Smaller meetings key to convention center expansion
Large conventions typically get the most attention, but it’s the smaller meetings that will be critical to ensuring the expanded Indiana Convention Center is adequately occupied.
Large conventions typically get the most attention, but it’s the smaller meetings that will be critical to ensuring the expanded Indiana Convention Center is adequately occupied.
Three hospitality industry executives are holding down the fort as the ICVA board searches for a new leader to replace outgoing CEO Don Welsh. Directors are on no timetable to name a replacement.
Don Welsh was seen as a revolutionary force as CEO of the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association. Now he may be one of its biggest competitors as he takes the top job in Chicago.
Don Welsh, the top executive at the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association since 2008, is leaving the city to take the job as CEO of the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau, the ICVA announced Monday night.
Weak economy blamed for 5-percent decline. With Indiana Convention Center expansion set to be complete this month, booking should be on the rise.
Capital Improvement Board plans to spend about $2.6 million to replace 370,000 square feet of carpeting in the older portion of the Indiana Convention Center to match the carpet in the new addition.
Indianapolis and Milwaukee are about the same size, with 1.7 million and 1.6 million people in their respective metro areas, but Indianapolis’ convention trade is better developed.
Six months into a $750,000 plan to increase Hendricks County’s profile as a tourist destination, officials say group travel has doubled and hotel occupancy is up almost 3 percentage points—before an end-of-the-year push to get travelers to “Spend the Holidays in Hendricks County.”
Officials for Crowne Plaza Hotel downtown said a $400,000 enclosed connector linking the hotel to the convention center will be done in February.
Local organizers expect the 2012 Super Bowl to be played as scheduled, despite growing concerns that an NFL work stoppage could force postponement or cancellation of the game.
Gen Con Indy runs Thursday through Sunday at the Indiana Convention Center. It’s in its 42nd year.
Indianapolis and Kansas City, a metro area with feet in both Missouri and Kansas, are not only similar demographically, but
the cities' convention and tourism trades have some measures in common, like number of annual visitors.
An agreement with the International Motorsports Industry Show will keep it in the city indefinitely. Attendance for the three-day
December convention is expected to top 20,000.
Well-known local sports columnist Bill Benner is leaving his job at the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association to
become senior associate commissioner for external affairs for the Horizon League.
Jamfest Cheer Super Nationals will be held in Indianapolis through 2015. The competition is one of the city’s largest annual
gatherings, attracting about 20,000 cheerleaders and spectators.
The Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association is spending $1.3 million to promote the city to eight Midwestern markets,
in
hopes of attracting more travelers.
In light of a shrinking budget, the state has dropped traditional advertising campaigns to promote tourism and is embracing
social media outlets to promote Indiana's attractions.
Seventeen agencies submitted proposals for the account.
The convention bureau has shelved its plan to attract a full-service hotel and instead will boost spending on tourism marketing.
Attracting the meeting is a coup for Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association officials who are trying to pull in
more health-related events.