Hosted Program Guidelines
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LINK 2025’s Hosted Retailers & CPMs Program is facilitating 1,500+ lead gen meetings between Retailers & CPMs (Consumer Product Manufacturers) and Solution Providers, and your organization is participating!
Our Hosted Retailers & CPMs Program provides complimentary LINK 2025 tickets and travel/hotel reimbursements to qualified Retailers & CPMs who buy or influence the purchase of technology or other solutions. In return, these Retailers & CPMs have each agreed to join up to eight 15-minute Hosted Meetings with our sponsors. Your organization has purchased meetings in the Hosted Program!If you’re an Organization Admin, you can complete Hosted Program tasks for your organization.
If you’re a Meetings Rep, your Hosted Program tasks start on Thu, Feb 13 with accepting calendar invites. You can read the full guidelines, or click here to jump to the details of the stages that apply to you.
Here’s what Org Admins and Meetings Reps need to do, and when. Don’t worry, we’ll help you each step of the way with reminders. If you don’t get an email, check spam (from donotreply.link2025@eventpt.com), then let us know at registration@rila.org.
You Must | Takes You | Well email you on | Your deadline is |
---|---|---|---|
Complete Your Organization Profile |
30-45 mins | Wed, Jan 8 9am ET |
Wed, Jan 22 5pm ET |
Requested Hosted Meetings | 60-90 mins | Thu, Jan 23 9am ET |
Tue, Jan 28 5pm ET |
Opt In to Requests from Hosted Retailers & CPMs | <30 mins | Wed, Feb 5 9am ET |
Fri, Feb 7 5pm ET |
Assign Meetings Reps to Hosted Meetings | <15 mins | Mon, Feb 10 9am ET |
Wed, Feb 12 5pm ET |
Meetings Reps Accept Calendar Invites | <5 mins | Thu, Feb 13 9am ET |
Thu, Feb 13 5pm ET |
LINK 2025! Meetings Reps Attend Hosted Meetings | -- | Sun, Feb 16 | Wed, Feb 19 |
Provide Feedback | -- | Fri, Feb 21 9am ET |
Wed, Mar 5 5pm ET |
TIMING OF HOSTED MEETINGS
All the action takes place on Monday, February 17 and Tuesday, February 18, and your organization will be in the room where it happens! You’ll assign meetings to individual Meetings Reps from your company beforehand. For now, please ensure your Meetings Reps will be available during all time slots.Start (ET) |
End (ET) |
Mins | Monday, February 17 | Tue, February 18 |
---|---|---|---|---|
1:15 PM | 1:30 PM | 0:15 | Meeting Slot #1 | Meeting Slot #9 |
1:33 PM | 1:48 PM | 0:15 | Meeting Slot #2 | Meeting Slot #10 |
1:51 PM | 2:06 PM | 0:15 | Meeting Slot #3 | Meeting Slot #11 |
2:09 PM | 2:24 PM | 0:15 | Meeting Slot #4 | Meeting Slot #12 |
4:00 PM | 4:15 PM | 0:15 | Meeting Slot #5 | Meeting Slot #13 |
4:18 PM | 4:33 PM | 0:15 | Meeting Slot #6 | Meeting Slot #14 |
4:36 PM | 4:51 PM | 0:15 | Meeting Slot #7 | Meeting Slot #15 |
4:54 PM | 5:09 PM | 0:15 | Meeting Slot #8 | Meeting Slot #16 |
8 Jan - 22 Jan
Complete Your Organization’s Profile (takes 30-45 minutes)
You can do this on: Desktop ✅ 1. Start Your Organization Profile on Wed, Jan 8, and complete it by Wed, Jan 22 at 5 pm ET.
- Your Organization Profile will help Hosted Retailers & CPMs decide if they’re interested in meeting with you.
- Tell us how many Meeting Reps you'll have available to meet with Hosted Retailers & CPMs during each time slot.
- The more meeting representatives you make available concurrently, the more likely we will be to schedule all of the meetings you have purchased.
- You can change this at any time until Fri, Feb 7 at 5 pm ET.
- Consider making an Announcement: Tell Hosted Retailers & CPMs about your newly announced products, partnerships, funding, acquisitions, research and anything else!
- Individuals must be registered to attend LINK 2025 by Wed, Feb 12 at 5 pm ET to be assigned as Meetings Reps. Your organization will have been provided with codes to register attendees and instructions on how to register them. For any help required, email registration@rila.org
- We recommend you don’t leave assigning Meetings Reps to the last minute.
23 Jan - 28 Jan
Request Hosted Meetings with Hosted Retailers & CPMs (takes 60-90 minutes)
You can do this on: Desktop ✅ LINK 2025 Mobile App ✅1. It’s time to request Hosted Meetings for your organization (there are 350+ qualified Retailers & CPMs to choose from!).
- Start requesting Hosted Meetings on Thu, Jan 23 and complete by Tue, Jan 28 at 5 pm ET.
- You should select ALL Retailers & CPMs you would like to meet. At a minimum, we recommend you request Hosted Meetings equal to 4x the number of Hosted Meetings your organization has purchased.
- You can request to meet >1 individual from an organization, but you won’t have >1 Hosted Meeting scheduled with the same organization.
- You should consult others in your company, we recommend consulting with your sales teams when requesting your meetings.
- Just click ‘Very Interested’ or ‘Interested’ to request a meeting. Meeting requests are saved automatically as you go.
- ‘Very Interested' meeting requests get scheduled first, before 'Interested' ones.
- You can provide a reason why your organization wants to meet a Retailer & CPM – they’ll be able to see this when they’re opting in to Hosted Meeting requests.
- You can view summary information about each Retailer & CPM, as well as a detailed Profile.
- Use Filters and Predefined Lists to zero in on the most interesting Retailers & CPMs for your company.
- Don’t wait til the last minute to request meetings! With tools like Bookmarks and Saved Lists, you can start requesting meetings and come back, if needed, to finish them.
- Assign individuals from your organization as Meetings Reps (if you haven’t already), until Wed, Feb 12 at 5 pm ET.
- Update how many Meetings Reps you have available at each time slot, until Fri, Feb 7 at 5 pm ET.
5 Feb - 7 Feb
Opt In to Requests from Hosted Retailers & CPMs (takes up to 30 minutes)
You can do this on: Desktop ✅ LINK 2025 Mobile App ✅1. Opt In to Meeting Requests From Retailers & CPMs You Didn’t Previously Select:
- Opt in to Meeting Requests on Wed, Feb 5 and complete by Fri, Feb 7 at 5 pm ET.
- We facilitate meetings based only on the requests your organization opts in to (and your organization’s own requests if there is a mutual match), so you should opt in to every request from Retailers & CPMs your organization would meet with.
- Some of these requests may be from newly added individuals that joined the Hosted Program after you completed your initial meeting requests.
- The more requests you opt in to, the more likely we will be to schedule all of the meetings you’ve purchased.
- You won’t have >1 Hosted Meeting scheduled with the same organization.
- Assign individuals from your organization as Meetings Reps (if you haven’t already), until Wed, Feb 12 at 5 pm ET.
- Update how many Meetings Reps you have available at each time slot, until Fri, Feb 7 at 5 pm ET.
10 Feb - 12 Feb
Assign Meetings Reps to Hosted Meetings (takes less than 15 minutes)
You can do this on: Desktop ✅ LINK 2025 Mobile App ✅1. Assign Meetings Reps to your Hosted Meetings starting on Mon, Feb 10 but no later than Wed, Feb 12 at 5 pm ET.
- A Meetings Rep must be assigned to each Hosted Meeting, otherwise it won’t get scheduled.
- If you haven’t assigned Meetings Reps yet, you can do this until Wed, Feb 12 at 5 pm ET. As soon as you’ve assigned a Meetings Rep, you can assign meetings to them.
- You should assign the most appropriate Meetings Rep for each Retailer & CPM based on the characteristics of the Retailer & CPM, their (or your) reason for meeting, which products, solutions or services they’re interested in, Meetings Rep availability and other factors.
- As a reminder, you will not receive refunds for Hosted Meetings you don’t assign Meetings Reps to, since those meetings could have been scheduled.
13 Feb
Meetings Reps Accept Calendar Invites (takes them less than 5 minutes)
1. Accept Meetings Calendar Invites: On Thu, Feb 13, Meetings Reps will receive a calendar invite for each scheduled Hosted Meeting they have. THEY MUST ACCEPT all calendar invites THE SAME DAY by 5 pm ET. This is a quick turnaround, but it won’t take more than 5 minutes.
- Important note: If your Meetings Rep cannot attend the meeting, they must email us at registration@rila.org to let us know. Neither we nor the Buyer will be notified if your Meetings Rep declines a calendar invite!
- We can’t change any meeting times (fun fact: the Hosted Meetings Program is enabling 1,500+ meetings!).
- If a Retailer & CPM who one of your Meetings Reps is scheduled to meet is no longer available, we’ll let your Meetings Rep know and you’ll be refunded for the meeting after the show. People have emergencies, so this does happen once in a while!
Feb 16 – Feb 19
LINK 2025 TIME! Meetings Reps Attend Hosted Meetings!
1. Meetings Reps Join Your Organization’s Hosted Meetings.Your Meetings Reps must join all your scheduled Hosted Meetings. Here’s what you and they need to know:
- Where are the meetings? All meetings are held in a dedicated Hosted Program area and each meeting is assigned a table number.
- How do Meetings Reps know where to go? They should check the LINK 2025 mobile app or their calendar invites for the assigned table number for each meeting, and at the start of each scheduled meeting proceed directly to the assigned table.
- When should Meetings Reps arrive? They should arrive at the Hosted Program area a few minutes before their first scheduled meeting. There is no check-in required. If they have any questions, there will be a Q&A desk.
- What happens if the person they’re meeting doesn’t show up? Meetings Reps should give them 5 minutes and if they’ve still not joined, click the “Mark as No Show” button in the LINK 2025 mobile app.
- What other Do’s and Don’ts are there for Meetings Reps?
- Meetings Reps should:
- Join each meeting on time and don’t exceed the allotted 15 minutes for each scheduled meeting.
- Check the table number for each scheduled meeting--each meeting will be at a different table. There is a 3-minute transition time between each meeting.
- Download the LINK 2025 mobile app ahead of meetings. Meetings Reps can take notes and request follow-ups in the app.
- Meetings Reps should not:
- Contact any individual Hosted Retailer & CPM prior to Hosted Meetings in relation to Hosted Meetings, or use the confidential information we have provided at any stage of the Hosted Program to reach out to participating individuals using non-program channels.
- Approach anyone in the Hosted Program area with whom they do not have a Hosted Meeting.
- Enter the Hosted Program area at any time they do not have a Hosted meeting.
- Assume the Hosted Retailers & CPMs they are meeting have prepared for the meeting. These individuals may have agreed to meet based solely on categories or search filters rather than any specific understanding of your organization or solutions. Meetings Reps must assume the Hosted Retailers & CPMs have no knowledge of your organization or your products, and should be prepared to give a complete sales pitch during their 15-minute meeting as well as leave time for any Q&A.
- Bring any materials that cannot fit on the table (e.g., free standing structures and pop-up signage is not allowed) or leave any materials at the table after the meeting conclude.
- Meetings Reps should:
Feb 21 - Mar 5
Provide Feedback
1. Help us to help you! On Fri, Feb 21, each Meetings Rep will receive an email to provide feedback on their Hosted Meetings, the Hosted Program and the event to help us improve LINK --please share your thoughts by Wed, Mar 5.
- Once Meetings Reps provide feedback, they can download a summary of their meetings, including their notes and contact details of who they met.