“If you’ve got different buyer groups, you’ve got some scale and some opportunity for a lot of cross-fertilization and learning and a different experience that some people like,” said Doug Emslie, managing director at Tarsus Group, which owns a majority stake in Connect. Tarsus also is the parent company of TSNN.

While other meetings in the growing Connect portfolio focus on no more than two buyer or market demographics at a time, the Salt Lake City gathering combined buyers from all five of the different market segments.

With more than 3,500 participants, the Connect annual event held in The Beehive State is the largest meeting in the series, which now includes 32 events.

In addition to bringing together a diverse audience, Connect also changed the usual format of 1:to:1 meetings in which the seller is seated and the buyers rotate in and out of meetings.

At Connect in Salt Lake City, the planners (buyers) were stationary and the hotels, convention centers, destinations, technology companies and service providers (sellers) moved from table to table.

Chris Collinson, president of Connect Meetings, called it a “reverse trade show.”

While smaller, niche meetings are the norm for most hosted-buyer experiences, combining multiple buyer groups has a certain appeal for participants.

Although Connect was committed to programming that allowed planners to “make the best use of their time,” Collinson said, a heavy focus was also was placed on the seller. “We’re here to serve hotels, convention centers and other firms allied to the industry. Our mindset is, ‘how we can help them drive more business?’” he added.

As the only format Connect events employ, staffers work year round forging relationships with buyers and sellers to facilitate optimal 1:to:1 meetings for participants.

Guests at Connect were treated to a full complement of programming, including keynotes from television host and author Robin Roberts and football legend Peyton Manning, as well as a robust slate of educational sessions.