News

New ‘Meet in Penticton’ Convention Bureau
July 7, 2022

Penticton is the perfect destination for meetings, conferences, conventions, tradeshows, and special events. Over 900 hotel guest rooms are available in close proximity to the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre, downtown, the entertainment district, beaches, and many off-site activities. The Penticton Trade and Convention Centre is the largest, dedicated full-service facility in BC outside of the Lower Mainland, and adjoined to the South Okanagan Events Centre Complex, features over 95,000 square feet of meeting space.

To maximize the use of Penticton's facilities, the brand new entity ‘Meet in Penticton (MIP) Convention Bureau (CB)’ was founded in January 2022. Penticton is fortunate to have a great deal of infrastructure that is market ready and in place to offer and meet event planners’ expectations. The CB’s goal is to optimize Penticton’s economic impact through visitation, spending, and overnight stays during the shoulder and off seasons.

Another of the CB’s mandates is to assist partners with requests for proposals (RFPs), room blocks, off-site activities, incentives, information, and connections. Event Planners of incoming events are often connected directly to the CB to work with them. Within Penticton, the CB is collecting and expanding on the wealth of information available through Visit Penticton, as well as building relationships and bridges. In addition, the CB sources local goods and services to offer to planners and delegates, keeping in mind that sustainability is at the top of events’ list of things they want to know.


The MIP Team

Several stakeholders have been working on MIP for a few years. Thanks to many months of research and commitment, the foundation for the MIP brand was built and a great team was established

  • Karen Davy, Convention Bureau & Business Liaison Manager
  • Dana Harlos, Sales Manager, Penticton Trade & Convention Centre (PTCC)
  • Svitlana Shkyn, Corporate & Association Sales Manager, Penticton Lakeside Resort & Conference Centre (PLR)

The team meets on a monthly basis to foster team building and information sharing and has been attending together several tradeshows. These tradeshows are great opportunities to promote Penticton as a destination and supply the team with valuable event planner contact information.


Karen Davy, Convention Bureau & Business Liaison Manager

The driving force behind Meet in Penticton is Karen Davy, Convention Bureau & Business Liaison Manager. Thanks to her extensive experience in the travel, tourism, and business industry and her local involvement in different businesses, Karen has been a key asset to MIP.

In her role as Convention Bureau & Business Liasion Manager she offers a centralized service for planners organizing meetings, incentives, conventions, and events by leveraging an extensive network, decades of collective experience, impartial advice, and assistance. Working with facilities, accommodators, tour companies, and many more businesses to create a unique experience both inside and outside of the conference room.

“I am proud and excited to be building and heading up the brand new Meet In Penticton Convention Bureau and developing it to a “one-stop shop” for event planners!” – Karen Davy,

 

Learn more and get in touch:

Karen_Davy1.jpg

Karen Davy
Convention Bureau & Business Liaison Manager, Travel Penticton

P: 250.276.2163 | C: 250.328.4576
karen.davy@meetinpenticton.com

www.travelpenticton.com | www.visitpenticton.com

TESTIMONIALS
  • Thank you for your exceptional service during our heritage workshop that we held in one of the meeting rooms at the PTCC. To be honest, I’ve held many events there and they are all exceptional but I wanted to make a point of saying a special thank you for this one in particular. The room setting combined with the high-quality food service really made the participants in the workshop feel appreciated and special. I always enjoy your staff!
    City of Penticton
  • "From the outset, we had great service and suggestions from sales, event planning, and food/beverage staff. “
    Ana Fuller, Local Government Management Association of BC
  • "Your facility, staff and food were amazing, we had so many compliments on everything, and the staff were all so friendly and helpful, you should be very proud of YOURSELVES AND ALL OF YOUR STAFF! Thank you all so much for making it so easy for us organizers, it was very much appreciated!“
    Becky Everett, BC Association
  • "Thank everyone at the PTCC for the tremendous job on this year’s conference. I would have to say it was the easiest event I’ve ever done from a production standpoint due to the high level of professionalism of your entire staff."
    Jerry Rousseau, Western Canada Turfgrass Association
  • The venue is so lovely and all of the staff were amazing! The catering staff was awesome. It was great working with you on the menus, everyone was very helpful and all of the food was wonderful. The A/V staff did a great job too and was super helpful, and checked in on us throughout the day which was great. Thanks again to you and the whole team for all of your work on this event. Looking forward to working with you all again next year!
    HeliCat Canada