Small Market Meetings January 2018

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Heartland Meeting Guide

START PLANNING.

The Fox Cities offer convenience, versatility and venues for every type of meeting. An array of exceptional dining options, 3,200+ hotel rooms and group activities, along with our walkable downtown areas will complete your experience.

NEW in 2018 — Fox Cities Exhibition Center (38,000 sq. ft. facility)

FoxCities.org/meeting

Plus Wisconsin’s Best Shopping!

Contact Amy Karas at akaras@foxcities.org or 800.236.6338 FOX CITIES

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Courtesy Flint and Genesee COC

Volume 19

Issue 1

January 2018

Meet Bob Rogers

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This Huntsville, Alabama, destination executive has deep roots in hospitality.

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Eye on Innovation Look to outside fields for inventive meeting ideas.

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Site Inspection Tips Meeting pros share insights on making the most of pre-meeting research trips.

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Courtesy The Mitchell House

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Meetings in Historic Homes These estates offer elegance and heritage in their meeting venues.

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Heartland Meeting Guide Discover the conference centers, unique venues and golf resorts of America’s Midwest.

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Courtesy Visit Fairfield

On the cover: The Philbrook in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a historic mansion turned art museum. Courtesy Philbrook Museum

For Sales Call

Kelly Tyner

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A Wine Country Winner Fairfield, California, offers affordable meeting options in legendary wine territory.

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866-356-5128

kelly@grouptravelleader.com

of Art.

SMALL MARKET MEETINGS is published monthly by Pioneer Publishing, Inc., 301 E. High St., Lexington, KY 40507, and is distributed free of charge to qualified meeting planners who plan meetings in small and medium size towns and cities. All other meeting industry suppliers, including hotels, conference centers, convention centers, destinations, transportation companies, restaurants and other meeting industry-related companies may subscribe by sending a check for $39 for one year to: Small Market Meetings, Circulation Department, 301 East High St., Lexington, KY 40507. Phone (866) 356-5128 (toll-free) or (859) 225-1452. Fax: (859) 253-0499. Copyright SMALL MARKET MEETINGS, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reproduction of editorial or graphic content in any manner without the written consent of the publisher is prohibited.

Mac T. Lacy Publisher/Partner maclacy@grouptravelleader.com

Brian Jewell Editor brianj@grouptravelleader.com

Herbert Sparrow Executive Editor/Partner hsparrow@grouptravelleader.com

David Brown Art Director production@smallmarketmeetings.com

www.smallmarketmeetings.com

Stacey Bowman Savannah Osbourn Account Manager Staff writer sales@smallmarketmeetings.com Christine Clough Copy editor Kelly Tyner Account Manager Rena Baer sales@smallmarketmeetings.com Proofreader

WWW.SMALLMARKETMEETINGS.COM SMALL MARKET MEETINGS

F ind Your P inlace HISTORIC HOMES Site-Inspection Tips

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elcome to Small Market Meetings magazine. Since 2000, we’ve been America’s only publication dedicated to highlighting smaller cities, towns and meeting sites that offer terrific value and service for meeting planners.

Fairfield, California DECEMBER 2017

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Our magazine enjoys a robust audience from around the country made up of thousands of independent meeting planners, association executives, corporate event planners and others involved in the meetings industry. For 2018, we have undertaken a major effort to infuse new, qualified planners into our readership, adding members of some of America’s most recognized meeting industry trade associations. The magazine now reaches members of Meeting Professionals International, the Religious Conference Management Association and other organizations.

Heartland Meeting Guide

If you are a member of one of these organizations and are receiving Small Market Meetings for the first time, welcome to our community. We’re glad to have you with us.

Your subscription is complimentary, and you’ll receive a new issue of Small Market Meetings each month. I also encourage you to visit our website, www. smallmarketmeetings.com, where you can find a wealth of content from past issues, manage your subscription info and sign up for our bimonthly e-newsletter, Meetings at a Glance.

Whether you’re a new reader or a longtime follower, we value the opportunity to help you plan great meetings. We also value your insights and ideas and invite you to share them with us. You can reach me directly with questions, comments, suggestions or other feedback by emailing brian@smallmarketmeetings.com.

We’re looking forward to a fantastic year, and we hope you’ll make Small Market Meetings a part of your success strategy for 2018 and beyond.

Brian Jewell Managing Editor

Meetings Leaders: Bob Rogers September 26-28

By Rachel Carter

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ob Rogers’ career in hotels and hospitality had taken him from Miami to Atlanta, from Los Angeles to Boston and, eventually, to Montgomery, Alabama.

When his career path pointed him to Huntsville, Alabama, Bob Rogers Rogers went to the city to interview “and never looked back,” said Rogers, who is now vice president of conventions for the Huntsville/Madison County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

When Rogers was 15 years old, his father sent him out the front door and told him not to come back until he found a job. So he did.

His family lived in Miami, so it’s perhaps not surprising that the job he found was at a beachfront resort.

“Who wouldn’t like that?” Rogers said with a laugh. “That kind of hooked me into it.”

Rogers’ foray into hospitality started in the resort’s print shop, but he also worked at the front desk and as a bellman, among other duties. When he enrolled at Florida International University, he gravitated to a major in hotel and restaurant management.

Choosing that field of study wasn’t some big revelation, he said, but working in hospitality had grown on him.

“I enjoyed the pace and the people and that things were always different,” he said.

After graduating, Rogers moved to Atlanta to work for a large convention hotel. Though he had already worked many jobs at the Miami resort, Atlanta was his “true training ground,” where he worked in every department, including the kitchen, housekeeping and the front desk.

“I do remember I made a conscious decision: ‘I want to learn everything about the business,’” he said. “I figured if I did that, I wouldn’t have anyone down the road who could tell me a lot of nonsense about running hotels.”

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Conference Report

Photos courtesy Huntsville/Madison County CVB

Bob Rogers, front row right, poses with Huntsville staff and volunteers during an event at the Small Market Meetings Conference in 2016.

That experience set him up to get into and succeed in hotel operations. Looking for more opportunities for advancement, Rogers joined Dunfey Hotels and worked for the company in Atlanta before taking a job as a rooms manager in Los Angeles. He then moved to Boston to serve as general manager for a Dunfey hotel there.

Dunfey then asked Rogers to move to Montgomery, Alabama, to be the GM for a large conference hotel. The reason? Everyone in the company was from New England or the West Coast, but the company wanted someone from the South to manage the hotel.

“My boss said, ‘You’re the only Southerner with the company,’” Rogers said with a laugh.

“I said, ‘I’m not from the South; I’m from Miami.’”

But the transfer proved fortuitous: Rogers hasn’t left Alabama since, and the new position served as his entree into the meetings and convention space. The 200-guest-room conference hotel had so much meeting space that one year, two of its ballrooms hosted election night parties for two opposing gubernatorial candidates.

Dunfy, which bought Omni International

Hotels in 1983, got Rogers to Alabama, but Hilton got him to Huntsville. After 15 years as general manager of a Hilton in Huntsville, Rogers owned a mortgage company for several years. He returned to hospitality in 2012, when he took the reins of the Jackson Center, a conference center in the heart of Research Park, a high-tech hub and one of the largest research parks in the nation, before joining the CVB in 2014.

Huntsville always surprises visitors and strips them of stereotypes they have about Alabama, Rogers said. The city of 195,000 residents is home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center as well as the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal.

Some people are surprised when they find out Huntsville has an airport, when in fact, “basically every rocket that’s ever been designed and engineered came out of here,” Rogers said.

Huntsville is forecast to be the state’s largest city by 2025. Downtown is thriving, hotel development is hopping, and there’s always something to do. The city’s main convention complex, the Von Braun Center, will soon

www.smallmarketmeetings.com

Executive Profile NAME

Bob Rogers

TITLE

Vice President of Conventions

ORGANIZATION

Huntsville/Madison County CVB

LOCATION

Huntsville Alabama

BORN Miami

EDUCATION

B.S., Hotel, Restaurant and Travel Services, Florida International University

CAREER HISTORY

Omni/Dunfey Hotels, Hilton Huntsville, Jackson Center and Visitors Bureau, since 2007

FAMILY

Wife, Becki; daughter, Monica

HOBBIES

Cooking, golf, community involvement

Tips from Bob Rogers • Establish your goals and objectives before you start planning your event, and refer to them frequently as you plan.

• Use local experts, like a CVB, in the early planning stage.

They can assist you in incorporating unique places and special events to create lasting memories for your attendees.

• Allow plenty of time in the schedule for collaboration and networking. This will help reinforce your message with your attendees and achieve your meetings goals.

undergo a $42 million expansion and renovation.

The project will include a new 35,000-square-foot ballroom with an outdoor terrace as well as 14,000 square feet of breakout space and a new concert hall with a food and beverage venue.

The CVB put more money into site visits because “if we can get them here, we can wow them,” Rogers said. “They really don’t leave here without saying, ‘I need to come back’” — similar to how Rogers didn’t look back after he moved to Huntsville.

Though he only started working for the CVB in June 2014, Rogers served on the CVB board when he was managing the Hilton. That gave him a unique perspective of both Huntsville and the agency that promotes it.

“We’re blessed with a city that’s really hitting on all cylinders,” Rogers said.

January 2018

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Outside Inspiration

Sometimes great meeting ideas can be found in other industries

By Vickie Mitchell

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eing out in the world typically inspires new ideas; the trouble is, it can be tough for meeting planners to carve out time to go places — conferences and conventions or even local MPI meetings — where they might see and experience innovative approaches to their work.

One way to gather new ideas without leaving the desk is to peruse the websites of favorite or bucket-list conferences.

Conferences designed for meeting professionals tend to be useful sources of inspiration because, generally, those who lead the industry strive to be innovative.

But it can also be smart to check out conferences and conventions held for leading-edge industries. Some of the most innovative fields, according to Inc. magazine, are green energy, mobile technology and biotechnology.

Here are a few interesting ideas I came across in a quick review of several conference websites. By spending a few minutes of your time checking out approaches being taken at some of the thousands of conferences held each year, I’m sure you, too, will come away with some new ideas.

Signing In, Then Brainstorming

Registration can be more than picking up a packet and a name badge. It can also be a time to engage your attendees and set a positive tone for your conference. Connect Faith did so at its conference during its Regiception, where attendees could visit a pop-up creativity cafe staffed by creative pros for brands like Disney, Costco and Apple.

Those pros chatted with attendees, and together, using whiteboards and markers, they brainstormed fun themes for planners’ meetings and events.

Warmer Welcome for Newcomers

Engage!, a conference for wedding professionals, realizes how intimidating conferences can be for first-timers, so organizers hold a welcome session specifically for that audience. The session allows newcomers to ask questions they might not feel comfortable asking otherwise, and it gives organizers a chance to talk about conference traditions, give insight into ways to get the most value from the conference and share tips on transportation, dining or even what to wear. One first-timer who attended said the session

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MeetingPoint

was “incredibly helpful to calm my nerves and let me know that I was not the only one with a lot of questions.”

Problem-Solving Luncheon

BizBash organizers decided to dispense with small talk and make lunch a time for deeper discussions. During their Problem-Solving Luncheon, planners were encouraged to come to the meal with a problem they would like solved.

Those at the table were encouraged to chime in with ideas and solutions.

New Twists on Cocktail Hour

Connecting with peers can happen in many ways during a conference, and many agendas also include dedicated networking events. Folks at the mammoth South by Southwest Tech Conference call these times “meetups,” topic-focused, moderator-led networking events for people with similar passions or interests. The conference’s dozens of meetups were organized by everything from geography to hobbies and professional interests. Among its meetups: Aussies and Kiwis, Bible Study, Data Nerds, Executive Assistants and Mom Bosses.

For Summit LA 17, a different approach was used for its networking hour: At its speed-dating-style networking session, attendees could meet 20 new people in 60 minutes.

Edutainment Puts Attendees on the Stage

The ASAE annual conference in Toronto in August featured fast-paced Edutainment sessions that put members in the spotlight. In one session, presenters told their stories with 20 slides in five minutes. Among the intriguing topics was “My Year of Courage,” “The History of App” and “When a Carnivore Loves a Vegan.” During the Story Slam version of Edutainment, storytellers/slammers had five minutes to tell a story based on a theme that had been chosen for the session. No notes were allowed. Among the stories were “It Started With a Plane Crash” and “How I Became Brilliant…

(At Being Me).”

Vickie Mitchell is the former editor of Small Market Meetings. If you have ideas for future columns, contact her at vickie@smallmarketmeetings.com.

www.smallmarketmeetings.com

Site Inspection Insights

CVB pros offer tips for making site visits effective

By Savannah Osbourn

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ne of the first steps to organizing a successful meeting or event is setting up site inspections at potential venues and hotels. While some locations may sound great on paper, you never know when setbacks may arise until seeing venues in person and speaking with the staff.

To learn more about how planners can make the best venue choices for their event, we spoke with the following meetings experts: Brandon Morgan, director of the Flint and Genesee Convention and Visitors Bureau in Flint, Michigan, and Beth Ulatowski, director of sales at the Greater Green Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Here is what they had to say.

January 2018

Courtesy Flint and Genesee COC

In-person site inspections help meeting planners evaluate the space, configuration and lighting of possible meeting venues.

Contact the Local CVB

Convention and visitors bureaus are a planner’s ultimate resource to a new destination, acting as a single access point to all the surrounding attractions, venues and services. So instead of contacting dozens of vendors individually, planners can simply reach out to the local convention and visitors bureau for assistance.

“Planners may be very surprised by how much we can do for them,” said Ulatowski. “We know the restaurants, the vendors, the hotels; not only can we help them find a location for their meeting, we can act as a resource for them, whether it’s finding entertainment, speakers and, of course, all the free services.”

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Courtesy Greater Green Bay CVB

CVB professionals can help meeting planners discover distinctive meeting sites, such as the Automobile Gallery and Events Center in Green Bay. In addition to serving as a communication line, the convention and visitors bureau can help create itineraries and event schedules based on the planner’s needs.

“The CVB knows what kind of groups each venue can accommodate, so we can set up site inspections, find unique off-site venues, find creative and affordable solutions for transportation — we can do all of that in one fell swoop,” said Morgan. “We can also send out multiple requests to venues and hotels so that a meeting planner doesn’t have to coordinate with multiple locations at once.”

Hammer Out the Details in Advance

According to Ulatowski, finding the right venue is all about asking the right questions.

“Once we know what their meeting needs are, then we can share exactly what we have,” Ulatowski said. “Whether they prefer a downtown setting, to be near the highway or airport, etc.”

Before visiting the destination, planners should prepare a comprehensive checklist of their event details and priorities, including information such as number of attendees, meeting space requirements, preferred dates, backup dates, types of seating, types of meals and, perhaps most important, the budget. It can also be helpful to share some background information about the attendees’ preferences and expectations, as well as the primary objectives of the meeting.

“It’s all a matter of customizing what we have in the community to the needs of the group,” said Morgan.

Once planners arrive on-site, they can also reference their checklist

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Managing Meetings

as they make note of the available amenities and equipment at each venue. These could be features such as audiovisual equipment, appropriate lighting, complimentary Wi-Fi, convenient parking, backup generators and an on-site kitchen. Though it can be easy to walk through the venue, shake hands and move on to the next one, planners should not be shy about testing sound or lighting systems, or asking to speak with the catering staff.

As planners explore the city, another critical detail to note is transportation. Based on how attendees plan on traveling to the area and how close the venues are to public transit, planners may need to arrange airport pickup or shuttle services.

Keep an Open Mind

One of Morgan’s top suggestions for planners is to be flexible and maintain open communication with the convention and visitors bureau.

“In a community of our size, sometimes we just don’t have the space to meet a planner’s needs, like if someone calls and says, ‘We need 1,000 hotel rooms,’” said Morgan. “But we try to accommodate in any way possible.”

Even if a destination fails to meet all the criteria on a planner’s list, it may offer some beneficial alternatives, such as more affordable accommodations or off-site options. Convention and visitors bureaus can also help planners make adjustments to the itinerary when necessary, like when a venue or attraction seems too grandiose for the budget.

“We have some venues that are really nice, and people go, ‘Oh my gosh,

www.smallmarketmeetings.com

Seeing a site while it is hosting another event gives planners a real-world look at the staff’s capabilities.

Courtesy Flint and Genesee COC

there’s just no way,’” said Ulatowski. “So we’ll say, ‘Well, maybe you might just consider doing an event here one night and then doing your meeting somewhere else.’ Those are some of the tweaks we might suggest.”

Consider the Demographic of Your Attendees

Though planners cannot always accommodate everyone, it is advantageous to evaluate the different needs of those attending the event. For example, some planners may focus so heavily on the cost of the conference itself that they fail to consider the financial constraints of certain attendees.

“If we host a golf tournament, the players’ budgets are going to look a lot different than the caddies’ budgets,” said Morgan. “And that goes for airlines, food and entertainment.”

The sooner planners include these factors in the planning, the sooner the convention and visitors bureau can help find far-reaching solutions.

“When planners tell us those needs, then we can help them negotiate contracts that account for those needs, like including food and beverage,” said Morgan.

January 2018

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Elegant Estates

These historic homes make memorable meeting venues Courtesy Biltmore Estate

By Savannah Osbourn

The home, village and grounds of Biltmore Estate offer abundant options for meetings and activities.

istoric homes add a sense of elegance and homestyle warmth to meetings, offering a refreshing change in pace from the usual conference center or boardroom. Groups can convene inside the house or a neighboring venue for their corporate retreat and then stretch their legs with a guided tour of the beautiful estate.

With so many incredible historic sites across the country to choose from, here are five premier locations to consider for your next event.

When groups tour the three-story chateau today, they will notice ornate vintage furniture, 16th-century tapestries and original paintings from celebrated artists like Pierre Renoir and John Singer Sargent.

Designed by legendary landscape artist Frederick Law Olmsted, the surrounding Italian Gardens feature 2.5 miles of walking paths and more than 250 varieties of roses in the Rose Garden alone.

In addition, attendees can stay on-site at the casual-style Village Hotel on Biltmore Estate or the more luxurious Inn on Biltmore Estate, enjoying accommodations, dining and shopping all in one spectacular location.

With over a dozen venues on the estate, planners are sure to find a location that meets their needs. In Antler Hill Village, Antler Hill Barn offers 3,200 square feet of meeting space. Deerpark North Side, a beautiful covered venue that accommodates up to 300 guests, connects to Deerpark Restaurant as well as a 700-seat outdoor courtyard. The historic Lioncrest structure once served as the headquarters for the Biltmore dairy operation and features a wide variety of meeting spaces, including a 2,900-square-foot ballroom and a 3,000-square-foot veranda. One of the most scenic venues is Diana at Biltmore, a hilltop,

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The Biltmore Estate Asheville, North Carolina

It is impossible to talk about historic homes in the United States without mentioning the palatial Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Nestled in the wooded hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the 250-room French Renaissance chateau was constructed from 1884 to 1895 by George Vanderbilt, the grandson of the renowned railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Upon completion, the 175,000-square-foot mansion included 43 bathrooms, 35 bedrooms, a banquet hall with a 70-foot ceiling, a library with 10,000 volumes and an indoor bowling alley.

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Meeting Ideas

www.smallmarketmeetings.com

Courtesy Philbrook Museum of Art

Meeting groups can enjoy the luxury of an Italian Renaissance villa-turned-museum at the Philbrook in Tulsa. open-air space based around a statue of Diana and surrounded by a lush grove of hemlock trees. The site can host to 300 guests for a reception or dinner event.

Meeting groups can also take advantage of the estate’s special group experiences, such as the Wine and Chocolate Tasting or the Candlelight Winery Tour. www.biltmore.com

Philbrook Museum of Art Tulsa, Oklahoma

Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Philbrook Museum of Art combines both art and historic architecture. The original Italian Renaissance villa was commissioned in 1927 by a wealthy local businessman named Waite Phillips as a home for his wife and family. After living in the house for merely 11 years, Waite and Genevieve Phillips decided to donate their exquisite 72-room mansion to the city as a public art center. Now, 80 years later, the museum houses a fantastic art collection that represents African, American, Asian, European, Native American and modern works. Guided tours are offered daily free of charge.

January 2018

In addition to three levels of art galleries, the property includes 25 acres of stunning Italianate gardens with a winding creek, a sculpture walk and a white-pillared gazebo. This spring, the museum plans to introduce a full-scale cabin composed almost entirely of stained glass as a new permanent installation in the gardens. Myriad colorful stained-glass pieces will fill the windows, the roof and the spaces between wall boards, creating a glowing, patchwork-quilt effect with the help of embedded LED lights.

Planners will discover numerous ways to take advantage of this unique property for their events or meetings. The oval-shaped Charles P. Williams room on the first level provides the largest dedicated meeting venue in the museum, with 2,500 square feet of space. In the elegant Rotunda at the museum entrance, up to 300 attendees can dine under the lighted dome, with tall white columns that circle the room.

Other venues include the 250-seat Wilson Hall auditorium and the more-intimate 20-seat Education Center.

After business hours, La Villa Restaurant becomes available for rent as well; it accommodates up to 120 guests for a seated dinner or 200 for a reception. The restaurant contains beautiful floor-to-ceiling glass

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Courtesy Dunsmuir-Hellman Estate

Oakland’s Dunsmuir-Hellman Estate dates to 1899. walls that overlook the surrounding gardens and connects to a spacious villa terrace. www.philbrook.org

Dunsmuir-Hellman Estate Oakland, California

Listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Sites, the DunsmuirHellman Estate is one of the premier venues in Oakland, California, providing a serene, cinematic backdrop for every group event. The 37-room Neoclassical Revival mansion was originally built as a wedding gift from Alexander Dunsmuir, the son of a wealthy coal baron in British Columbia, to his young bride in 1899. The property later fell into the hands of a San Francisco-based banker named I.W. Hellman Jr. Under the ownership of the Hellman family, the estate was extensively developed, adding a swimming pool behind the mansion and the charming Dinkelspiel House across from the North Pond. During the 1960s, the city of Oakland purchased the home and opened it to the public as an upscale conference space.

Since then, the Dunsmuir-Hellman Estate has been featured in various movies and television shows over the years, including the Clint Eastwood film “True Crime” and the James Bond installment “A View to Kill.”

With over 50 acres of scenic landscape and historic structures, the estate has numerous venue options available. Inside the mansion itself, planners can organize an intimate corporate dinner or high tea for up to 50 attendees. On a wooded hillside overlooking the South Pond, the Garden Pavilion features red-oak wall paneling, exposed ceiling beams and a spacious outdoor terrace. The facility can entertain more than 250 guests for receptions, seminars and other social events.

Nearby, the Dinkelspiel Cottage offers a cozy retreat for groups of 50

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Meeting Ideas

or fewer, and the historic Carriage House provides a grand, vintage setting with mahogany-paneled walls and adjoining rooms that can host up to 50 guests. www.dunsmuir-hellman.com

Mitchell House Lebanon, Tennessee

Just 30 minutes from downtown Nashville and 20 minutes from the Nashville International Airport, the Mitchell House is a beautiful Neoclassical Revival home in the outlying town of Lebanon, Tennessee.

The house was built during the early 1900 by a young businessman named David Mitchell who ran a successful mining company and later became the president of Cumberland University at the age of 26, making him the youngest university president in the nation. After the untimely death of his wife, Mitchell sold the property and moved out of Tennessee. Though the house felt into serious disrepair for a number of years, it was lovingly restored during the late 1990s and is now considered one of the state’s most prized historic homes and event venues.

The Mitchell House can host up to 150 guests inside, with additional space on the exterior grounds for parties of 500 or fewer. Guests will feel like royalty as they make their way down the grand driveway entrance to the home and leave their vehicles with valet parking services. The interior of the home features beautiful wood-paneled walls, exposed beam ceilings, golden chandeliers and expansive windows that offer a pleasant spread of natural light.

Many groups set up receptions outside in a charming circular courtyard area with a white pergola wrapped around the rim that connects to a lovely garden and fountain. www.mitchellhouse.org

www.smallmarketmeetings.com

House of the Seven Gables Salem, Massachusetts

Drawing upon more than 300 years of history, the House of the Seven Gables was built in 1668 for Capt. John Turner I, the head of a prosperous maritime family in Salem, Massachusetts. His son later modified the Jacobean home with high-style Georgian paneling, which today remains one of the finest specimens of this architectural feature.

Nearly two centuries later, esteemed author Nathaniel Hawthorne grew up in Salem not far from the historic house and was heavily influenced by the vivid lore surrounding early Salem, as well as other New England towns. Later in life, he immortalized the site in his famed Gothic novel “The House of the Seven Gables,” which follows the fictional tale of a New England family with a dark past.

Today, groups can learn about the estate’s rich background as they explore the beautiful mansion and adjacent historic structures. Entry onto the property includes a 40-minute guided tour of the main house, a visit to Hawthorne’s birthplace, a stroll through the Colonial Revival seaside gardens and group activities at the old Counting House.

The Seaside Lawn can host up to 300 guests for cocktail or lecturestyle events. Indoors, the Hooper-Hathaway House accommodates parties of 50 or fewer; the Plumsock and Holyoke Rooms can entertain up to 75 dinner guests with a dance floor or up to 100 guests lecture style. www.7gables.org Courtesy House of the Seven Gables

The House of the Seven Gables has seen more than 300 years of Massachusetts history.

Middle Tennessee Meeting Space

January 2018

let’s meet

Middle

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A FINE WINE COUNTRY

By Savannah Osbourn

Fairfield, California, is an a t t ractive al terna tive t o Napa Valley mee t ings

Vezer Family Vineyards is one of 17 wineries in Fairfield.

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Destination Showcase

www.smallmarketmeetings.com

“Our wine country is a wonderful hidden gem. We often joke that there is more traffic from squirrels, birds and bicyclists than cars.”

F

or a meeting in California wine country without the high prices lent location for a small banquet or trade show. Customizable menus of more-famous destinations, look to the city of Fairfield. The are available from the on-site catering staff. Planners can block off 10 hub-and-spoke destination is just 20 or more hotel rooms to receive a special group minutes from the rolling hillsides of Napa rate.

Valley, one of the most renowned wine regions Based in the heart of the Suisun Valley, in the world, and 45 minutes from major cities Vezér Family Vineyards is one of the region’s like Sacramento and San Francisco. premier wineries and offers a wide range of “We always tell people that we’re a great event venues. Planners can host a 300-seat place to use as home base,” said Brianna Boyd, corporate dinner at the Ranch Estate Vineyard communications manager at Visit Fairfield.

Lookout and Courtyard, which overlooks 31 “People can come to Fairfield, stay in our acres of lush, countryside. The Mankas Legacy hotels, and then they have all of these great Barrel Room contains exclusive wine barrel travel opportunities just 45 minutes away.” reserves and has a large meeting table for up In addition to visiting Napa Valley, groups to 20 guests. Surrounded by palm trees and can also take advantage of Fairfield’s own sweeping vineyards, the Blue Victorian Barrel spectacular wineries in the neighboring Room offers a Victorian-style venue with regions of Green Valley and Suisun Valley, also broad, arching doorways; it accommodates up known as Napa’s Little Sister Sue. With 17 local to 300 guests. wineries to choose from, visitors can follow winding, pastoral roads past fresh-produce Signature Attractions stands and family-owned restaurants without Fairfield is home to two prominent American the constant flow of traffic and the crowds that companies: the Jelly Belly Candy Company characterize other tourist hot spots. and the Anheuser-Busch Brewery.

“Our wine country is a wonderful hidden “Jelly Belly and Anheuser are what usually Budweiser Brewery Experience gem,” said Boyd. “We often joke that there is bring people to the area, and both offer great more traffic from squirrels, birds and bicyclists tours for visitors,” said Boyd.

All photos courtesy Visit Fairfield than cars.”

Voted one of the top-10 tours in the United States by USA Today readers, the Jelly Belly Major Meeting Venues Factory offers free, self-guided tours each day.

In downtown Fairfield, the Solano Event During the visit, groups get the chance to learn LOCATION Center, with its Spanish Mission-style archihow some of their favorite candies are made as San Francisco Bay Area tecture, a spacious outdoor patio and a beautithey walk along an elevated path over the ful, lighted plaza fountain, creates an elegant colorful production facility, where sweet scents ACCESS backdrop for any event. With its 7,500 square of fruit, cinnamon and chocolate waft from San Francisco International Airport, feet of indoor event space along with an addimore than 100 flavors of jelly beans. Along the Oakland International Airport, tional 11,000 square feet outside, the Solano way, guests can enjoy interactive exhibits and Sacramento International Airport can accommodate up to 300 guests. games that shed light on the craft of candyMAJOR MEETING SPACES At the Hilton Garden Inn, planners will find making.

Solano County Event Center, everything they need for their event in one The Jelly Belly Visitors Center provides a Hilton Garden Inn, Courtyard by Marriott, location. The hotel features a garden courtone-of-a-kind off-site venue for banquets, Vezér Family Vineyard yard, a grand ballroom and several other flextraining classes and more. The Grand Bean ible meeting areas, a combined total of 11,712 Room features 4,354 square feet of space and HOTEL ROOMS square feet of meeting space. In addition, the can seat up to 200 guests at round tables. There 1,351 hotel offers all-day nonalcoholic-beverage are three smaller conferences spaces — the OFFSITE VENUES service and complimentary Wi-Fi. Berry Blue Room, the Tangerine Room and the Jelly Belly Factory, Anheuser-Busch Fairfield’s Courtyard by Marriot offers 5,845 Very Cherry Room — each with around 1,000 square feet of meeting space, with seven event square feet of space. Planners can tie a Jelly CONTACT INFO rooms and six possible breakout areas. As the Belly theme to their event with vibrant decoVisit Fairfield largest event room, the ballroom can seat up rations and table treats from the candy store.

707-399-2445 to 310 guests theater style, making it an excelAfter the meeting, attendees can enjoy a www.visitfairfieldca.com

Fairfield, California

January 2018

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Tours of the Jelly Belly Factory are popular down-time activities with groups meeting in Fairfield.

“Jelly Belly and Anheuser are what usually bring people to the area, and both offer great tours for visitors.”

Chocolate and Wine Experience, sampling some of the factory’s fresh chocolates as well as local Suisun Valley wines.

Another of Fairfield’s top attractions is the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, which brews classic beers such as Budweiser, Bud Light and Stella Artois. Planners can incorporate several unique brewery experiences into their meetings or events. The Beermaster Tour takes groups on an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour of the Brew House, the Lager Cellar, the Packaging Facility and the Finishing Cellar, where guests can sample fresh beer straight from a finishing tank. In addition to the daily tours, the brewery features a specialty beer-tasting experience called Flights of Fairfield, where up to eight participants can learn about different beer ingredients and food pairings from an experienced Flight Master as they sample a selection of original Fairfield brews. Planners are welcome to rent the Anheuser-Busch Tasting Room for small afterhours gatherings.

After-Hours Activities

Fairfield’s indoor go-kart track, Driven Raceway, is one of the best

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Destination Showcase

locations in the area for a corporate team-building event.

“If people have a need for speed after their meeting, that’s where they can go,” said Boyd with a laugh.

The state-of-the-art go-kart track features a weighted scoring system so that drivers can accumulate points based on how they finish their races, providing an opportunity for some friendly competition among attendees. Planners can take advantage of corporate event race packages for discounts on entertainment and catering prices. The facility also includes black-light mini-golf, bowling and an arcade.

A visit to California is not complete without stopping by one of its signature golf courses. Rated the top two golf courses in Solano County for over 13 years, Paradise Valley and Rancho Solano highlight some of the most beautiful scenery in the region.

“The picturesque views are incredible,” said Boyd. “It’s a great way to combine work with play.”

Paradise Valley is characterized by beautiful, tall oak trees and winding creeks, making it a terrific choice for golfers who enjoy a good walk across a scenic course. Rancho Solano is known for projecting a classic

www.smallmarketmeetings.com

Groups can take advantage of outdoor meeting space at Fairfield’s GV Cellars. county club atmosphere, with lush, hilly terrain and pockets of lakes.

Each course offers banquet facilities for up to 500 guests.

For those who enjoy a glimpse into local history, the Western Railway Museum explores the rich history of the electric rail in California and

January 2018

the role it played in shaping early Western communities. The museum displays 55 historic cars and 22 miles of tracks. Groups can explore fascinating railway exhibits, hop aboard an interurban train for a 50-minute ride or swing by the depot cafe for refreshments.

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Charming Heartland Venues

By Rachel Carter

Courtesy Mystic Lake Center

The new Mystic Lake Center is scheduled to open this month at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in the Twin Cities area.

C

onference and convention centers sometimes get a bad rap as being hohum options for meetings. Not so at these venues in the Heartland states.

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Frank Lloyd Wright designed one center, and the Civilian Conservation Corps built another during the throes of the Great Depression. Guests may sleep on furniture built by Amish hands or sit on chairs made

by Illinois inmates. Each of these Heartland conference and convention centers has a story to tell.

Mystic Lake Center Prior Lake, Minnesota

The new Mystic Lake Center is scheduled to open this month, and when it does, it will bump the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel to the Twin Cities’ second-largest hotel and make it the area’s only full-service resort, said group sales manager Holland Tudor.

“The community’s leaders recognized the need for the center, both in the region and for the property’s own guests,” but there was also a need for “an experience that was different than downtown and spoke to what the Shakopee Mdewakanton community believes in,” she said.

The Mystic Lake Center expansion includes a new 70,000-square-foot conference center as well as a new,

Heartland Meeting Guide

nine-story, 180-room hotel tower that will bring the hotel’s total number of guest rooms to 766. The event center will have a 17,000-square-foot ballroom and a 13,000-square-foot junior ballroom. The entire west wall of the 20,000-square-foot prefunction area is made of sage glass, flooding the space with natural light and views of the resort’s golf course.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community owns the hotel and casino, which sits on the community’s 4,000 acres about 25 miles southwest of downtown Minneapolis. OPOS Tours and Travel can customize group tours for 10 to 200 people to educate visitors about sacred sites and indigenous art and culture. A sustainability tour may showcase the community’s organic garden, recycling plant, beehives, honey bottling, and green roofs on the fire station and the on-site Dakotah! Sport and Fitness buildings.

Group gaming options include blackjack lessons and tournaments, slot tournaments and a private casino night in a ballroom. www.mysticlakecenter.com

www.smallmarketmeetings.com

Courtesy Monona Terrace

Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, Monona Terrace sits on Madison’s Lake Monona.

Monona Terrace Madison, Wisconsin

About 2,500 people visit Monona Terrace every year simply to tour the building, which is saying something for a community and convention center. The iconic structure in Madison, Wisconsin, was originally designed in 1938 by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, even though construction wasn’t completed and the doors didn’t open until nearly 60 years after Wright first proposed the plan — and almost 40 years after his death.

The center offers specialty guided group tours that allow visitors and meeting attendees to delve into the history of the architecture and of Wright, as well as the building’s newer sustainability efforts, said director of sales Laura MacIsaac.

The building sits on the banks of Lake Monona; its curving white walls and arching building-high windows front the water. The semicircular building has five indoor levels and is topped by rooftop gardens. The first level includes the 3,500-square-foot Lakeside Commons with water views, as well as a 37,000-square-foot divisible exhibit hall. On the second level, the 5,500-square-

January 2018

foot Community Terrace overlooks the lake, and the fourth level features the 7,000-square-foot Grand Terrace with lake views as well as a flexible ballroom, an event hall and several meeting rooms.

The sprawling rooftop terrace and gardens offer groups more than 40,000 square feet of event space, as well as expansive views of Lake Monona and the city skyline. The rooftop Lake Vista Café menu features casual gourmet fare. www.mononaterrace.com

White River Conference Center Springfield, Missouri

Stepping into the White River Conference Center in Springfield, Missouri, feels like stepping into a sportsman’s Disneyland. The rustic decor highlights wildlife and woodlands and is “a very unique space,” said Marissa Carnevale, banquet sales coordinator for the conference center.

Guests are greeted by a woodland habitat diorama with a waterfall, hewn timber walls, handmade iron and deerskin chandeliers, and a three-story, freestand-

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Meeting spaces at the White River Conference Center are decorated with an outdoorsman’s touch.

ing stone fireplace that, as the story goes, had to be built three times before it was just right.

“The fireplace was built first, then the room was built around it,” Carnevale said.

The conference center has a full-service catering staff and is connected to a Bass Pro Shops and adjacent to the Wonders of Wildlife Aquarium. Groups that meet at the center often venture to Bass or arrange for group pricing to “go enjoy themselves over at the aquarium,” she said.

The conference center’s 9,700-square-foot Grand Ballroom can seat 600 guests for meals and can be separated into three smaller rooms. Across the hallway, which doubles as a prefunction area for registration and receptions beneath antler Courtesy White River Conference Center chandeliers and elk heads, is the Sportsman’s Lodge room, where guests find the massive indoor-outdoor Arkansas stone fireplace. The 2,590-square-foot room also opens onto a three-sided patio. www.whiteriverconferencecenter.com

Pere Marquette Lodge and Conference Center Grafton, Illinois

From 1933 through 1939, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built Pere Marquette Lodge by hand using massive timbers some three feet in diameter and limestone from a nearby quarry. In the Great Room, the 700-ton stone fireplace, vaulted ceilings, timber beams and life-size chess set command attention. CCC workers did all the metal work, such as the chandeliers and door handles, and Illinois inmates built the lodge’s furniture.

Although the Great Room is about 10,000 square feet, the space can only accommodate events for up to 150 people, as it must remain open to other lodge guests. However, groups that buy out all 72 guest rooms get exclusive access to the space, said Taylor Hamberg, director of marketing and events.

There are guest rooms in the historic section of the lodge as well as in the two-story wing that was added in 1988 and in the nearby original cabins, each of which houses three separate guest rooms.

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Heartland Meeting Guide

www.smallmarketmeetings.com

The 2,900-square-foot Grand Ballroom can seat up to 250 people or can be split into four smaller rooms, each with access to a terrace that provides views of the Illinois River. A boardroom is also available for 12-person meetings.

Because the lodge is in Pere Marquette State Park, just outside of Grafton, Illinois, there’s no shortage of recreation for guests. Groups can cross the street to the park’s visitor center, arrange for guided hikes and horseback rides, and rent boats and jet skis from a nearby marina. www.pmlodge.net

Essenhaus Inn and Conference Center Middlebury, Indiana

Northern Indiana’s Amish Country can feel like a world apart from the usual busyness of daily life, which is why having a meeting there can be an experience.

Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury, Indiana, is one of the region’s largest hubs of Amish experiences. The white farmhouse-style Essenhaus Inn and Conference Center has 94 guest rooms; some rooms have balconies, and suites offer living rooms, kitchenettes and fireplaces.

Each room features Amish-made furniture and quilts.

Courtesy Pere Marquette Lodge and Conference Center

Events can be both rustic and elegant at Pere Marquette Lodge and Conference Center in Illinois.

LET’S GET TOGETHER! CALL (920) 303-9200 TODAY.

VISITOSHKOSH.COM/EVENT-PLANNERS January 2018

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Courtesy Essenhaus Inn and Conference Center

The Essenhaus Inn and Conference Center offers charming guestrooms and meeting space to groups gathering in Indiana’s Amish country.

300

60

12

4

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64.5

RESTAURANTS

UNIQUE SHOPS

FOOD TRUCKS

LOCAL BREWERIES

ENTERTAINMENT HOT SPOTS

MILES OF NATURE TRAILS

The 4,000-square-foot conference center can accommodate meetings for up to 400 people, and the space can be split into three smaller rooms.

On campus, visitors will find several stores in the original farm outbuildings, among them a bakery, a quilt shop and gift shops selling handmade candles, crafts and furniture. The campus is also home to Indiana’s largest restaurant, which dishes up Amish specialties during lunch and dinner buffets or familystyle dinners. In their off time, attendees can rent bikes, play a round of miniature golf or catch a performance at Heritage Hall.

Das Dutchman Essenhaus is also home to the largest of numerous local quilt gardens, which have become a signature attraction of the area. Since planting the first two quilt gardens in 2007, the project has grown to include 19 gardens at sites along the 90-mile Heritage Trail that winds through six cities and towns. www.essenhaus.com

TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT COLUMBIA, MISSOURI. More than you expect, in the heart of the Midwest. visitcolumbiamo.com 24 Heartland Meeting Guide

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Only In the Heartland

By Rachel Carter

Courtesy Lambeau Field

The atrium at Lambeau Field in Green Bay can accommodate groups of up to 400.

E

Meeting attendees can make a glass art piece in a very destiglass building, take a ride in a racecar or walk in the nation has game-day footsteps of NFL players. that thing: Lambeau Field one attraction, Green Bay, Wisconsin site or story that To some, Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is can be found more like a church than a football stadium, and the nowhere else. The Green Bay Packers are the religion. The Packers’ appeal is international, and fans from around the world come same is true of to Green Bay just to visit Lambeau Field, which also these Heartland serves as a one-of-a-kind meeting venue. locations, where The stadium offers planners a dizzying array of ballgroups can gath- rooms and clubrooms, party decks and lounges, MVP er in unmatched boxes and VIP suites. Large events with up to 400 guests can use the four-story, glass-atrium lobby. Just off the venues and enjoy lobby is the entrance to the newly remodeled Green unparalleled Bay Packers Hall of Fame, where visitors can see a replica of Vince Lombardi’s office and the team’s four Super experiences.

Bowl trophies.

On a mezzanine level above the atrium, the 6,800-square-foot Legends Club Room can be divided into four smaller rooms and offers 10,000 square feet of prefunction space. The adjacent North Balcony provides another 6,800 square feet that overlooks the atrium floor.

January 2018

A short walk through the stadium’s parking lot leads to the 13,200-square-foot Johnsonville Tailgate Village, which opened this summer. The building has a full kitchen and bar, floor-to-ceiling windows and glass garage-style doors that lead to an attached 4,300-squarefoot patio.

Many groups that meet at Lambeau add guided stadium tours for groups, which could include walking through the players tunnel to the sidelines of the field.

Across the street, the Packers’ new Titletown development includes events space at Hinterland Brewery, an ice rink and a sledding hill. www.packers.com/lambeau-field

Automotive Hall of Fame Dearborn, Michigan

The Detroit suburb of Dearborn is the world headquarters of Ford Motor Company, so it’s fitting that the Michigan city is also home to the Automotive Hall of Fame.

“Sometimes people think they’re coming to a car museum, but it’s really not; it’s about the people who made the contributions to the automotive industry,” said Kathy Bastien, event manager for the Hall of Fame.

The Hall honors people such as Ralph Teetor, who

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ESCAPE THE ORDINARY Grand Wayne Center is more than an event facility — it’s an experience, crafted to simplify every event planner’s To-Do list!

Courtesy Automotive Hall of Fame

Groups can mingle among rare and historic cars at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn.

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Heartland Meeting Guide

invented cruise control and who also was blind. As the story goes, he was inspired to invent cruise control after riding with his lawyer, who would slow down while talking and speed up while listening, all while annoying Teetor.

Another famous figure visitors enjoy learning about is Benz. Bertha Benz was inducted years after her husband, Karl Benz, for her contributions in helping to launch the 1885 Benz Patent-Motorwagen, widely regarded as the world’s first automobile and an ancestor of today’s Mercedes-Benz.

The Hall of Fame welcomes events for up to 400 guests, for both private daytime and after-hours gatherings. Groups of up to 120 can have seated meals in the three-story glass atrium, which is also popular for receptions. The auditorium, with 68 seats, is often used for presentations and speakers, Bastien said, and a smaller conference room seats about 35 people. An outdoor courtyard can seat about 120 for meals and can be tented or left uncovered. www.automotivehalloffame.org

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum West Branch, Iowa

When it comes to U.S. presidents, Herbert Hoover sometimes doesn’t get much attention, but he was “an incredible human being,” said Pam Hinkhouse, marketing and sales operations manager for the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa.

Hoover was orphaned at age 9, was in Stanford University’s first graduating class, traveled the world as a successful mining engineer and saved the lives of countless Belgians when he coordinated food relief for the country during World War I. Hoover chose the location for his library and museum, and the grounds are a National Historic Site that includes Hoover’s birthplace, as well as the Quaker meetinghouse where his family worshiped, the one-room schoolhouse where he likely studied, a replica of his father’s blacksmith shop and the graves of Hoover and his wife.

“We truly are a one-stop shop of Hoover’s life,” Hinkhouse said.

www.smallmarketmeetings.com

For after-hours events, reception guests can mingle in the museum’s main lobby and rotunda and explore the galleries and exhibits, including flour sacks Belgians embroidered and gave back to Hoover to thank him.

An auditorium has 180 fixed theater seats and a stage for presentations; a small conference room works for small meetings of up to 25 people. An education room can seat 35 for workshops or seminars. https://hoover.archives.gov

Dallara IndyCar Factory Speedway, Indiana

Indianapolis the city is synonymous with the Indianapolis 500, the largest single-day sporting event in the world that will mark its 102nd race this May. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is in Speedway, a suburb just a few miles from downtown. The Indy 500 is the highlight of the racetrack’s five signature events, for which the speedway can arrange tickets and parking for groups. But groups don’t have to be in town on a race day to fulfill their need for speed.

Less than a mile from the speedway, the Dallara IndyCar Factory offers over 35,000 square feet for meeting and events. The 23,000-square-foot glass Interactive Hall can seat up to 300 people for meals or welcome as many as 1,200 guests for receptions. In the Interactive Zone, attendees can try racing simulators, watch a video about Dallara in the theater and see three wind-tunnel

Courtesy Hoover Presidential Library

Exhibits at the Hoover Presidential Library tell the story of his life and presidency.

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January 2018

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By Floto and Warner, courtesy Toledo Museum of Art

Groups can watch artisan demonstrations in the hot shop at the Toledo Museum of Art’s Glass Pavilion.

New Conference Space Coming to Brookfield!

New and remodeled facilities will set the standard for business and social functions in Southeastern WI. Located near worldclass dining, marketdominant shopping and entertainment, plan a meeting your guests will remember in Brookfield.

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www.visitbrookfield.com 28

Heartland Meeting Guide

model cars from the company’s factory in Italy. The factory’s IndyCar Experience Garage can seat up to 550 guests at rounds or host receptions for up to 1,100 people.

Groups can arrange to tour the Dallara IndyCar Factory operations, use the pit stop challenge for team building or ride down Main Street in a street-legal IndyCar that has been modified to fit two people. At the speedway, a variety of tours and driving experiences are available, including a narrated bus tour around the 2.5-mile track. www.visitindy.com

Glass Pavilion Toledo, Ohio

Nearly 130 years after Edward Drummond Libbey moved his family’s glass company from Massachusetts to Ohio, Toledo still proudly wears the moniker Glass City. Today, one of the city’s claims to fame pays homage to its history as the Glass Capital of the World: the Toledo Museum of Art’s 74,000-squarefoot Glass Pavilion, which opened in 2006.

Architects designed the building with walls made of curving, colorless glass panels. The result is a series of see-through spaces in a

nearly transparent structure, which makes it “a very experiential building,” said Alan Iwamura, glass studio manager.

Although events may spread out in separate spaces, the pavilion’s glass walls “still offer this availability to all the other areas.

You could be hosting an event in the Crystal Corridor while simultaneously watching a glass demonstration and being able to view inside our galleries,” he said.

The GlasSalon can seat up to 230 people for meals and can be used with the adjoining Crystal Corridor, where reception guests mingle beneath a rare colorless Chihuly chandelier engraved by Waterford. In the studio spaces, groups can watch artist demonstrations or arrange to make their own glass art pieces during a hands-on workshop; either “is kind of a team-building activity,” Iwamura said.

Destination Toledo Convention and Visitors Bureau recently introduced a self-guided Glass City Tour that highlights stops such as Edward Libbey’s home in the Old West End neighborhood or the Libbey Glass Factory Outlet, where groups get a 15 percent discount. www.dotoledo.org

www.smallmarketmeetings.com

Meet these Heartland Golf Resorts

By Rachel Carter Courtesy Grand View Lodge Golf Resort

Groups meeting at Minnesota’s Grand View Lodge Golf Resort can play on three different courses.

P

eople who play golf love it, but those who don’t play don’t want to be left out.

Meeting planners can easily incorporate golf into their meetings and conferences in many ways: with scramble-style tournaments or putting challenges, or with less-formal options such as driving ranges, golf simulators and even a new take on the sport, foot golf, which is played like golf but kicking a soccer ball instead. These Heartland golf clubs and resorts are doing all they can to help planners take advantage of their golf options and to make the most of golf outings for attendees.

Grand View Lodge Golf Resort and Spa Nissawa, Minnesota

Grand View Lodge Golf Resort and Spa marked its 100th anniversary last year, but the resort boasts a modern spa, three golf courses, eight dining options and new conference facilities. The historic lodge in Nissawa, Minnesota, sits on the banks of Gull Lake, surrounded by towering pine trees, about 150 miles north of the Twin Cities.

“When you walk into the main lodge, we have the big moose head, the stone fireplace — it’s warm and inviting,” said director of sales Cindy Baysinger.

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Heartland Meeting Guide

Grand View has 270 keyed units that range in type from 12 renovated guest rooms in the historic lodge to nine-bedroom vacation homes. The resort has more than 25,000 square feet of meeting space, with banquet seating for up to 450 guests. The Gull Lake Center opened in 2009 with several flexible meeting rooms, the largest a divisible 6,400-square-foot ballroom with an adjoining patio. In the rustic Norway Center, the 2,200-square-foot Norway room is the largest space.

Grand View has three golf courses: The Pines, with 27 holes; The Preserve, with 18 holes and a remodeled clubhouse; and the relaxing nine-hole Garden course.

Groups can also sign up for a round of Crazy Golf or nighttime Glow Golf.

In the summer, groups can dine on the beach, have a Minnesota beer tasting, rent pontoon boats and take a guided fishing trip. In the winter, groups can do ice fishing tournaments or compete on golf simulators. www.grandviewlodge.com

Innsbrook Resort Innsbrook, Missouri

The Innsbrook Resort is a 7,500-acre gated community

www.smallmarketmeetings.com

Courtesy Innsbrook Resort

A stone fireplace and timber beams are hallmarks of the Aspen Center at Missouri’s Innsbrook Resort. with 100 lakes about 55 miles west of downtown St. Louis, and groups that choose to gather and golf there get a taste of lake living.

The resort rents out about 30 condominium units but also recently added two corporate homes on the lake for overnight stays, in-home meetings and other catered events. Any “group that stays here overnight is treated as a property owner; they can use the trails and tennis courts, the pool — everything,” said Innsbrook communications manager Cassandra Langley.

The Aspen Center sits on a hill overlooking 150-acre Aspen Lake, and “every room has a view, and each of them has a deck,” Langley said. The 2,700-square-foot Aspen Room’s stone fireplace reaches to the vaulted ceiling’s timber beams. Among the six other spaces are a boardroom, a 1,660-square-foot conference room and the recently renovated Foxfire Lounge, with a bar, a dining area and large windows.

The Innsbrook golf course has 12 lakes, 30

January 2018

sand bunkers and a clubhouse that offers additional function space. In addition to golf, groups can arrange, through the resort’s stables, for horseback trail rides, hayrides and carriage rides. Guests can also catch concerts at the amphitheater and swim in the outdoor pool and lazy river at Charette Creek Commons, which opened in 2016. www.innsbrook-resort.com

Shanty Creek Resorts Bellaire, Michigan

People who live in New York City go to the Hamptons or Martha’s Vineyard for vacations. For people in Detroit and Chicago, “this is the part of the world they go to for their getaways,” said Chris Hale, vice president of sales and marketing for Shanty Creek Resorts in Bellaire, part of the resort region of northern Michigan.

Shanty Creek covers 5,000 acres east of Grand Traverse Bay with three separate villages and four golf courses, including The

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Courtesy Shanty Creek Resort

Cedar River Golf Course at Shanty Creek Resort offers golf lessons, shotgun starts and other golf programs for meeting groups.

Legend course designed by Arnold Palmer. Across the property, the resort has over 400 lodging units and 36,000 square feet of function space. With that much room and that many amenities, “we can easily accommodate large groups,” Hale said.

Summit Village is home to the Lakeview Hotel and Conference Center, the resort’s main lodging and meeting venue, with 183 guest rooms and 16,000 square feet of event space that includes two renovated, flexible ballrooms. The hotel was built at the top of the hill overlooking the ski slopes and delivers “miles of pretty much untouched vistas,” Hale said.

Cedar Village is home to the 85-unit Cedar River Suites, with additional meeting space, as well as the Cedar River Golf Course.

The resort can arrange for group golf lessons as well as shotgun starts, and can even spread players across its four courses. Eagle Ridge also offers an alternative for attendees: While some people golf, others can take the resort’s half-day tour of the area, with stops in quaint towns and nearby wineries and craft breweries. www.shantycreek.com

Eagle Ridge Resort and Spa Galena, Illinois

Eagle Ridge Resort and Spa sits in the northwestern corner of Illinois in a region known as the Driftless Zone because it was untouched by ice age glaciers that

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Heartland Meeting Guide

leveled much of the rest of the state.

The resort is wrapped in 6,800 acres of “probably the most beautiful topography you’ve seen in the Midwest” with rolling hills, gentle valleys and a blanket of trees that produce unbelievable fall foliage, said Colin Sanderson, director of sales and marketing.

Bricton Hospitality took over the property in 2013 and has been investing ever since. The company revitalized the resort’s four courses, which include three 18-hole championship courses and a nine-hole course. In November, the resort wrapped up the renovation of all 80 guest rooms, but it also has 200 rental homes ranging from one-bedroom condos to 11,000-square-foot, sixbedroom conference homes that groups can use for overnight stays, team-building activities or meetings.

Bricton renovated its 15,000 square feet of meeting space, all in the main lodge. The IACC-certified meeting space has floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Lake Galena and the surrounding woods, and all meeting rooms have doors that lead to adjoining patios. The resort also sets up its three-season tent between April 1 and November 1 for receptions and dinners.

Groups can arrange for golf lessons before playing a round, opt to play foot golf or play on the new golf simulator. Team building can also include fishing trips; renting pontoon boats, kayaks, canoes and paddleboats; and zip lining at nearby Long Hollow Canopy Tours. www.eagleridge.com

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Courtesy Eagle Ridge Resort

The golf course at Eagle Ridge Resort is nestled in Illinois’ scenic Driftless region.

From traditional hotel properties with conference centers and meeting rooms, to college campuses, historic buildings and museums with lake views, the Kenosha Area is prepared to welcome your next conference or special event with a touch of unexpected charm. Go to visitkenosha.com/meetings to ďŹ nd out more.

January 2018

VISITKENOSHA.COM 33

Courtesy Dublin CVB

The Tudor-style clubhouse at the Golf Club of Dublin pays homage to the city’s Irish namesake.

Golf Club of Dublin Dublin, Ohio

Meetings meet Convenience

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Conveniently located between Milwaukee and Madison, we offer omplimentary personalized services to help make your meeting a success. Additionally, our area offers:  More than 100,000 square feet of affordable, flexible meeting space  1,100 guestrooms with complimentary parking  Plenty of after-hours dining and entertainment options for your attendees

In Dublin, Ohio, everyone is Irish, and everything is green, especially its greens. Dublin is home to 10 public golf courses, and nearly all them have meeting or event space.

History has it that the town’s founding family worked with an Irishman who named the new village in honor of his birthplace. But Dublin fully embraces the heritage that comes with the name, and one of the best places for visitors to feel like they’re playing a round on the Emerald Isle is at the Golf Club of Dublin. The resort’s Tudor-style clubhouse, Dublin Manor, which resembles an Irish manor home surrounded by stacked stone walls and rolling, links-style greens, can accommodate events for up to 200 guests.

The 1,850-square-foot Manor Room has floorto-ceiling windows and french doors that deliver views of Pot-o-Gold Lake. Attached is the 680-square-foot Hearth Room, with a brick fireplace and walnut wood paneling; Mulligan’s Pub is a traditional Irish-style pub. www.visitdublinohio.com

Learn more at visitwaukesha.org/meetings

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Heartland Meeting Guide

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