CVB Travel: New expo center lures first major convention

Mar'Ellen Felin is communications director with the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau.

A silver city spanning 90 acres on the eastern outskirts of town will be fully constructed and home to 4,600 people from the United States, Canada and Mexico June 25-July 5, 2005.

The construction is quick and easy with no hard hats required. All it takes is about 2,000 Airstream trailers and RVs owned by 4,600 members of the International Wally Byam Caravan Club rolling into town and parking on land owned by Springfield City Utilities at the turbine power plant.

What isn't quick and easy is getting such a large group to select Springfield for events.

"The sales process is lengthy, time consuming and sometimes requires a great deal of travel," said Tracy Kimberlin, executive director of the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau. "That's often just to have the opportunity to go head-to-head with three or four other cities for a convention that may be two to five years away on the calendar."

With the opening of the Springfield Exposition Center coming up in September, the task of getting larger groups here should be easier. That's because John Q. Hammons Hotels hired by the city to manage the expo center and CVB sales staff can offer meeting planners a facility large enough to accommodate big events and groups.

Before the expo center, meeting planners for groups as large as the Wally Byam Caravan Club would not consider Springfield because existing facilities could not meet their needs. The club is the first new convention business acquired by the CVB because of the new facility, the location of most of the group's off-site activities.

"This is 10 days of expo business, which is an unusually long period of time for any single group to use a facility of this size," said Dana Maugans, director of sales for the CVB.

Wally Byam was one of many organizations added to the CVB's prospect list a year ago after funding for the expo center became a reality. Bureau sales staff uses the leads to pursue business suited to the expo center and with potential for citywide impact.

Acquiring new business is a process of calculated risks, lessened by sales staff concentrating on groups that have a size and scope appropriate to existing facilities and interests in-kind with area attractions.

"We know who we are and what our features are as a destination, so we can research groups for which Springfield will meet their needs," said Maugans. "We know we are not a Las Vegas or New York City; however, we do have features that make us unique."

Groups appreciate Springfield's central location, good highway access, affordability, friendly people and southwest Missouri's unique attractions. In its bid for the Wally Byam Caravan Club, Springfield edged out cities in Kentucky, Louisiana and Nova Scotia, Canada.

Though Springfield does not have the glitz and glamour of the Vegas Strip, for 10 days the sun will create a glimmer above the vintage and newer-model silver Airstreams. The population boom for Springfield will be temporary, but the impact of the 50th anniversary international rally will be significant.

"When the Wally Byam Caravan Club gathers, they play, eat, shop and volunteer in the community they're visiting," said Maugans. "That translates into great opportunities for businesses and a large amount of sales tax revenue for the city."