Rendez-vous Canada, or RVC, is a machine built for business. But what keeps it running, what keeps people coming back, is the flash of connection that cuts through the structure. The moment when the schedule doesn’t matter, because the conversation does. That is the heartbeat of Rendez-vous Canada.
Live from Winnipeg, this isn’t just business. It’s a reunion, a first date. A marathon of 12-minute conversations, 48,000 appointments strong. And at the centre of it all, the most disarming, quietly powerful thing of all: connection.
This is how it begins
The first time you meet someone at a tradeshow, there’s often a pause. A quick scan of the lanyard, a handshake that hovers before it lands, and a moment where you both try to figure out what this conversation might become. More often than not, it becomes something.
That’s what RVC is built on. The tentative first rendezvous that leads to the second, and the third. Until one day, someone you barely knew last year greets you like you’ve been in this together for a decade.
There’s joy in that. In the surprise encounters. In the people you didn’t know would be here, and the ones you didn’t realise you missed until they walked up and said your name. That’s how I ended up with 31 hugs before the show had even begun. No schedule, no agenda, just arms around shoulders and the universal language of connection.
There has only been one year when the event didn’t run: 2020. The year of no hugs. Of screens and silence. And we were the poorer for it.
Before the meetings, there was Winnipeg
Karryon was privileged with a few days in Winnipeg before RVC’s start and found a city that made space for conversations that weren’t on any schedule. We were told stories that weren’t easy, but were given freely. Stories about loss. About reinvention. About holding grief in one hand and possibility in the other.
This wasn’t a warm-up act. It was the heart of it.
From attraction to action
RVC is built on action. Last year, an estimated $65 million in business was generated on the trade floor alone.
In the coming days, attendees from Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Korea, the UK and the US will meet with over 497 Canadian tourism organisations. That includes 405 international buyers and 858 sellers.
In 2026, RVC heads to Toronto. Bigger city, different stories. But for now, Winnipeg holds the mic, and the memories.
A moment in time. Not just a tradeshow, but a reason to believe in travel again.
Karryon is reporting live from RVC 2025 in Winnipeg.
KARRYON UNPACKS: RVC2025 reminds us that connection isn’t the goal, it’s the groundwork. The best business gets built on both.
