Conference Preview Sports Express

Sports Express

At the turn of the year Roy Edmondson (CEO, The Express Conferences), Jonathan Paris (Executive Director of Sports Tourism, Visit Myrtle Beach, and the Sports Express conference have the opportunity to set the tone for the industry’s 2021 rebound. Our crew sat down with the planning team at Sports Express to discover all the new features the conference will have to offer.

Roy, your Sports Express conference has a solid reputation for team building and a ratio that allows for solid interaction with just about everyone during the week. Have you planned any significant changes for the 2021 conference?

Our attendees have been incredibly happy with the format and we are sticking with the current model. We have some exciting activities and team building this year. Each participant will be able to choose from one of five activities (golf at Pine Hills (where Sports Illustrated was founded), a helicopter ride down the beach, a facial or massage at the Kingston Resort spa, half day at Broadway at the Beach (includes escape room, Ripley’s Aquarium and Wonderworks), or a tour of Brookgreen Gardens.

Sports ExpressConference Preview

For our team building experience all of our participants will divide into teams for a dodgeball tournament and each team’s final place will determine the order they will be allowed to leave for our NOT So Amazing Race. Teams will have to complete tasks at each location, but each team member can only perform one of the tasks, so we are very anxious to see the strategy of each team.

We have a great list of organizers already committed and we expect to add a few industry giants. There will be thirty organizers at the conference. Our community service project this year will be cleaning a portion of Myrtle Beach. We will divide into teams and the team that is able to collect the most garbage will win a prize.

The conference will take place at the beautiful Kingston Plantation Resort. Home to several lodging properties, our conference location has recently changed to the Embassy Suites Myrtle Beach due to a construction issue at the Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort.

As with any event these days, pandemic protocols have become the main focus, not only because they are so important and because they are required within each destination and

facility, but also to ease the minds of your clientele. What are your plans for ensuring the health and safety of the attendees?

COVID-19 protocols:

Registration will be as touchless as possible – all materials will be pre packed by staff with gloves and cleansed We will be giving each attendee a KN95 mask and face shield We will mandate 6ft distance at all appointments We will require a face mask at all functions (except eating but we will be distanced) We will ask everyone to wear face shield at appointments All transportation vehicles will be cleansed after use We will require all participants sign an agreement that they will follow all protocols

Jonathan, we remember talking with you about hosting the upcoming Sports Express while attending the 2020 conference. Your passion for doing so was palpable. What has your organization been focused on during your preparation?

As we have done all summer and into the fall, we are determined as a destination to keep our visitors safe. That includes our sports groups and the upcoming Sports Express.

As a destination, we developed a “Visit Responsibly” campaign that ended up being customized to the sports market under our “Play it Safe” campaign. These campaigns really highlighted our messaging to our visitors to follow the CDC guidelines of wearing a face covering, washing your hands and social distancing.

Additionally, the campaign also focused on treating our local businesses with empathy and patience as they are getting up to speed on a new way of doing business, cleaning up after yourself and doing the right things while you are here visiting the beach. We want this messaging and philosophy to transfer over to our visitors for the Sports Express conference.

Working with Roy and his team, we are sure that we will create a safe environment for all to attend this first in-person show of 2021.