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CONVENTIONS
Provide Boost to St. Louis Economy
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By Brian R.
Hook
St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commis-sion estimates each convention
attendee spends $945 while in town.
America’s Center convention complex downtown includes 502,000 square
feet of exhibit space and 83 meeting rooms.
The convention for convention executives is expected to reap an
additional $500 million in future convention business.
The conventions and meetings industry is big business. Convention
centers throughout the region are providing St. Louis with billions
of dollars annually.
“When you see someone in a convention badge walking down the street,
you’re really seeing new money brought into St. Louis,” says Nancy
Milton, vice president of marketing communications at the St. Louis
Convention & Visitors Commission.
The organization responsible for selling the city of St. Louis and
St. Louis County as a convention and meeting site estimates that
each convention attendee spends $945 while in town. The CVC manages
and operates the America’s Center convention complex downtown, which
includes 502,000 square feet of exhibit space and 83 meeting rooms.
Milton says it takes years of relationship building to secure a
convention. The CVC recently booked what is known in the industry
as the “Super Bowl of Conventions”— the 2011 annual meeting of the
American Society of Association Executives and the Center for Association
Leadership. “It was a major coup for St. Louis,” Milton says.
The convention for convention executives is expected to reap an
additional $500 million in future convention business, Milton says.
Approximately 20 percent of the executives who attend the annual
meeting book a meeting for their own organization in the city that
hosts the annual event within five years following the convention.
Milton says the first question a convention executive asks when
site seeking is: Will a convention fit into the convention center?
The next question: Do you have enough first-class hotels? “After
that, the destination’s appeal comes into play,” Milton says.
“We’re lucky now that St. Louis has really stepped up the development
surrounding the America’s Center convention complex.” She cites
the Washington Avenue lofts and new restaurants, the Pinnacle Casino
under development, plans for the Bottle District, the new Busch
Stadium and the development of nearby Ballpark Village.
There are two steps that the St. Louis business community could
take to help the CVC, Milton says. “First, keep company meetings
at home. Book at least one of your upcoming gatherings in St. Louis
instead of another destination,” Milton says.
“Second, business leaders at all levels can work with the CVC’s
sales staff to solicit the conventions of groups and associations
to which they belong.”
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Upcoming
Meetings and Conventions
Total
room nights—the number of total hotel room nights occupied
by a group’s members during a convention—is the most accurate
measurement of a group’s economic value to a community. Out
of a total of 240 meetings and conventions booked for 2006,
here are some of the larger meetings this summer:
Red Hat Society
June 7th to 11th
8,675 total room nights
6,000 total attendance
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
June 18th to 27th
11,150 total room nights
4,000 total attendance
American Association of Law Libraries
July 8th to 12th
6,279 total room nights
2,800 total attendance
PartyLite Gifts
July 18th to 23rd
18,625 total room nights
18,000 total attendance
Reliv International
July 25th to 30th
3,665 total room nights
3,000 total attendance
Central States Shrine Association
August 31st to September 3rd
11,055 total room nights
6,000 total attendance |
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CVC Names New President
Kathleen
Ratcliffe
President, Convention & Visitors Commission
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A new president is leading the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission.
“We went into this nationwide search process hoping we could find
a star and an industry leader for St. Louis. That’s exactly who
we found,” says Dan Dierdorf, chairman of the CVC board of commissioners,
referring to new president Kathleen Ratcliffe.
Ratcliffe arrives at St. Louis CVC from the New Orleans Metropolitan
Convention & Visitors Bureau where she was executive vice president.
Prior to that she was president of the Jacksonville & The Beaches
Convention & Visitors Bureau and vice president of sales and marketing
for the Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.
From 1985 until 1989, Ratcliffe was a sales executive for the St.
Louis CVC. She succeeds Carol Moody who retired earlier this year
after a 30-year career with the CVC.
Saint Charles Convention Center
The
front Porte Cochere entry welcomes guests to the The
Saint Charles Convention Center.
Meetings
and seminars made up the largest number of events,
comprising 61 percent.
A total of 13 conventions took place.
The conventions generated 7,429 room nights.
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The Saint Charles Convention Center is designed for smaller meetings
and conventions, hosting 10 to 3,000 guests. The St. Charles County
Convention & Sports Authority and the city of Saint Charles own
the 154,000 square-foot facility.
The convention center opened in April 2005. During the shortened
year, the center’s overall performance outpaced the use and demand
projections from the initial feasibility study conducted in 2004,
says Shura Lindgren, general manager.
The study forecasted a total of 112 events with 94,000 in attendance.
The convention ended the year hosting 275 events with 110,148 people
attending.
Meetings and seminars made up the largest number of events, comprising
61 percent. A total of 13 conventions took place, generating 7,429
room nights.
“Currently we are actively generating numerous leads in the convention/
tradeshow market,” Lindgren says. “I am confident there will be
an increase in the tradeshow/convention business meeting at this
building in this and future years.”
Gateway Center in Collinsville
Gateway
Center in Collinsville expansion rendering.
The
center generates more than $2 million dollars in economic
impact.
Visitors to the Gateway Center in 2004 spent an average
of $116 per person, per day, on goods and services.
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Across the Mississippi
River in Collinsville, the Gateway Center is also designed to host
smaller meetings and conventions. The building, opened in 1990,
hosts an average of 400 events each year, bringing in approximately
175,000 people annually.
“The biggest thing Gateway Center is doing to attract more conventions
is expanding the facility,” says Lisa Smith, director of sales of
marketing.
The center expects to complete a 32,000-square-foot addition by
July, offering another 10,000 square feet of flexible meeting space.
“This space can be used as one large ballroom or can be broken down
into six smaller meeting rooms,” Smith says.
Most years the center averages about 15 conventions, 20 tradeshows
and 30 consumer shows, generating more than $2 million dollars in
economic impact, Smith says. The Illinois Bureau of Tourism estimates
that visitors to the Gateway Center in 2004 spent an average of
$116 per person, per day, on goods and services. |
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