Mid-Atlantic Avenue

For more than 40 years, “Virginia is for Lovers” has been the most recognizable travel slogan in the nation, well before we let what happened in Vegas stay in Vegas. It’s hard to pinpoint why the slogan has stuck around so long, but maybe it’s because everyone can relate to it. Virginia is for history lovers and beach lovers, for outdoor lovers and urban lovers. And as it turns out, Virginia is also for meeting planners, who love the state as a place to host events. That affection has poured into Virginia’s friendly neighboring states of Maryland and West Virginia, and cities throughout the Mid-Atlantic trio welcome groups with open arms.

Washington, D.C.

One of the great things about Washington, D.C., as a meetings destination is that it can handle events big and small. Large-scale conferences find the space they need at the Walter E. Washington Conference Center with 703,000 square feet for exhibits or the D.C. Armory National Guard Building with 118,000 square feet of exhibit space. More intimate events can take advantage of convention hotels, such as the Marriott Wardman Park with more than 1,200 guest rooms and173,000 square feet to stretch out. Other hotels with convention and rooms space include the Hilton Washington, Grand Hyatt Washington and Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill.

Maddie Hilpert found everything she needed at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. With 783 guest rooms and 100,000 square feet of event space, it had plenty of room to accommodate more than 2,000 people who attended Hilpert’s annual Center for Lifelong Learning conference for the American Dental Hygienists’ Association. As director of corporate development, Hilpert plans ADHA’s events and booked the Omni five years ago when she expected about half as many attendees. But the hotel was more than happy to make room as conference numbers grew. And it was in the right price range, she says.

The other thing Washington offered for the ADHA attendees was the Capitol. Not to tour it, but to actually do some business. Hilpert added a lobby day to the conference agenda, and meeting attendees headed to Capitol Hill to advocate for oral health and access to dental care. “Having a lobby day created a lot of buzz around the event,” says Hilpert. Washington has all the great attractions, restaurants and meeting space you expect from a host city, but those qualities “don’t outweigh the ability to go to Capitol Hill,” she says.

Other associations and specialty groups don’t need a lobby day, but they do need good entertainment and food. Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has 7 million annual visitors, and the National Museum of American History turns 100 this year. Hilpert’s group likes city tours, and more than 50 companies offer varying kinds, including historic tours, ghost tours and illuminated monument tours. Dining for large groups shouldn’t be a problem with more than 90 metro restaurants that offer private dining space, including 10 within walking distance of the convention center.

Sometimes, planners spend too much time trying to convince members that it’s worth a trip to attend just to visit the host city. Washington, D.C. made that part of Hilpert’s job much easier. It sells itself. “You really don’t have to market D.C.,” she says. “Your attendees already know what D.C. is about.”

Virginia Beach, Virginia

Blue and green. Those two colors define Virginia Beach. It’s blue because of the Atlantic waters that hug more than 35 miles of oceanfront property, and it’s green because of its 100 certified eco-friendly hospitality businesses, leading the state’s green movement. In fact, the Virginia Beach Convention Center, with 500,000 square feet of space, is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council and has a LEED Accredited Professional on staff to coordinate events.

The new Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center can accommodate up to 2,000 people for meetings, and the 1,300-seat Sandler Center for the Performing Arts has indoor and outdoor space. The aquarium recently opened its $25 million Restless Planet attraction, which has 12,000 square feet of new habitats and species, including Komodo dragons, cobras and hedgehogs. Convention hotels provide planners with plenty of options for meetings. The historic Cavalier Hotel has 18 meeting rooms, the largest of which has more than 16,000 square feet of space, and The Oceanfront Inn has meeting space and group tour packages like dolphin- and whale-watching trips, historic tours and “Taste of Virginia Beach” culinary excursions.

When the day’s meetings are over, Virginia Beach begs you to get outside. With more than 18,000 acres of state parks and miles of waterways, you can kayak, bike and hike your way through the city. Or, just stroll along the 3-mile-long boardwalk, where live bands play on oceanfront stages from May to September.

Virginia Beach is the ideal location where old and new attractions coexist. Gather in downtown’s newest area, Town Center, a 17-block collection of shops, restaurants and clubs, or stop by one of the nation’s oldest points of interest at First Landing State Park, the most visited park in Virginia, where John Smith landed in America in 1607 before heading north to Jamestown.

Roanoke, Virginia

No matter what museums and restaurants are added to Virginia’s Roanoke Valley, its natural landscape always will be its best attraction. Surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains, Roanoke’s scenic location, affordable prices and abundant meeting space make it an ideal spot for meetings and events.

“The thing that just wowed us the most is that the city itself wanted our event there,” says Jo Ann Emmons, the Virginia State Harley Owners Group Rally coordinator. The folks in Roanoke went “above and beyond” for Emmons’ group of more than 2,000 Harley Davidson riders who cruised into town last July. The event included poker runs, observation rides, concerts and a parade of 1,300 bikes. So when Emmons says the whole town welcomed her, she means it, because the rally spread throughout town. Usually, the event lasts three days, but “Roanoke warranted four days of activities,” Emmons says.

H.O.G. Rally attendees visited attractions such as the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Taubman Museum of Art, Dixie Caverns and Valhalla Vineyards. The city has plenty of meeting space, including the Roanoke Civic Center with 110,000 square feet of exhibit space. Boxtree Lodge’s Braeloch building, which hosted the H.O.G. Rally’s pre-registration, has moutain and lake views. Its “quiet, secluded location set the tone for the rest of the event,” says Emmons.

For lodging, consider the historic 1882 Hotel Roanoke. With marble floors and vaulted ceilings, it looks like it’s from a bygone era, yet its 332 guest rooms and 35 meeting rooms have modern amenities. Trish Clark, co-chair for the National Association of Insurance Women, Region II, planned last year’s conference at the hotel. “The staff and attention to detail was amazing,” she says. “Several attendees approached me and said that we had fulfilled their life-long dream of staying at the Hotel Roanoke.”

Charleston, West Virginia

Where the Elk and Kanawha rivers meet in West Virginia sits Charleston, the state’s capital. Despite being the largest city in the state, Charleston maintains that small, family-friendly feeling. It’s Charleston’s focus on hospitality that makes it a destination to consider for meetings, says Patricia Bradley-Pitrolo, president and CEO of the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Pamela Meister agrees. As executive director of the Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC), she helps select the site of the annual convention. “Everybody was very invested in making it a great meeting for us,” says Meister, who brought a group of 200 museum curators and professionals from 12 Southeastern states to Charleston last October. “When we’re selecting a site, we insist that we’re invited by the museum community,” she says. In Charleston, that community is the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. “They were phenomenal,” Meister says of the team, who helped organize events at the newly renovated West Virginia State Museum, the governor’s mansion, and the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences, which includes an art museum, science museum and a performing arts center. The SEMC also used the Charleston Civic Center, which has more than 50,000 square feet of exhibit space, as well as on-site catering, audio and visual equipment, and in-house pipe-and-drape services. “It’s really a one-stop shop,” says Meister.

Seven hotels sit within walking distance of the civic center, totaling more than 1,400 rooms, including the Marriott-Charleston Town Center, where the SEMC group stayed. For dining, Bradley-Pitrolo recommends Tidewater Grill, Laury’s, Chop House and Joe Fazio’s, and for shopping, she says the open-air Capitol Market with fresh fruit, vegetables, coffee and cheese is a can’t miss.

Located in the Appalachian Mountains, Charleston also has whitewater rafting, ATV trail riding, hiking, bridge tours of the New River Gorge and horseback riding in the 9,302-acre Kanawha State Forest.

Baltimore, Maryland

Sports bars cozy up with artist studios and crab shacks on the streets of Baltimore near the Patapsco River. That river — an arm of Chesapeake Bay — helped establish the city as a seaport town, and its location continues to draw visitors to Maryland’s largest city. “Baltimore is one of the most accessible cities in the country,” says Tom Noonan, president and CEO of Visit Baltimore.

For meetings, planners need to look no further than the Baltimore Convention Center. Located in the heart of downtown, the center has 300,000 square feet of exhibit space, and it’s “just two feet away” from hotels, restaurants and sports venues, says Noonan. It’s also linked by overhead walkways to Inner Harbor, the city’s premier entertainment district with shopping, museums, live music and local pubs. More than 8,500 hotel rooms are within walking distance of the convention center, including the new 757-room Hilton Baltimore Convention Center Hotel.

No trip to Baltimore is complete without sampling fresh crab. Noonan recommends Bo Brooks or Captain James Landing Restaurant on the waterfront for big groups. For a taste of history, head to Fort McHenry, the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. Sports fans can visit the Babe Ruth Birthplace or Sports Legends Museum. The National Aquarium is also a popular destination and can serve as a non-traditional space to host an event.