The BC Wood offices in Asia spend a lot of time and effort on recruiting qualified buyers each year for the GBM. Our promotions usually begin in early May and include mailouts, company visits, and a lot of phone calls and e-mails. This year in Tokyo we also partnered with the Canadian Embassy to hold an information session for people interested in the GBM.
We decided to give this try as we handle a lot of questions every year about the extended mission tour schedules and an information session is an efficient way to provide this. Also, we thought that an official event at the Embassy would also draw out people interested but sitting on the fence. During the planning of this event we expected 10-15 people, but in the end almost forty came!
This year there is tremendous interest in Japan in the Brock Commons 18 storey CLT building going up at UBC. We already had ten people signed up for the extended mission containing this site visit, but as a result of last week’s seminar we are now looking at twenty. Even more impressive is the fact that the Japanese major general contractors will be very well represented in our group of buyers. As a result, exhibitors at the GBM in Whistler will have an excellent opportunity to meet with these key buyers as Japan heads into a commercial building boom ahead of the 2020 Olympics.