Big deals are trans­act­ed on the floor of the Trade and In­vest­ment Con­ven­tion (TIC). This year's TIC will run from June 15 to 18 at the Hy­att Re­gency Trinidad ho­tel, Port-of-Spain. Deals are struck in four ways.

Num­ber one: a lo­cal su­per­mar­ket own­er or dis­trib­u­tor wants to link up with an vis­it­ing com­pa­ny that has new food prod­ucts he can car­ry. TIC or­gan­is­ers book a room and arrange a meet­ing be­tween the two par­ties to talk busi­ness: what prod­ucts do each par­ty make and/or sell, de­ter­min­ing the size of or­ders, de­liv­ery of or­ders, de­ter­min­ing best prices and ne­go­ti­at­ing dis­counts.

Num­ber two: B-2-B-busi­ness to busi­ness-match­mak­ing sys­tem. More busi­ness hap­pens in this type of meet­ing. Up to 70 per cent of ex­hibitors at TIC have high­ly-trained staff man­ning their ex­hi­bi­tions, mar­ket­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tives and man­agers. Se­nior, ex­pe­ri­enced staff al­low in­ter­est­ed par­ties to ex­change se­ri­ous da­ta and work from there.

Num­ber three: an ex­hibitor is en­ti­tled to host a prod­uct sem­i­nar, to which those who might be in­ter­est­ed in his/her prod­ucts, are in­vit­ed to a demon­stra­tion or pre­sen­ta­tion.

Num­ber four: on the first night of TIC-June 15-the Min­istry of Trade and In­dus­try will host in­ter­na­tion­al buy­ers, min­istry of­fi­cers, heads of trade bod­ies, cham­bers and com­pa­nies. This is a struc­tured net­work­ing en­vi­ron­ment where big mon­ey and big­wigs meet. To gain en­try in­to TIC-which is tar­get­ed at busi­ness­es, not the pub­lic-you must present your busi­ness card at the door to reg­is­ter. You will then be is­sued a "buy­er badge." There is no en­trance fee.