By Brian D’Antoni
Sundaze Gazette · Sept. 10, 2026
Updated Oct. 9, 2026: registration, agenda and workshop details rechecked against pbmatchmaker.com. The 20th Annual Palm Beach Partners Business Matchmaker Conference & Expo took place on Friday, Oct. 2, 2026 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. The owner guide below is kept as a record, written before the day; it does not report attendance or results. pbmatchmaker.com has a Gallery of Past Events and contact details.
For small contractors, suppliers, film/vendor shops, and tech/services firms chasing Palm Beach County, city, school-district, or corporate procurement, Friday, October 2, 2026 was not “another networking day on the calendar.” It was the 20th Annual Palm Beach Partners Business Matchmaker Conference & Expo at the Palm Beach County Convention Center, 650 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach.
Palm Beach County Housing & Economic Development’s August 2026 LinkedIn notice, the City of West Palm Beach events listing, and the live conference site all pointed owners to the same day and place. Theme language on partner pages read “20 Years of Partnership: Building Bridges, Creating Futures” (LinkedIn / Black Chamber mirror) or “20 Years in Partnership: Building Bridges, Creating Futures” on pbmatchmaker.com. The expectation published across those channels: 300+ participants, with agencies and corporations looking to do business with SBE, M/WBE, DBE, and Veteran-owned firms. Those figures framed the owner prep that follows.
Registration and fees, as published
The canonical home and registration path was pbmatchmaker.com. The site advertised Individual Registration (entrepreneurs, owners, professionals for the full conference day: workshops, networking, Power Talk access) and Group Registration (organizations sending multiple team members, vendors, or representatives), with details at Attendees Registration.
Fees as published: The attendees-registration page showed $150 as “Admission to all-day events” for individual registration, while a sitewide registration sidebar still showed $125 next to older “Celebrating the Power of You for 19 Years” footer copy, though the event was branded as the 20th annual. Group pricing was offered as a path on the same page, without itemized group dollar totals.
Fiscal agent (disclosed on the registration page): The Center for Technology, Enterprise & Development, Inc. (TED Center) was the fiscal agent and managed payments; card processing was disclosed as Stripe / PCI over HTTPS.
City of West Palm Beach’s public events page for the day, Business MatchMaker Conference and Expo, listed Friday, October 2, 2026, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Convention Center and pointed small-business owners at the same Matchmaker framing. The Palm Beach County Convention Center listing also confirmed October 2 at 650 Okeechobee Blvd and linked back to pbmatchmaker.com; that venue page’s clock read 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. while WPB, the Black Chamber mirror, PBC HED LinkedIn, and the published agenda’s networking reception ran through 6:00 p.m.
Matchmaker, not a trade show: how the day was built
A trade show is mostly booth traffic. A matchmaker is built around buyer access, capacity-building workshops, and structured one-on-ones. The conference site described the day as connecting small business enterprises with government agencies, corporate buyers, lenders, resource partners, and decision-makers across Palm Beach County, with three named pillars: Workshops, Power Talk, and Networking.
The published Agenda Overview for Friday, October 2, 2026 listed this sequence (times as published):
- 8:00 to 9:00 a.m.: Registration
- 9:00 to 9:30 a.m.: Ribbon Cutting, Grand Ballroom
- 9:30 to 10:00 a.m.: Morning Plenary, Grand Ballroom
- Tradeshow blocks: Pre-function Area (morning and afternoon windows as listed)
- 10:15 to 11:30 a.m.: Workshop 1: Procurement, Grand Ballroom
- 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.: Luncheon, Awards Ceremony, Keynote, Grand Ballroom
- 3:00 to 3:30 p.m.: Workshop 2: AI and Its Uses in Marketing to Governments
- 3:40 to 4:30 p.m.: Workshop 3: Goods and Services
- 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.: Workshop 4: Capital Improvements
- 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.: Bankers Row, Ballroom B
- 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.: Power Talks (45+ stations for one-on-one sessions, per agenda)
- 4:45 to 6:00 p.m.: Networking Reception, Grand Ballroom
The Power Talk block was the owner hinge: it was framed as direct access to procurement officers, agency leaders, lenders, and corporate representatives, not a random mixer.
Who Palm Beach Partners actually is
Per Who We Are on the conference site, Palm Beach Partners is a coalition of city, county, state, and nonprofit agencies aligned to maximize economic development opportunities for small businesses across South Florida. The site’s coalition list includes:
- Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners tracks (Department of Airports, Department of Housing and Economic Development, Office of Equal Business Opportunity, Palm Tran)
- Solid Waste Authority
- School District of Palm Beach County
- South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD)
- City of West Palm Beach
- City of Riviera Beach
- Center for Technology Enterprise and Development (TED Center)
The Black Chamber registration mirror expands the participating-organization list further (including, among others, City of Greenacres and InclusiFi). Note: coalition membership on secondary pages can lag or expand relative to the Who We Are page, so use pbmatchmaker.com/home/who-we-are as the baseline and treat chamber/partner lists as supplemental, not contradictory.
Shared goal language across Partners copy: extend matchmaking beyond any single agency’s borders to benefit SBEs, M/WBEs, and DBEs (and, in the PBC HED / WPB framing, Veteran-owned firms) throughout the South Florida region, with capacity-building tools, tips on future work, and small-business networking.
The four published workshops
The Workshops page (2026 Matchmaker Workshop) listed four tracks. Titles and descriptions below are from that page.
Workshop One: Procurement. Public solicitation literacy: composition, sections, requirements, and deadlines for RFP, RFQ, and RFI; how methods differ by project requirements, budget, and desired results; ways to be more competitive in bidding.
Workshop Two: AI and Its Uses in Marketing to Governments (“Supercharge Your Government Outreach with Simple AI Tool”). Practical session on using AI when preparing to market, communicate, and respond to government opportunities; framed around transforming procurement notes, bid requirements, capability statements, budget assumptions, and compliance questions into clearer government-ready documents (session materials reference the RUTA Cognitive Engine on the workshops page).
Workshop Three: Goods and Services. Panel: selling goods and services to public agencies; how procurement professionals identify and evaluate vendors; vendor strategies for responding, pricing, and relationship-building toward longer-term public-sector success.
Workshop Four: Capital Improvements. Capital Improvement Plans for Fiscal Year 2027 presented so businesses can interface with multiple Palm Beach County agencies on upcoming projects, locations, requirements, budget amounts, and subcontracting opportunities before teams are formed.
Speakers and awards
The Speakers page listed Perla Tamez Casasnovas, CEO of Casasnovas Capital, as luncheon keynote, with Vannia Joseph (WPTV) and Tania Rogers (WPTV / WFLX Fox 29) as 2026 emcees.
Vendor Spotlight published 2026 award categories (Legacy; Professional Services Excellence; Small Business Enterprise of the Year; Pioneer Progress; Excellence in Construction & Contracting; Excellence in Goods & Product Supply) and named nominees. Awards mattered for morale and local recognition.
The owner packet buyers ask for
The guide’s packet advice still applies to follow-up with buyers met on Oct. 2 and to the next edition. Keep a thin, consistent kit:
1) Capability one-pager (front and back max). Legal name, DBA, physical address, UEI/SAM status if you have it, primary NAICS, commodities/services in buyer language, geographic coverage (Broward / Palm Beach / tri-county), bonding capacity if construction, and one sentence on differentiators. Leave jargon for the full SOQ.
2) Certification and registration status sheet. Palm Beach County / city SBE or M/WBE certificates, DBE if applicable, Veteran-owned documentation, business tax receipts, and any school-district or agency vendor numbers you already hold. If a certification is pending, say pending + application date, do not imply awarded status you do not have.
3) Past performance short list. Three to five projects with owner/agency name, dollar band (or “under NDA / range”), role (prime vs. sub), year, and a reference name/title/email you have permission to share. Film and creative vendors: include production company or agency clients and deliverable types (commercial, branded, live event AV), procurement officers still need comparable past performance.
4) Insurance and compliance snapshot. COI limits you can currently meet, workers’ comp status, and any known gaps. Buyers will not negotiate your policy on the floor; they will note whether you are close.
5) Ask list. Three targeted asks per station type: “Which FY27 CIP projects need my trade?”, “What is your vendor portal URL and refresh cycle?”, “Do you prefer primes to bring certified subs pre-bid or post-award?” Write answers immediately after each Power Talk.
6) Digital follow-up folder. Same packet as PDF on your phone/laptop, filenames that include your company name, ready to email within 24 hours of the meeting.
Who the room was for: Broward and Palm Beach owners
The day was not limited to firms already inside West Palm Beach city limits. The Partners goal language explicitly reached South Florida SBEs / M/WBEs / DBEs. The seats that fit:
- Small contractors and trades chasing county, city, school-district, SWA, airports, Palm Tran, and SFWMD work, especially firms that need FY27 CIP visibility before teams lock.
- Suppliers and goods vendors who need panel literacy on how agencies evaluate catalogs, pricing, and responsiveness.
- Film, AV, and creative vendor shops that sell to cities, counties, tourism-adjacent buyers, and corporate marketing departments. Matchmaker was procurement access, not a film market.
- Tech and professional services (IT, consulting, architecture/engineering-adjacent, marketing) that can translate “AI for government outreach” workshop content into cleaner RFP responses.
- Firms still building certification stacks who need bankers-row and resource-partner conversations alongside buyer stations.
For municipal grant readiness in southern PBC, see the Gazette’s Boynton Beach Small Business Grants: Support and Marketing, October 2026 map.
Published discrepancies
- Registration fee display conflict: $150 on attendees-registration vs $125 in the persistent site sidebar/footer; the sidebar still carried “19 Years” language on a 20th-annual event.
- End time: WPB events page, Black Chamber mirror, and PBC HED LinkedIn said 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; the Convention Center event page showed 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the published agenda included a reception to 6:00 p.m.
- Black Chamber mirror: useful program and coalition text, but it listed no registrations available.
- Buyer lists: No comprehensive public roster of every corporate or agency table was published as a downloadable buyer list on the conference pages. Power Talks, the tradeshow and Bankers Row were the access model.
- Theme micro-variant: “20 Years of Partnership” vs “20 Years in Partnership”, same event.
What it means for Broward and Palm Beach owners
The 20th Annual Palm Beach Partners Business Matchmaker Conference & Expo was a procurement-access day with workshops, 45+ Power Talk stations, Bankers Row, and a full Convention Center footprint, aimed at SBE / M/WBE / DBE / Veteran-owned firms and the primes and agencies that need them. For owners, the lasting value is the follow-up: a capability one-pager, certifications and past performance sent to the buyers met on Oct. 2, and a watch on pbmatchmaker.com for the next edition.
Related hub: SoFla Business Grants and Incentives Guide
Key Facts for Owners and Search
What was the 20th Palm Beach Partners Business Matchmaker?
A one-day procurement conference and expo held Friday, Oct. 2, 2026, at the Palm Beach County Convention Center, 650 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach, under the theme “20 Years in Partnership: Building Bridges, Creating Futures.” It connected small businesses with government agencies, corporate buyers, lenders and resource partners. The event date has passed.
Who spoke at the 2026 Matchmaker?
The conference site lists Perla Tamez Casasnovas, CEO of Casasnovas Capital, as luncheon keynote speaker, with Vannia Joseph of WPTV and Tania Rogers of WPTV and WFLX Fox 29 as emcees. The keynote was part of the 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. luncheon and awards ceremony in the Grand Ballroom, according to the published agenda overview.
How did the published agenda run?
Registration opened at 8 a.m., followed by a 9 a.m. ribbon cutting and a 9:30 a.m. plenary. Workshops covered procurement, AI for marketing to governments, selling goods and services to public agencies, and upcoming local government projects. Bankers Row ran 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Power Talks offered more than 45 stations from 2:30, and a reception ran 4:45 to 6.
What did registration cost, and who handled payments?
The attendee registration page listed $150 for all-day admission, while the home and agenda pages still showed $125 as of Oct. 9. The Center for Technology Enterprise and Development, Inc., known as the TED Center, served as fiscal agent and processed card payments through Stripe. Group registration was offered for organizations sending several people.
What should procurement-minded owners do now?
Follow up on Power Talk contacts while they are fresh, and keep certifications and past performance files current for the coalition’s agencies, which include Palm Beach County departments, the School District of Palm Beach County, the South Florida Water Management District and the Solid Waste Authority. As of Oct. 9, the site posts no 2027 date and no 2026 recap.
