CVB Travel: City's new expo center will take time, effort to fill

|tab|

Susan Wade is the public relations manager with the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau.|ret||ret||tab|

|ret||ret||tab|

When the announcement was made in June that the city's expo center would become a reality, excitement began building at the Convention and Visitors Bureau.|ret||ret||tab|

CVB sales staff and city leaders have dreamed for years of a facility that can accommodate larger groups and events.|ret||ret||tab|

The expo center, with 117,539 square feet of meeting space, will be the third largest in the state, with only Kansas City and St. Louis offering more expo space in one building.|ret||ret||tab|

Just because the expo center opens in September doesn't mean it will be fully booked upon completion. Some events have been booked in the center, but most were already planning on meeting in Springfield and using the old trade center. New business will take some time.|ret||ret||tab|

"It's going to take a couple of years before you start seeing events coming to town," said Benjamin Alexander, principal planner with the city of Springfield and Jordan Valley Park project manager.|ret||ret||tab|

CVB Sales Director Dana Maugans said events aren't planned overnight, and convincing a group to choose a location takes months and sometimes years.|ret||ret||tab|

Many meeting planners are cautious about booking the expo center until the building is completed she said.|ret||ret||tab|

"They want to see the walls up," Maugans said. "They don't want to just see something in writing."|ret||ret||tab|

Anticipating the addition of an expo center to the city's mix, the bureau has been laying the groundwork for years on booking groups that could use the expo center.|ret||ret||tab|

The bureau has developed a sizable list of groups that could use the facility, Maugans said. The CVB sales staff and University Plaza Hotel staff, hired by the city to manage the expo center, are diligently working those leads.|ret||ret||tab|

A variety of programs to let meeting and event planners know about the expo center and encourage them to book the facility also have been implemented. |ret||ret||tab|

"At this point, we've been qualifying and educating them," Maugans said.|ret||ret||tab|

Besides one-on-one sales efforts, other tactics include planning a familiarization tour this spring for about a dozen regional and national meeting planners, and a promotional display and other marketing materials have been produced for use at trade shows and other events.|ret||ret||tab|

A telemarketing blitz was conducted in August and a sales blitz targeting state meeting planners was conducted in Jefferson City in June.|ret||ret||tab|

The bureau is promoting the expo center on its Web sites at www.springfieldmo.org and www.meet-me-in-springfield.com.|ret||ret||tab|

Maugans said she's sure the efforts will pay off.|ret||ret||tab|

"What we're working on now is getting groups booked in for whatever their next open date is, probably 2004 or 2005," Maugans said.|ret||ret||tab|

Besides working to book the expo center, bureau staff will continue booking groups at other facilities across the city.|ret||ret||tab|

The bureau can assist groups or individuals in a variety of ways, such as preparing proposals and doing some of the required leg work, often serving as a liaison between meeting planners and hotel and meeting facility representatives.|ret||ret||tab|

"Having more space is going to help us bring new business in that we have not brought in before," Maugans said. "In the next five to six years, Springfield is definitely going to be a prime location for conventions." |ret||ret||tab|

[[In-content Ad]]