How we support you
From strategy to submission, an experienced team builds the bid with you, and, where a conference calls for one, connects you with a professional organizer who runs the operational work.
The partnership behind your bid
Bringing an international conference to Toronto takes three kinds of effort. You bring the standing in your sector and the leadership of the conference bid. Leaders Circle brings the strategy and guides you through the process. Destination Toronto delivers the bid services: the documents, the government support letters, and the venue and destination expertise. Where a conference needs one, a professional organizer handles the logistics.
You lead it, with a team beside you
None of this rests on you alone, and there is no fee to take part. What each partner brings is set out below, and the research grant that can follow a win is further down.
What the team brings
- Bid strategy. A tailored plan, aligned to your conference and its objectives.
- The bid content. The team brings the strategy and the substance of a compelling bid, built with you, not for you.
- Letters of support. Destination Toronto coordinates letters from government, and you provide the letters from your own institution and society.
- Destination marketing materials. Promotional assets from Destination Toronto that showcase Toronto and strengthen your bid.
- Venues and hotels. Venue and accommodation options identified to fit your conference’s size, scope, and needs.
- Stakeholder coordination. The right people brought to the table at the right time.
- Early-planning support. Potential financial support in the early stages, where eligible (conditions apply).
And after the win: the research grant
Support does not stop at the bid. Ambassadors who lead a successful bid may be eligible for the Leaders Circle Research Grant, for a project aligned with your conference’s area of focus.
Your partners
You work directly with a small, senior team who know the program inside out: a senior manager, your main point of contact, who runs the program day-to-day and leads the Leaders Circle workshops, and a research manager, who administers the Leaders Circle Research Grant. Behind them stands Destination Toronto, so you have both a personal team and the backing of a major organization behind your bid.
In their words
“It’s a big event and we were really excited about the opportunity to have our colleagues here in Toronto.”
In their words
“This conference in particular promotes that kind of collaborative discussion and research.”
Questions about the role
Yes. There is no fee to take part as an ambassador, and no charge for the support on this page, the strategy, the bid services, the destination expertise, or the coordination. Leaders Circle and Destination Toronto are funded to bring international conferences to Toronto, so the cost of pursuing a bid does not fall to you. Where a conference engages a professional organizer, that is arranged as part of the conference’s own planning, and we are always clear about who is responsible for what.
The support here is focused on winning the bid, the strategy, the documents, the case for the city, and the coordination that a strong submission needs. Running the conference itself, registration, programming, and on-site delivery, is a separate stage. When a conference calls for it, a professional organizer manages that operational side, so you and the team can stay focused on the bid and the leadership only you can bring. Leaders Circle and Destination Toronto stay involved as partners throughout.
They come at opposite ends of the journey. Early-planning support is available in the earliest stages of pursuing a bid, where eligible, so cost is not a barrier to getting started. The Leaders Circle Research Grant comes after a win: ambassadors who lead a successful bid may be eligible to apply for funding for a research project aligned with the conference’s focus. One helps you begin; the other extends the impact once the conference is confirmed. Full details on the grant are on the Research Grant page.
No. You do not need to bring a budget or secure institutional funding to explore or pursue a bid. The support on this page, the strategy, the bid services, the destination expertise, and the coordination, is provided at no fee to you or your institution. Some conferences carry their own costs as they develop, and where that applies, we are clear about them early so nothing catches you by surprise. What you bring is your expertise and your leadership, not funding.