Meetings & Conventions Promotions

In-house

Description: Let’s Meet: Garland Meeting Planner Guide

Concept:

Our meeting planner guide went through a refresh as our sales team began to re-familiarize planners with Garland’s amenities.The redesign updated information and highlighted new attractions, prominent meeting venues, and hotel space.

Why this worked:

The Let’s Meet Planner Guide provided succinct information regarding not only city-owned facilities but also additional facilities in the community that are distinct. It organizes the expansive options and displays the amenities available in our community. The guide included:

The guide was printed and available at trade shows however, a QR code on the guide directed planners to the digital version. The digital version of the planner is a dedication section on VisitGarlandTX.com where all the guide information lives along with contact information and is available for download. The individual venue pages within the online guide are designed to stand alone to serve as a profile handout for each facility.

How we marketed the campaign:

The guide was mainly presented during trade shows or when planners inquired about meeting space.However, we did share the guide information and links throughout Visit Garland’s social channels which include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.We also created a flyer and blog that we shared with our city employees encouraging them to rally their associations and groups to host their meeting in Garland.The information was emailed via our city employee enewsletter.

Objectives:: To redesign and update our printed planner, highlighting new attractions, prominent meeting venues, and hotel space.

Add an online component to the planner guide.

Project Costs:: $3,500

In-house

Description:: Conroe will welcome the highly anticipated Hyatt Regency Conroe and Convention Center in Spring of 2023. Over the last year Visit Conroe has had to really focus on the following question: How do you maintain momentum and excitement swirling about a new hotel & convention center in your community throughout the construction process before hard hat tours begin and pre-booking starts? As a team we viewed this as an opportunity to throw on some hard hats, grab some shovels and really have some fun with it.

Objectives: Teaser campaign anyone? Keep the excitement level up and swirling amongst meeting planners about this highly anticipated property.

• Holiday cards send to over 500 planners featuring the Visit Conroe team at Hyatt’s ground breaking donning hard hats, tossing dirt, and even climbing on a bulldozer.
• “Meet SOON in Conroe, Texas” Ad in Texas Meetings + Events
• Progress photos/articles via social media/in person

Project Costs:: $4,000

Project Information

Category: Meeting & Conventions Promotion Date of Execution:: 3/1/2022 In-house or Agency?: In-house

Description:: It takes more than a great event to reach meeting planners. And while the Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau has celebrated St. Patrick's Day for thirty-plus years, we still have to create an event that guests want to attend! How do you do that exactly? Personalize it!

We took a very personalized approach when promoting and inviting our guests to the 34th Annual St. Patrick's Day celebration in New York City and the results proved personalization matters.

Objectives: Our core objective was to generate leads.

Second to generating leads, we wanted to create an environment that would help strengthen existing relationships and build new ones.

Luckily for us, New York City is the perfect place to host an event. And once we combined our hotel partners, our sales team and a group of meeting planners into one room, it became a resounding success!

Project Costs:: $17,000

In-house

Description: Plano, Texas has 10+ unique venues for conventions, meetings, and events. From a convention center and convention hotels to historic venues and even rooftop patio’s with an Airstream, there’s so much to offer events in Plano.

Visit Plano created an in-house video and blog to showcase our knowledgeable sales staff featuring venues to promote meetings and conventions in Plano, Texas.

Objectives: To promote meetings and conventions in Plano, Texas using video and blog storytelling.

Project Costs: $0

Agency

Description:: In October 2021, the Abilene Chamber and the Convention and Visitors Bureau hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the new DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel being built in Downtown Abilene. The ceremony was held at the Abilene Convention Center directly next to where the hotel is being built. Guests of the ceremony received a groundbreaking paperweight and a video card.

Objectives: •Market The Hotel and our downtown revitalization to position Abilene as the destination of choice for meetings and conventions.

Project Costs:: $12,000

In-house

Description: Direct mail campaign designed to highlight local products, the services of the Beaumont CVB, and what makes Beaumont unique as a meeting destination.

Specially designed boxes were created with a call to action to contact us and visit our website to book a meeting in Beaumont. The boxes were shipped to 75 convention clients with the contents of a 4X6 promotional card with recipe and meeting messaging.

The project was well received with 33 responses from meeting planners, 20 booked appointments, 3 RFP's, one booked meeting, and 55 room nights.