For decades, cities chasing conferences and major events have competed largely on square footage, hotel capacity and convention infrastructure. Greater Moncton is increasingly competing on something less tangible — and potentially more powerful: relationships.

Through its new “Local Champions” program, Destination Moncton-Dieppe is recruiting local leaders, professionals and community connectors to help attract meetings and conferences to southeastern New Brunswick by leveraging the networks already embedded across the region’s business, academic and institutional sectors.

The strategy reflects a growing reality within the meetings and conventions industry itself: destinations are no longer chosen solely by facilities and logistics. Increasingly, they are chosen through trust, familiarity and local advocacy.

“More and more, conferences secured through strong relationships as much as venue capacity,” says Jillian Somers, CEO of Destination Moncton-Dieppe. “The goal of the Local Champions program is to support our community leaders and make it easier to bring impactful events to Moncton-Dieppe.”

Destination Moncton-Dieppe, the regional destination marketing organization funded through the accommodation levy, supports champions through the bidding and planning process as a hub of resources helping them coordinate proposals, site visits, venues, partners and event logistics.

Recruitment efforts are expected to focus heavily on existing professional and institutional networks, including Université de Moncton and the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton.

The broader payoff extends well beyond events, them-selves. Conferences generate hotel stays, restaurant traffic and visitor spending, while also elevating the region’s profile within sectors capable of generating future invest-ment and collaboration.

In many ways, the initiative feels characteristic of Moncton-Dieppe itself — a region that has spent years identifying overlooked strategic advantages, then building economic momentum around them.

Find out more about Moncton-Dieppe’s Local Champions program.