CVB Website empowerMINT.com Spotlights Destination Marketing Association International's (DMAI) Destinations Showcase Chicago to Connect Event Planners and Destination Marketers
Annual Conference & Expo Includes Hosted Buyer Program and other Incentives Designed to Make Participation Particularly Cost-Effective for Local and National Meeting Planners Alike

WASHINGTON, DC, June 17, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- empowerMINT.com, a website for convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs) nationwide, has cast a spotlight on Destinations Showcase Chicago. The annual Conference & Expo, produced by Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI), will bring professional meeting planners face-to-face with representatives of nearly 60 meeting destinations over the span of a single afternoon at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center on Wednesday, June 23. Free conference and expo passes, along with other incentives, are available to qualified meeting professionals who register. Those from outside the Chicagoland area may qualify for a Hosted Buyer Program designed to make the event cost-effective for them, and any attendee may earn up to 4.5 CMP credits.

"Destinations Showcase is the perfect complement to the mission of empowerMINT.com," said Christine Shimasaki, managing director of empowerMINT.com. "The ability to connect with CVBs and the destination experts who represent these organizations is fundamental to meeting and event planners' success. It's a role we embrace enthusiastically. "

Designed by DMAI to connect meeting planners and their meetings with destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and their experts, empowerMINT.com is home to destination profile pages for more than a hundred CVBs nationwide, promoting these destinations and meeting space. On a bi-monthly basis, the empowerMINT.com distributes empoweringNews, an e-mail newsletter that reaches thousands to highlight different regions' CVBs and meeting facilities and, concurrently, shines a spotlight on meeting industry news of particular import to event planners.

Destinations Showcase Chicago is the Midwest's largest one-day event exclusively bringing association, corporate, government, and independent/third-party meeting professionals together with exhibiting destination marketing organizations (DMOs) from across North America and elsewhere. A Hosted Buyer Program offers qualified registrants from outside the Chicagoland not only free show admission, but also two nights of hotel accommodations at the headquarters hotel, two VIP receptions, scheduled appointments with sponsoring destinations, and up to $300 in reimbursement for airfare.

A full list of CVBs and other destination representatives scheduled to be at Destinations Showcase Chicago is available. Examples of the organizations whose destination experts are planning to attend the Midwest event are:

· Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau
· Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau
· Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau
· New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau
· Positively Cleveland, Rosemont Convention & Visitors Bureau
· Sonoma County Tourism Bureau
· Visit Jacksonville

Meeting planners may complete free registration at empowerMINT.com. Doing so automatically adds them to the list of empoweringNews recipients. Additionally, they may create a profile and access their meetings' post-event reports, serviced by empowerMINT.com's DMOs and CVBs.

Press Release Contact Information:

Christine “Shimo” Shimasaki
empowerMINT.com
Managing Director
375 Jaffrey Rd.
Peterborough, NH
USA 03458
Voice: 858-935-9179
Website: Visit Our Website