therefore, we will activate all participants with their camera and microphones for a short digital meet and greet between you and your audience.
• You continue with your presentation: During the meeting, your presentation appears in the middle of the screen as the biggest picture. You will be authorized to switch between the slides of your presentation by yourself because you get access to the meeting room as a presenter.
• Together, we round off with questions, answers and discussion: We save all incoming questions or comments via chat from the participating tour operators for the discussion time slot after your presentation. For that purpose, we will activate participants with their camera and microphone again so you will be able to communicate directly to your potential business partners. This is a very important time slot - so listen carefully and be active yourself. Ask the tour operator for their needs to find out which products they are looking for.

Follow-up by NordicMarketing

• Thank you mail to tour operators: Shortly after the meeting we send a mail to the tour operators thanking them for their participation.
• We provide tour operators with your material: In a detailed follow-up we provide tour operators with all materials, the recorded presentation, online brochures, presentations, contact information and links related to your company to enable that everyone is well equipped for further conversations.
• We send an electronic feedback form to tour operators: In addition, we create and send an electronic survey to the tour operators you met online to get a feedback about their intention to launch new products in the presented destination. We provide you with a PDF report including a summary and individual response. 

Follow-up by you - our recommendations

• Don't wait but get in touch: It is very important to be active and contact the tour operators you met online, ideally within a week after your #NordicMeeting. Thank for their time, refer to the conducted meeting and ask if further information is needed.
• Maintain and deepen your relationship: Although we equipped the tour operators with your material and contact details it is up to you to follow up, maintain and deepen (the newly acquired) contacts. Identify the needs and find out out whether you can provide any further information.
• Invest time, research and learn about your target markets: Make yourself familiar what business is about in the market you want to work with. In Germany, resp. in the DACH markets, it is about creating long term relationships which are based on trust, reliability and continuous contact.
  German culture is even about having everything fixed, written confirmations are needed and conversations are not about avoiding conflicts like it may be in other cultures. So, don’t be scared of direct questions or demands that may appear rough in the beginning. These questions are even based on quite strict requirements from the particular parts in German travel law. So be sure that you have all tour operator specific needs fixed in advance as pricing (important: commission/ net rates due to complex distribution channels), cancellation policy, availability of allotments, etc.