The first Huddle outside of Florida took place in London this week; Visit Florida's new CEO and president, Bryan Griffin, opened the show, celebrating the state's "special connection" with the UK and explaining why agents are central to Visit Florida'sstrategy
Florida Huddle UK brought much more than just a taste of Florida, but 20 destinations and operators from behemoths like Universal Orlando Resort to first-time UK visitors Martin County. Bryan was keen to highlight that Florida "is the first state doing a dedicated, independent trade show like this for the UK & Ireland market... once again, Florida leads, as it does in many metrics."
A show of support
Bryan, who was appointed president and CEO of the Sunshine State's DMO in July of this year, views Florida Huddle UK not just as a 'first' in the destination market's history books, but also as a show of support for one of its longest-standing key markets. "The UK and Ireland are very special partners to us, among our top destinations overseas, year after year, and Florida has one of the UK and Ireland's largest market shares in the United States.
"There has always been a special connection between America and [the UK & Ireland], so it is awesome to be here."
Visit Florida's agent-centric approach
The first international edition of Florida Huddle, which has traditionally taken place in-destination for almost 50 years and was acquired by Visit Florida in 2013, saw a dedicated afternoon for agents—an intentional move to give attendees a chance to meet with suppliers who can transform how they sell the state. Appointments were targeted and matched based on both agent and supplier requests and lasted almost double the traditional 15-minute speed networking time slot.
"We want people to experience the destinations here, and having more time with them is going to let agents get the opportunity to become specialists... there's a thirst right now for building new trips, having new experiences... agents want to specialise so that they can offer that chance to customers, and that's what this particular format allows to happen."
The first evening on Huddle UK was dedicated to interactive agent training, with five-minute presentations from all 20 Floridian suppliers, culminating in a song-off where agents had to write short songs inspired by the state. Visit Florida's agent-centric approach to Huddle, as Bryan explained, allowed "agents [to] spend time really becoming familiar with the product, specialising in putting together packages that you can't find in other places, and then going on to give people unforgettable experiences."
Beyond the Huddle
With Florida Huddle UK replacing Visit Florida's historically strong presence at World Travel Market, agents might wonder how they can engage with the destination beyond the two-day event֫—those agents need fear not. Growing and supporting trade relationships has been a concerted effort over the past five years by Gosh PR on behalf of Visit Florida.
"Last year, I think we trained upwards of 42,000 agents through the various programmes we have... all types of co-operative campaigns, and then we have the connections to all of our partners so that we can make introductions and build relationships between agents and our destinations, platforming that specialisation time with our partners."
