Heading to IMM? Here's How to Score the Best Meetings

Because you're not going all the way to NYC for nothing!

HELLO FROM NEW YORK CITY!!!!

I know all caps mean screaming but that’s how I’m feeling today, but in a good way. After being gone for a month (half traveling in Arizona and Wyoming, half caring for my mom in Wisconsin), I’m finally home in New York and it feels SOOOOO good to sleep in my bed. The pic above is from a hike I took my niece and her friend on in Milwaukee last week. Note that her friend stuffed her waterbottle pockets with pretzel sticks. Genius!

In case you missed them, I want to draw your attention to two important emails I sent out last week. So, before we get on to today’s topic (IMM), I wanted to call them out again here since they are a great way to get to know me, what I write about, and how we can work together. I got a ton of positive feedback from both so I wanted to share them again here:

2023 Recap, Stats, & What I Learned

2024: New Year, New Priorities, & New Assignments

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Cassandra

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IMM is in Two Weeks!

If you didn’t already know, IMM North America takes place in two weeks, on January 25-26. For many writers, destinations, and publicists, this is the biggest event of the year when it comes to meeting each other and setting out their strategy and schedules for the year.

I’ve heard from writers who have told me they attend every year because it is where they plan out all (or virtually all) of their travel for the year. What does this mean? It means that if you’ve been dying to get a certain writer out to your destination and you don’t meet with them at IMM, you might have to wait another year. In my case, my schedule is already booked out through August and I haven’t even had a single conversation at IMM yet!

My first IMM was in 2020, when I was a relatively new travel writer. I didn’t have any big bylines, I registered at the last minute, and I didn’t get appointments with a single representative of what I considered a “top” destination. The IMM algorithm paired me up randomly with a bunch of places I had no interest in and I still had lots of empty time slots so I wandered around to meet people. One destination I happened to bump into was Mesa, Arizona, which mentioned their new autism certification. Fast forward to 2023 and I finally visited the destination and have lots of story ideas in the works.

How to get the most out of IMM

With hundreds upon hundreds of publicists and destinations all vying for the same handful of meeting slots with coveted journalists, it’s unlikely you’ll want to leave your schedule to chance. Even if you put them as your top pick (and even if they also select you), there’s no guarantee you’ll be matched up.

Here’s how to increase your odds of getting the meetings you want and getting the most out of IMM.