RCEDA 8.5x11 Report d3

3rd annual Southern California Procurement, Trade andManufacturing Summit

600 attendees 84 exhibitors 100 buyers 889 matchmaking appointments 20 seminars

The 3 rd annual Southern California Procurement, Trade and Manufacturing Summit attracted attendees from throughout California and beyond, pairing small businesses and buyers in a record 889 matchmaking appointments. More than 600 people traveled to the Riverside Convention Center for the daylong event organized by the County of Riverside Office of Foreign Trade and County of Riverside Purchasing and Fleet Services with support from partners such as the U.S. Small Business Administration. Registrants could attend 20 seminars on a wide variety of subjects including foreign trade andmanufacturing, participate inmatchmaking appointments, listen to a series of high-level speakers or visit 84 different exhibits.

Feedback from attendees and survey results following the event indicate attendees were thrilledwith the connections they made and knowledge they gained at the event. Andmany, like this business owner whomet with 15 buyers as part of the summit matchmaking, said they were eager to attend future events. “I flew down to attend from Northern California and was really pleased,” emailed David Hans, co-founder of AmEnglish. “Your event was well organized and ran efficiently. The effort and time invested in planning and execution was evident. On a scale of 1 to 10 – I would rate you as 11! My compliments to the entire team. As a small business I have to carefully decide where to place my time, my single most important commodity.”

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