We’re not handing out awards for the best of anything. Frankly, we find it difficult to name something the best because our industry is so full of good ideas, innovative venues, and other noteworthy pieces and parts. Instead of telling you what’s best, we picked 61 things that are really cool, based on your recommendations and our own editors’ picks for the January issue of Connect. We’ve shared a sampling here.

The Hotel Built
with Meeting Planners in Mind

The Hilton Orlando, which opened in 2009 in the I-Drive district, is a modern, intelligently designed hotel that discreetly separates leisure guests from meeting guests. It has a central lobby, but meeting guests have their own wing (with 175,000 square feet of meeting space), which means suit-clad event attendees don’t brush elbows with guests decked out in swimsuits and flip-flops. The other big bonus about this hotel: short hallways. Because of its clever design, you don’t have to go through a maze to find your room when you exit the elevator. One hallway. Straight shot. Thank you, Hilton.

The Airport with Art Galleries

A 26-foot tall space robot with waving propeller arms greets visitors to Mineta San Jose International Airport’s futuristic terminal. A seven-story mural depicting the hands of 53 Silicon Valley residents covers a facade of the airport’s garage. There’s more art inside and out, befitting the airport’s status as a gateway to the art meets technology community. Other airports where design takes flight: Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, Denver International, Sacramento International, Philadelphia International and Miami International.

The Place to Throw Your Next Party

Discovery World Milwaukee attracts kids and adults alike wanting to learn more about science, but it is also one of the city’s coolest venues for live concerts. Discovery World’s outdoor Rotary Amphitheater sits right on Lake Michigan, an impressive backdrop for a musical act at an opening or closing reception.

The Speaker Influencing Tomorrow’s Meetings

Dr. Jane McGonigal made a big impact at the 2011 SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. Attendees voted her the speaker whose presentation made the biggest impact on the digital community. McGonigal is a video game designer (as well as author of “Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World).” She argues that play is essential to human growth and well-being; it stimulates the mind and the senses. McGonigal is both a speaker to consider for your events and one who can lead you in a new programming direction (think: gaming).

The event you’ll never top

Take your next intimate VIP event to new heights—say, about 150 feet high. Have Dinner in the Sky (organized by the company of the same name) at a table hoisted by a crane high into the air over land or water. Up to 22 people can be seated at the table, and they’re served by a chef, waiter and an entertainer. The only problem? There’s no restroom in the sky, so take it easy on the drinks.

The Performance Venue with the Acoustics You Long for

Caesars Palace Colosseum, built to resemble the Colosseum in Rome, isn’t making our list for its aesthetic design. It’s making it because of its sound. The impressive megastar performance venue’s acoustics and existing decor reduce the amount of needed AV infrastructure. You haven’t heard a concert or keynote like you’ll hear at Caesars Colosseum.

What’s Out and What’s In

 
 
For the rest of the rest of the wonderful, whisical, sometimes strange, sometimes quirky, always cool world of meetings, check out the January issue of Connect magazine.

From climbing up the ladder as an employee to bidding for gigs as a business owner, friendly rivalry in the work world abounds. Fortunately, so do the means of self-promotion. Savvy meeting planners know how to make the most of personal branding, certifications, social media and marketing to gain a competitive edge. Here’s a battle plan for scoring the next big promotion or landing that dream client.

Personal Branding

First, you need to brand yourself. An often-misunderstood buzzword, “personal brand” means having a clear vision of who you are, and it makes the difference between a wildly successful planner and a mediocre one, says career and branding coach Amanda Guralski, president of bizMe Consulting. Begin this year with one big career goal,  Guralski advises; smaller goals will follow in time.

Next, ditch the suit. “Clients should view you as partner, not a vendor,” says Richard O’Malley, a 15-year veteran of special events planning and president of The O’Malley Project, a production and tradeshow services company. “When you go on the site visits, dress appropriately. Don’t wear the $3,000 suit to the lighting warehouse, because then you look like a pompous fool.”

It’s also important to remain calm. Clients need to see your consistent enthusiasm, even on tough days. “The planners that get called back time and time again are the ones who don’t let anyone see them sweat,” says Guralski. In a bad mood because of a speeding ticket acquired on the way to a meeting? If possible, reschedule. “It’s not worth losing the client.”

New planners have to cut their teeth in the industry somewhere, and a good place to start is with positions at non-profits. “It teaches you how to talk to people and how to negotiate, because you have to get everything for free,” says O’Malley, who got his start as a wedding DJ in college, then transferred that experience to fundraising events. “Having an endless budget [at a mega firm] is easy. At a nonprofit, you become a better producer. The in-the-trenches experience is unmatchable.”

As you continue to brand yourself, understand that there are times where you’ll be uncomfortable. You need to be uncomfortable to challenge yourself and advance your career. Too many mid-level planners become burned out or lulled into a comfort zone, no longer giving their all. A client’s big day becomes “just another job” to them. “It’s not just the bottom line on this one job,” says O’Malley. Create wonderful memories, add value to events, and clients will return.

Certification

Planners often seek professional certification, but O’Malley cautions against pursuing every certification opportunity presented. Thoroughly investigate the instructor’s credentials before signing up. “There are a lot of charlatans out there who hold seminars to hold seminars.”

While Guralski is an advocate of continual learning and personal growth, she says work experience often outweighs certification. “Anyone can memorize a book,” she says. “Business savvy and maturity come from applying skills and knowledge.”

Social Media

“If you’re not on social media, you don’t exist,” says Guralski, who encourages the business owners she coaches to be very clear in their 140-word bios on Twitter. Make it easy for potential clients and peers to understand what you do, what you specialize in and, eventually, to recognize you as an industry guru. Host Twitter chats on topics relevant to your expertise or form a content-driven group on LinkedIn.

Planners need to provide valuable content on social media. Content is still king. When sharing links via Twitter or LinkedIn, give your audience ideas of substance—articles on how to run their business, for example. “Posting a link to your event’s photos, saying ‘hey, look at me,’ is not content,” says O’Malley.

Marketing

Be smart and include money for event sponsorships in your marketing budget then select opportunities that optimize exposure. “Your stuff should be highlighted, not just thrown in a goodie bag…that’s wasted marketing money,” says O’Malley. “Make sure it’s something that’s seen and experienced by the crowd as important so they’ll take away the memory of it. If you’re a florist, don’t do the centerpieces—build the podium out of flowers. Maybe one or two people will say ‘look how nice that centerpiece is,’ but 500 people will say, ‘Is that podium made out of roses?’”

Maria Carter is an Atlanta-based writer focusing on business, travel and other lifestyle topics. Her work has appeared in dozens of consumer magazines and trade publications. You can reach her at maria@marcarter.com.

We’re worried when we don’t have enough of it. We’re always trying to get more of it. And as planners, we’re constantly tracking it. We are experts at managing time for our meetings and events, but how good are we at planning our personal timelines? The good news is that the same systems we use at the office can be used at home. It’s important to devise a plan that can be adapted to any environment—whether you’re working from home, the office or on the road.

Learning to prioritize

Writing down your goals is the first step to harnessing time. The SMART system of goal setting makes each task more identifiable: Goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound are targeted and easier to meet. For example, listing “create budget” as a goal would not meet the SMART system. Instead write: In two weeks, create a budget that is 5 percent lower than last year’s program. This goal has a deadline, is specific and realistically attainable based on your research.

Prioritizing your task list is important. Keep your system simple. For example, label tasks with an “A,” “B” or “C,” the “A” tasks being the first to tackle. There are a number of online systems that can assist in managing your tasks. Toodledo is an online to-do list with a time-tracking feature that helps you identify which tasks you might be spending too much time on and assists those who have to track hours for client-billing purposes. The tool also has a “Hot List” feature, which places priority on certain tasks.

Wunderlist is another online task management tool that works on a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone and Android. Another task management system, Remember the Milk, can be integrated with Outlook and has a task postponement notification feature. While you are able to postpone tasks that need more time to complete, the system also notifies you when you have postponed a task too long.

If your energy level is high in the mornings, schedule challenging tasks and meetings then and leave less difficult work for later in the afternoon. Work on items you dislike first. Once you get them out of the way, it’s easier to move quickly down the list.

Dealing with technology

Probably one of the biggest time consumers is addressing emails. The more organized you are with email correspondence, the less time you will spend searching for messages and weeding through an overly full inbox. Adopt the TRAF method: Toss it, Refer it, Answer it or File it. Determine how each email fits into one of these categories and address it before moving on to the next message.

Schedule a time for updating your social media sites, either before you start work in the morning or when you get home. Keep these pages closed in your browser and turn off e-mails and sounds notifying you of updates. If the sites have a chat function, stay offline during the workday. If your event has a Facebook page or Twitter feed that you must monitor during the day, create a different login from your personal sites so you are not tempted to visit those pages.

Being efficient on the road

If you work from both a main office and a home office, or if you travel a lot, online collaboration platforms allow you and your co-workers to access files from one website, where they can be revised and shared by everyone. iCohere is one platform that also has a webcast feature for online conferences. Onehub is another platform that is useful if different teams need to access and contribute to a proposal; it provides a separate workspace for each proposal, allowing you to keep updates in one place.

Dropbox and Fileshare both allow you to send and store large files that cannot be sent via email. The applications are free up to a certain storage size and the person to whom you’re sending files does not need to have the application downloaded. The system sends an email to the recipient alerting them that they have been invited to view a shared file. Google Docs also has a file share feature that allows you to upload existing files and provides templates to create new files.

If you spend time trying to remember login IDs and passwords to all your online systems, Agile Web Solutions can help. Its 1Password tool stores all your passwords in one online system. All you have to remember is a single master password to gain access to all your passwords. With a quick shortcut key combination, 1Password will fill in the username and password on most sites with most browsers.

Managing online resources

If you spend a lot of time researching on the Web, Delicious can keep track of websites that you want to refer to later. You can save links while you’re bouncing around the Web and stack a collection of links around a common theme. Let’s say you are searching for a hotel in Orlando. You can click the “create stack” tab on your profile page and gather all the potential hotel links, images and information in one place. You can also share your stack with others, allowing decision-makers to see the options with one click.

If your job involves a lot of travel and keeping track of your itineraries is time consuming, try TripIt. The site keeps all your itineraries in one place and notifies you of flight delays, cancellations and gate changes. You can track frequent flyer points and coordinate travel with colleagues who are flying to the same city at the same time.

Evernote is another tool that combines several organizational functions. The system syncs and gives you access to your notes, bookmarked Web pages, pictures, checklists and files through any computer, tablet or mobile device. Search by keyword, tag or even printed and handwritten text inside images.

Creating and tracking goals, and using technology tools to assist in timesaving processes, will put you well on your way to being better organized.

Monica Compton, CMP, is an event specialist with Pinnacle Productions Inc. based in Atlanta. She has 20 years  experience as a global meeting planner, managing a variety of programs both domestically and internationally. 

While the country’s casino resorts were hit hard by the recent economic downturn, anyone quick to write their obits should reconsider. Gaming properties have not only weathered the worst of the tough times but are seeing signs of a rebound. In November, Massachusetts became the latest state to legalize casino gambling, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is seriously considering the same for his state in the near future. In Ohio, which approved legalized gaming in 2009, as well as in Pennsylvania and Florida, the prospects for new casino resorts seem brighter as well.

In perhaps the most telling sign of the industry’s outlook, gaming mogul Steve Wynn, who knows a bit about the gambling business, is pushing hard to build a $1 billion casino resort hotel complex in the town of Foxboro, Mass., in partnership with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Imagine: Cher, Cirque du Soleil and NFL icon Tom Brady playing the same tiny town on the same day. Developers are closely watching what’s happening in the established gambling destinations of Atlantic City, Las Vegas and Mississippi to see when it’s safe to jump in again. “Now” seems to be an opportune time.

ATLANTIC CITY

In just one year, the business outlook in this seaside gaming resort town has gone from challenging at best to fairly optimistic. Credit New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for getting the ball rolling in early 2011 with his efforts to overhaul the city’s main casino and entertainment area and boost convention business by establishing a new tourism district via the state’s Casino Reinvestment Development Authority. Expect the revamped district, which will include historic Boardwalk Hall and the city’s 15-year-old convention center (and focus on developing non-gaming visitor activities) to be well promoted by the authority’s new marketing division, the Atlantic City Alliance, thanks to a $30 million budget fed by gaming taxes.

Those actions, in turn, have provided a much-needed shot in the arm to Atlantic City resort development. Revel, the swanky $2.4 billion resort planned for the city’s Northeast Inlet area, has resumed construction after a 10-month delay with the aid of a $265 million state tax reimbursement credit. When completed in late spring of this year, the massive 1,100-room resort will feature a 30,000-sq.-ft. conference center, two theaters, 121 restaurants, a 28,000-sq.-ft spa and 90,000 square feet of outdoor hospitality space, including a private beach, outdoor garden and cabana area. Also in the A.C. pipeline: a $300 million Hard Rock casino resort.

LAS VEGAS

What’s happening in Vegas these days centers around who, not what stays there—visitors. As of October 2011, the numbers were up for conventions and meetings held in Sin City (9.8 percent) and their attendance (3.4 percent) over the dismal tallies of 2010. Those figures are part of an overall jump of nearly 5 percent in Vegas visitor volume that has contributed to a modest rise in room nights and a 10 percent leap in average daily room rates. Those results are due in part to what Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Association President Rossi Ralenkotter terms the destination’s on-going “flexible marketing strategy that could be adjusted as frequently as week-to-week.” Given those signals of the economic recovery’s foothold in Vegas, Ralenkotter anticipates a return to what he calls “long-term strategic development.”

To that end, the destination and its resort operators are revving up in their search for new revenue. The LVCVA has developed a three-year economic plan that targets business travel growth and includes a $5 million upgrade to the Las Vegas Convention Center. The MGM Grand Hotel and Resort, which at 18 years of age qualifies as one of the city’s venerable properties, is undergoing a $160 million renovation of its 4,200 guest rooms and suites. The extensive remodeling, expected to be completed by September, is designed to bring aesthetic warmth and practical sustainability to the resort as well as more in-room business features. MGM Resorts’ Bellagio, meanwhile, has just finished a $70 million earth-tone refurbishment of its 2,568 guest rooms.

In October, Caesars Palace completed an $860 million expansion with the opening of its 668-room, private entrance Octavius Tower (the resort’s sixth), which includes 60 suites and six luxury villas. And Flamingo Las Vegas, with roots that run back to Las Vegas in the Bugsy Siegel-era 1940s, is redoing all 2,307 of its guest rooms in a contemporary design (a.k.a., FAB rooms, anchored by the resort’s signature pink color) with a wrap date by the end of this year.

MISSISSIPPI

Tunica, tucked into the state’s northwest corner, is a Mississippi River resort area consisting of nine casinos, three golf courses (Tunica National, Riverbend Links and The Links at Cottonwoods), some 6,300 hotel rooms; and a variety of sightseeing and outdoor recreation to keep any attendee sated.

For groups, Harrah’s Casino Resort Tunica, the largest property, brings much more to the table than just a 140,000-sq.-ft. casino. Within the resort itself there’s a trio of accommodations to choose from: the 600-room Terrace Hotel; newly renovated Veranda Hotel, with 568 guest rooms; and the 188-room Harrah’s Tunica. Planners particularly will take note of Harrah’s Mid-South Convention Center, a dedicated meetings facility totaling 45,000 square feet and featuring nine meeting rooms and a grand ballroom (13,000 square feet) that can be subdivided into five smaller breakouts. The Terrace Hotel comes with three meeting rooms and pre-function space of its own, while groups also can utilize up to 50,000 square feet of outdoor Harrah’s space for exhibits and events. The Links at Cottonwoods, Harrah’s Scottish-styled golf course, also features a small conference room and banquet space for up to 90.

In October, Boyd Gaming Corporation, which already owned Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall in Tunica, completed its purchase of the IP Casino Resort Spa in Biloxi, Miss., giving it gaming anchors at each end of the state. The 32-story, 1,100-room property instantly gives Boyd a foothold in the Gulf Coast’s group business market, as IP offers 14 meeting rooms and more than 65,000 square feet of versatile space. The Vegas-style resort also comes with fitness and business centers, high-end dining, lounges and music venues, the posh Senses Spa and Salon, and affiliations with local area golf courses.

There’s something about the West Coast that brings out the best in both a meeting and its attendees. Perhaps it’s the low-key, hard-working professionalism of the region’s hospitality industry. There are top-tier hotels and meeting facilities for planners to choose from, even when considering the region’s mid-sized and smaller destinations. And you can’t rule out accessibility, be it by air or automobile. The West Coast is simply a one-of-a-kind destination with snowy mountains, arid deserts, abundant forests and seemingly endless Pacific shoreline. It’s a place where people like to and want to come together, again and again and again.

Anaheim, California

If theme-park icon Walt Disney were around today, he’d be impressed by how the home of Disneyland, his first venture, has evolved. Disneyland opened in the 1950s, and Anaheim has since blossomed into a self-contained, all-around group destination, home to a first-tier convention center and a series of major meeting properties, complemented by attendee amenities (e.g., shopping, dining, entertainment). It’s all available in this compact, accessible and foot-friendly city. “There really is a purpose to our design here. It’s really a campus now,” says Charles Ahlers, president and CEO of the Anaheim/Orange County CVB.

Ahlers is enthused about what lies ahead for his campus, notably the new Grand Plaza. “It’s a splendid idea,” he says of the $20 million project, which, when completed by May of 2012, will reroute Convention Way traffic to the rear of the Anaheim Convention Center and nearby hotels, turning what’s now the area’s main thoroughfare into a park-like pedestrian mall. “There will be cultural events conducted in this common area when it’s completed,” says Ahlers, adding that “a lot of the key shows that come here regularly will also be able to hold outdoor exhibits and concerts in this space as part of their programs.”

Upgrades, renovations and expansions are buzzwords elsewhere around Anaheim these days. John Wayne Airport is in the midst of a $543 million redo that includes a new 282,000-sq.-ft. third terminal, additional parking spaces, dining concessions and extensive retail set for completion any day. Area hotels also have kept busy upgrading, with the Hyatt Regency Orange County recently wrapping up a $25 million renovation and the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa finishing its own $6 million makeover. The Wyndham Orange County in Costa Mesa is about to launch a $14 million renovation, while Great Wolf Resorts plans a 2013 opening for its new resort in Garden Grove featuring a 600-room hotel, 30,000 square feet of meeting space and an attached water park.

Portland, Oregon

While Oregon did not invent the green movement, it certainly exemplifies it. In fact, the Beaver State and its largest city (population 570,000) have long been leaders in developing a cleaner, greener lifestyle, dating back more than 40 years to then-Governor Tom McCall’s campaign to clean up the Willamette River. Those early efforts bear fruit today at Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park, a 1.5-mile stretch of green along the Willamette in downtown Portland that’s a favorite for group events and city festivals.

“It’s such a green city to begin with, not only the convention center but so many of the hotels, and that’s extremely important for us,” says Michelle Horton, meetings manager for the Ecological Society of America. Horton expects close to 4,000 attendees for the organization’s 2012 meeting in August. It’s an exceptional total, she says, that’s boosted by more than just Portland’s green attitude. “It’s also a very walkable city—the blocks are short and well-marked— and with the light rail system, transportation is easy and essentially free,” she says. “The restaurants are wonderful, and you get the impression that the city is really lived in.”

For Mike Smith, vice president of convention sales at Travel Portland, what ultimately makes his city a meetings winner is its overall value. “We’ve got everything that a planner looks for when they ask the question, ‘Will my attendees be happy meeting here?’” says Smith, noting that at least 65 percent of his business is with associations. “We have no sales tax and no food or beverage taxes, and our 12.5 percent room tax is well below the median level across the country.” And at $125, the city’s average 2011 daily room rate remains a big draw among the many competitive West Coast destinations.

Outdoor enthusiasts also enjoy meeting here because of Portland’s natural assets. Besides its urban parks, greenways and area golf courses, the city is also a great jumping-off point for recreation and group day trips, lying within a few hours drive of Mt. Hood, the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon’s wine country and the Pacific Ocean.

San Francisco, California

First-time attendees can be forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu here, as it’s likely due to San Francisco’s status as one of America’s venerable pop culture icons. The city’s landmarks—Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge (75 years young in 2012), Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown and those cheery, ubiquitous cable cars among them—are legendary, as are its quirky neighborhoods (E.G., Haight-Ashbury, Union Square, Balboa Park, the Presidio), burned into our subconscious through films, TV shows and most memorably by the smoky intonations of Tony Bennett. Overlay this onto a first-rate hospitality system and it’s no surprise to find San Francisco ranked consistently high among planners and attendees as a favorite meeting spot.

While those inherent attendance-building factors have hooked many a delegate, planners have learned to rely on San Francisco for a hospitality infrastructure that supplies a wide range of hotel rooms (both in style and price points) and the city’s adaptable, 1.2 million-sq.-ft. Moscone Convention Center. If anything, the 30-year-old center continues to evolve along with the meeting groups that book business there. With a better meeting spot in mind, Moscone is working its way through an extensive $56 million renovation (the biggest in two decades) of its lobbies, meeting rooms, exhibit space, ballrooms and public restrooms that, when completed by late spring of 2012, should make the entire facility more environmentally friendly and sustainable in its operations.

The upgrade is also designed, per San Francisco Tourism Improvement District Chairman Dan Kelleher, to bring more of San Francisco’s delightful pop-culture persona into the actual center itself. “In its current state, Moscone Center gives meeting attendees very little sense that they are in San Francisco,” according to Kelleher. “A major part of this renovation is incorporating recognizable colors like the Golden Gate Bridge’s international orange and integrating the city’s iconic images into [Moscone’s] public spaces and meeting rooms.”

In that spirit, several city and area properties have spruced up as well, including the 489-room Oakland Marriott City Center, Sausalito’s Casa Madrona Hotel and Spa, and the boutique Hotel Diva on Geary Street. The historic Starlight Room lounge on the 21st floor of Kimpton’s Sir Francis Drake Hotel has reopened after a multimillion-dollar makeover, while the city’s newest cultural venue, the International Art Museum of America, opened its doors in October.

Tacoma, Washington

Tucked into the southern edge of scenic Puget Sound and flanked by a pair of equally picturesque national parks (Olympic to the west and Mt. Rainier heading east), Washington’s third-largest city often reminds visitors of home. That’s due in great part to Tacoma’s friendly attitude and a comfort factor that derives from being a big city with a smaller-town ambience. While getting there is easy—just 20 minutes from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on the I-5 corridor—holding a meeting in Tacoma is easier still.

“We have a very walker-friendly destination,” says Shauna Lunde-Stewart, director of sales and marketing for the Tacoma Regional CVB. “The facilities are compact, you don’t need a car, and everything is right there in downtown for the attendees: great shopping, dining and museums. You check into your hotel and the convention center is right across the street.”

Cone Bridge of Glass at the Glass Museum

Indeed, the Great Tacoma Convention and Trade Center works nicely for both its central location (it’s also on the free Link Light Rail line) and green policies, using local, organic and sustainable cuisine in many of its menus. “The center’s also a really beautiful space and fairly easy to adapt to what associations want for the look and feel of their events,” says Krista Fleming, president of KF Events in Shoreline, Wash. The center is also a short stroll from downtown’s trio of cool museums—the Tacoma Art Museum, Washington State History Museum and the Museum of Glass—all of which feature creative meeting and elegant reception space. And come June of 2012, the city will officially unveil its newest cultural “vehicle,” the snazzy LeMay—America’s Car Museum, with a cafe, meeting rooms, banquet hall, 3.5-acre show field and some 500 nifty cars, trucks and motorcycles on display.

Planners also can count on Tacoma to supply plenty of recreational options. Fresh from a $30 million renovation, Cheney Stadium, home of baseball’s AAA Tacoma Rainiers, provides a lively setting for group outings, team-building and pre/post family activities. Area golf courses prove challenging and rewarding for group play, and come with the built-in backdrop of snow-capped mountains and Puget Sound. For post-meeting fun, downtown Tacoma works wells for two attendee favorites: dine-arounds and pub crawls.

Tri-Valley, California

With its quaint downtowns, county fairs and rolling hillsides, this triangular swatch of Northern California could easily be mistaken for Northern Vermont or Virginia’s horse country. Instead, the scenic, laid-back Tri-Valley area, stitched together from the Amador, San Ramon and Livermore valleys, is centrally positioned just a short drive (via I-5, 580, 680 and 880) from the cities and airports of San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland and Sacramento. Not to mention, it’s in the heart of California’s hottest new wine country.

“We have over 50 wineries here, which are a huge draw,” says Tri-Valley CVB Executive Director Grant Raeside. “A lot of them are mom and pop operations, so chances are you’ll get to meet the owners who are also the winemakers. Attendees definitely want to come here and enjoy that experience as part of their overall itinerary.”

What attendees also want is value, an area in which Raeside says the Tri-Valley compares well to its competition. “We have over 4,500 hotel rooms in the area and are certainly priced right with top-of-the-line amenities,” he says. “If your group really wants to spread out, we also have the Alameda County Fairgrounds right smack in the middle of the area.”

Many Tri-Valley hotels and restaurants are either embarking on or in the midst of renovation and expansion projects to suit the needs of their growing meetings business. The 368-room San Ramon Marriott, for example, is wrapping up a $4 million redo of all its meeting space, including the property’s junior and grand ballrooms, part of a valley-wide effort to enhance meeting and function space for incoming groups. “We have a great number of special event venues throughout the Tri-Valley area,” says Marriott General Manager Tom David. “That means groups coming here can find a unique setting for their evening functions without taking on the travel and travel expenses of areas like Napa and Sonoma.”

Planners should also pencil in outdoor activities for their Tri-Valley meetings, as attendees can take advantage of the area’s accommodating climate and enjoy such group adventures as golf, cycling, wine tasting, farmers markets and any number of year-round festivals.

Click on the images for additional spotlights.

STAY | Fairmont San Jose Hotel

EXPERIENCE | The Scripps Institute of Oceanography

MEET | Palm Springs Convention Center

Few meeting spots embrace their environments as wholeheartedly as does the Palm Springs Convention Center. From its sweeping roofline and stone pillars to the swaying palms and flowering cacti gracing the main entrance, the convention center leaves no doubt about the beauty of meeting in Southern California’s desert. The center’s practical and productive side delivers its own impact statement: 112,000 square feet of contiguous, carpeted exhibit space; 19 meeting rooms; a 20,000-sq.-ft. ballroom; and an airy lobby and several outdoor function areas (think evening receptions here, thanks to the desert’s typically balmy year-round weather). It’s all a short walk from downtown hotels and framed by a picture-perfect backdrop of Palm Springs’ often snow-capped mountains.

This cliff-side La Jolla, Calif., landmark, 30 minutes north of downtown San Diego, gives new meaning to the concept of an all-purpose venue. The Birch Aquarium, with its 60-plus tanks of marine life exhibits and indoor/outdoor function space, provides an ideal setting for group tours and luncheons, not to mention pre/post-meeting educational fun for attendees and their families. The entire aquarium facility accommodates up to 1,000 for major events. Scripps Seaside Forum, with its quartet of ocean-facing conference rooms and Samuel H. Scripps Auditorium, works well for tech-based seminars, product launches and elegant receptions, especially at sunset when the waterfront views are spectacular.

If location alone sated a planner’s hotel needs, then the Fairmont San Jose would prove an ideal fit. Set in the heart of downtown across from Cesar Chavez Plaza, this 805-room meeting property lies within a few blocks of conference facilities at the San Jose Convention Center and San Jose State University; the city’s popular art, technology and childrens museums; and favorite group venues such as the San Jose Repertory; Gordon Biersch Brewery and the Center for the Performing Arts. But this downtown San Jose landmark also comes with much more in mind for groups, including three restaurants, fitness and business centers, 65,000 square feet of meeting space and the chance to get pampered (or arrange someone else’s pampering) at the plush Tova Day Spa.

OK, it might not always be sunny in Florida, but it sure is most of the time. From its northeast corner to the southern tip of the Keys, Florida attracts meetings year-round. When the final numbers are counted, the state could have seen up to 84 million visitors in 2011, and meetings are a big part of that. While you’ll find sunshine across the state, Florida cities have different characteristics that make them attractive to meeting planners.

Fort Lauderdale

Plan a meeting in June in Fort Lauderdale and you’ll find sunshine and beaches. Plan a meeting in January in Fort Lauderdale and you’ll still find sunshine and beaches. Weather is rarely an issue in the city, which is located on the state’s eastern seaboard on the Atlantic Ocean. The weather’s a top selling point to get attendees interested in the destination, but it’s not the only one.

Fort Lauderdale has the lowest tourism taxes of any city in the entire country, according to a 2011 Global Business Travel Association Foundation study. Sales taxes and travel-related taxes for items such as car rentals and hotels are considerably lower than many other meetings cities. “The rising cost of business travel, and especially meetings and events, is an area of deep concern when developing travel plans,” said Joe Bates, the foundation’s director of research, when the study came out. “If you are a travel manager planning a meeting, this is important information to take into consideration.”

In total, Fort Lauderdale has more than 33,000 guest rooms throughout the expanded metro area. More than 10,000 rooms are in close proximity (we’re talking within minutes) of the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. Also near the airport is the 600,000-sq.-ft. Broward County Convention Center. The three-floor facility has exhibit space on the bottom floor, meeting rooms on the second floor and ballrooms on the top floor.

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau created the Lauderdale Convention Collection, a cluster of six hotels near the convention center with meeting and accommodation space for groups. The hotels—an Embassy Suites, Hilton, Hyatt Regency, Marriott, Renaissance and Sheraton—have more than 2,700 guest rooms combined. No hotel is more than 1.5 miles to the convention center. Planners who book rooms at any of the six collection hotels receive free meeting and event space at the convention center, a one-hour welcome reception at the center, a board of directors reception, marketing assistance, and a 10 percent discount on convention services such as F&B, staffing, Internet or audiovisual.

Other large meetings properties include The Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa in Hollywood with 1,060 rooms (the largest in the city) and more than 217,000 square feet of space, W Fort Lauderdale with 517 rooms and 12,000 square feet of space, and Hyatt Regency Bonaventure Conference Center and Spa with 501 rooms and 50,000 square feet for meetings. Not all meetings have to take place at a hotel, however. Consider the Broward Center for the Performing Arts with river and downtown skyline views for an event, or plan an off-site reception at the Bonnet House, a 35-acre estate with a historic home and museum near the beach.

Planners who organize sports events also find Fort Lauderdale to be a smart choice (golf and fishing events are popular). The area hosts more than 300 indoor and outdoor sports events annually. The Ansin Sports Complex is a 5,000-seat all-purpose stadium in Miramar, south of Fort Lauderdale, that can host various sports events. The BankAtlantic Center is an 872,000-sq.-ft. facility that serves as home base for NHL’s Florida Panthers, but it also can be set up for soccer, basketball and other sporting events.

Kissimmee

Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center

Once known mostly for its proximity to Orlando, Kissimmee is a full-fledged meetings destination in its own right. For one thing, the central Florida city is home to the largest in-hotel exhibition facility in the state at Gaylord Palms and a Four-Diamond experience at the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate. Already the region’s largest meetings properties, both resorts are expanding as a result of an agreement that was signed before the recession between Osceola County, Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center, and Rida Associates, property owners of the development that is home to Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate.

The Gaylord recently completed renovation of its 1,400 guest rooms, and has concrete plans for 2012. One of two new pools slated for a spring opening at the resort is a DreamWorks-themed experience with waterslides, a multi-level water playground, an active lagoon, a plunge pool, “dive-in” movies and other adventures. Wreckers Sports Bar and a 10,000-sq.-ft. outdoor event space are also in the works for this year.

In line with the Gaylord brand, the Palms puts a high priority on meetings placing everything a planner needs under one roof. Its 400,000 square feet of convention space includes 178,500 square feet of exhibition. A signature Gaylord atrium is at the heart of it all, and a Florida theme is carried throughout. Multiple dining options keep attendees close, and planners can gather the team for bocce, volleyball, golf or pool games between sessions. News on a meeting space expansion at the resort is expected late January.

Construction begins on Omni renovations this month. The meeting space expansion is scheduled for a January 2013 completion, adding more than 46,000 square feet. A 28,800-sq.-ft. ballroom, eight meeting rooms and an open pre-function area are part of the plans, as are an event lawn and advanced communications and computer technology. Athletic fields also are in the works at ChampionsGate. The sports complex could draw as many as 250,000 visitors a year, and has a projected completion date of 2013.

Sports planners don’t need to wait until 2013 for athletic facilities in Kissimmee though. Osceola Heritage Park has Silver Spurs Arena, an exhibition building, and multipurpose and livestock pavilions. The arena seats up to 11,800, has 12 luxury boxes and four team locker rooms. Also on the campus, a 47,850-sq.-ft. exhibition building has hosted the USA Domino Federation Open, the Sunshine State Games Cheerleading and Dance Championships, and multiple wrestling and volleyball competitions.

The city doesn’t rely on Orlando to draw meeting attendance, but its proximity to the entertainment center is an advantage. An excursion to Disney World, SeaWorld or Universal Studios is commonplace for attendees, especially if the family comes along. But the Mouse isn’t the only show in town. Kissimmee attractions worth a visit include Gator Land with its thousands of alligators, crocodiles and wildlife; Old Town amusement park; and the Kissimmee Air Museum where visitors can fly a WWII airplane.

Naples

When attendees head to South Florida, they expect a few things: sun, white-sand beaches and relaxation. Naples, Marco Island and the Everglades promise to meet those expectations; the region’s moniker is Paradise Coast after all. From high-end Naples to the natural marshes and inland waterways of the nearby Everglades, the region takes full advantage of its gorgeous weather and scenery. Most of the locals came for a visit and never left.

That love for their adopted hometown translates to top-notch customer service. Five resorts landed on Conde Nast Traveler’s Best in the World list in 2011. With two Ritz-Carltons, a Waldorf Astoria Resort and many of the top flags represented, the region gives meeting planners plenty of options.

Many of those options improved in recent years. The Ritz-Carlton Beach Resort, Naples added $6 million worth of enhancements in 2010, among them a motorized ceiling in the 10,125-sq.-ft. Vanderbilt Ballroom and vue, or Virtual User Experience, a state-of-the-art interactive entertainment lounge with video games, Mac computer stations and Blu-ray mini-theater. The resort has 42,000 square feet of meeting space including the Beach House, a two-story building reached by boardwalk from the hotel that provides a secluded space for a special event overlooking the beach.

Naples Grande Beach Resort

The beach resort can accommodate a large leisure crowd and conventions simultaneously, while its sister property a couple miles up the road focuses its attention elsewhere: smaller meetings and golf. The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples has 14 conference rooms and 36 holes of championship golf on the Greg Norman-designed Tiburón course.

Attendees find a different kind of relaxation at the chic Naples Grande Beach Resort, now a member of the Hilton family as a Waldorf Astoria Resort. The inland hotel has a top-rated spa and a sleek, modern design popular with high-tech groups. It has 32,000 square feet of meeting space in two ballrooms and five divisible meeting rooms, and its outdoor terrace around the pool gives special events a sophisticated edge.

A short drive from Naples and largely residential, Marco Island sets the tone for an all-encompassing, laid-back meeting. The Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort, Golf Club and Spa, has completed a $200 million, multi-year renovation. A $2.5 million lobby redesign is locally inspired with light woods and bright colors. Employees cheerfully serve meeting attendees in Lilly Pulitzer-designed uniforms, and offer custom services like a flash mob package complete with choreographer, videographer and custom T-shirts, or Dance Dance Revolution competitions on the beach. More than 225,000 square feet of bookending conference space on either end of the resort allows for multiple conventions to use the hotel at a time.

Orlando

No matter the size of your group, you’ll find the space you need in Orlando. The city has almost 116,000 hotel rooms and the Orange County Convention Center, which has 2.1 million square feet of meeting space and 74 meeting rooms. Plenty of planners (as well as parents, honeymooners, vacationers and international travelers) have already discovered Orlando: In 2010, the city welcomed 51.4 million visitors, the first destination in the United States to break the 50 million mark. Business and meeting attendees accounted for 9.5 million of those visitors. Brian Martin, Visit Orlando’s corporate communications director, said the state expects about 53.5 million visitors for 2011.

Orange County Convention Center

Mickey Mouse does his part to attract new visitors to the city, but he can only do so much. The rest of the rise in visitor numbers can be attributed in part to continued investment and development in Orlando—in meeting properties, venues and visitor attractions. Wyndham Hotels opened its newest property, the upscale Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek, late last year. The 400-room resort has 25,000 square feet of meeting space and is located just inside Walt Disney World Resort. Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld completed a five-year, $35-million renovation, redeveloping the second-flood meeting space to have 23 breakout rooms, giving the resort 65 total breakout rooms and 185,000 square feet of space. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts sees an opportunity in the Central Florida city. A $360 million Four Seasons property is planned for Walt Disney World Resort. The 444-room hotel will have 37,000 square feet meeting space with a projected opening date of mid-to-late 2014.

Last year, Orlando welcomed a number of large-scale association events. The National Association of Home Builders brought 47,000 attendees to town in January while the Professional Golfers Association added 40,000 visitors later that month. In March, the American Pet Products Association organized an event for 10,000 attendees, and in July, MPI brought 2,700 events to Orlando. Events of size generally opt for the Orange County Convention Center, but smaller groups can find a number of sizeable hotels near the convention center in the I-Drive District (short for International Drive, the street upon which most of the hotels sit). One of those hotels is The Peabody Orlando, a noteworthy area hotel that unveiled a major expansion recently. The hotel now has 30,000 square feet of meeting space and 1,641 rooms after the $450 million upgrade.

There is more venue development and advancement in town, namely the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Construction began last year in downtown Orlando on the venue, which will have a 2,700-seat theater, a public performance plaza for 3,000 people and a 10,000-sq.-ft. education facility with classrooms. The center is expected to open in the fall of 2014. The $480 million Amway Center, home of NBA’s Orlando Magic, opened in 2010 and recently earned Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, the first NBA arena to do so.

“Despite the challenging economic times, the Orlando tourism and meetings community continued to invest in new hotels and attractions,” said Gary Sain, president and CEO of Visit Orlando, during a ceremony marking the state’s record visitor numbers. “The fact that Orlando bounced back in 2010 with the most visitation in not only Orlando’s history, but the most of any U.S. destination, shows our aggressive marketing strategies worked and our message resonated with travelers,” he added.

Panama City Beach

If there’s a message Panama City Beach touts, it’s fun and family. The city in Northwest Florida always has been a popular drive-in destination for Southeastern attendees, and the opening of the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in 2010 gave the world better access to the 27 miles of gorgeous gulf beaches and multiple meeting facilities.

As a result, more national conventions are drawn to the more than 160,000 square feet of space and 1,800 rooms in conference hotels in Panama City. Among the meeting facilities are The Holiday Inn Resort SeaWatch Conference and Entertainment Center with 4,000 square feet of meeting space, staterooms and kids’ suites, and a water playground. The Boardwalk Beach Resort has a 35,000-sq.-ft. convention center complex and 9,000-sq.-ft. Sunset Pavilion overlooking the gulf to complement its 254 condominiums. The Wyndham Bay Point Resort has 40,000 square feet of flexible meeting space and 355 guest rooms. Situated on a 1,100-acre wildlife preserve on a private peninsula, the resort also has two 18-hole PGA Championship golf courses, including the only Nicklaus-designed course in Northwest Florida.

New to the region is a 2,900-acre Conservation Park with boardwalks and 24 miles of dirt trails. The park, which has an innovative system that rehydrates the region’s protected wetlands with the city’s reclaimed water, is filled with native wildlife, and offers public restrooms, picnic areas and pavilions, as well as an outdoor classroom.

Planners looking to amp up the energy can send attendees to Pier Park, the largest outdoor entertainment venue in Northwest Florida. There are 1 million square feet of shops, restaurants and entertainment, including old-time rides like a carousel and tilt-a-whirl on the Miracle Strip.

Sports events take advantage of Panama City Beach’s amazing weather and athletic facilities. Frank Brown Park has 11 ball fields, four lighted tennis courts, basketball and volleyball courts, and recreation areas. A new aquatic center has an Olympic-sized heated swimming pool and water plaground. The facility has hosted USFA Fastpitch Softball, Grand Slam Baseball and World Softball League tournaments, as well as festivals, equestrian shows and special events.

Sarasota

In 1886, the Scottish-born John Hamilton Gillespie arrived in America to what is now known as Sarasota, a warm beach town on the Gulf of Mexico. He became the city’s first official mayor in 1902 and is credited as creating America’s first golf course. Golf remains a popular activity in Sarasota and the surrounding area; Sarasota County has more than 1,000 public or semi-private golf holes.

Golfing is great for teambuilding, but meeting attendees need a place to meet. The Sarasota Bradenton International Convention Center is the obvious place to start. It has 97,000 square feet of meeting space and five meeting rooms. For meetings hotels, the largest property available is the Hyatt Regency Sarasota, a full-service property on the Boulevard of the Arts. It has 294 guest rooms and 20,000 square feet of meeting space. The hotel recently completed a $22 million renovation, giving the property a clean, crisp and sophisticated design inspired by fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer, know for her bright, colorful style. The hotel’s 294 guest rooms and meeting space now have a contemporary Florida feel. The 10,000-sq.-ft. ballroom has new carpeting and fixtures to reflect the new style, and the Boathouse, an on-the-water event space, is a more vintage, rustic version of Pulitzer’s design style.

Another upscale meeting hotel is the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, which has 18,000 square feet of meeting space and 266 guest rooms. Longboat Key, located across the bay from downtown Sarasota, has a number of beachside meetings properties including the Longboat Key Club and Resort and the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort.

Off-site venues in Sarasota provide attendees with something different to explore, such as the impressive collection of art from circus tycoon John Ringling at the John and Mable Ringling Museum. The property also has circus museums that chronicle the history of the American circus, as well as beautiful gardens that can host outdoor events. The Van Wezel Performing Arts Halls also provides another space for events. The Roskamp Auditorium, Grand Foyer or Bayfront Lawn offer space and expansive views of Sarasota Bay.

St. Augustine

After some point, meetings cities begin to look the same. Airports begin to blend together. Convention hotels have that same familiar sound and smell to them. But St. Augustine, located south of Jacksonville on Florida’s northeast coast, is different. It looks different, like an old Spanish colonial city. It sounds different, especially along St. George Street where there are no vehicles, just shops and restaurants that visitors meander in and out of. And it smells different, as sea-salt laden air drifts inland from the Atlantic Ocean.

St. Augustine is still Florida, but it’s an altogether different part of Florida. Meetings in St. Augustine are different, too, especially in the historic downtown area. They’re smaller, as the town’s meeting facilities can accommodate small to mid-size groups. The historic Casa Monica Hotel, built in 1888, is an ideal property for special events. The beautiful, Moroccan-style hotel has 138 fashionable guest rooms and 12,000 square feet of meeting space. The 3,000-sq.-ft. Casa Monica Ballroom accommodates groups for sit-down dinners, and the Sultan’s Pavilion event space overlooks the pool and gardens. Another small hotel in the historic district is the Hilton St. Augustine Historic Bayfront, which has 72 rooms and more than 2,000 square feet of meeting space.

Planners find more space outside of St. Augustine’s historic downtown. The Renaissance World Golf Village Resort and Convention Center is located northwest of old St. Augustine off I-95. The resort, which recently completed a $10 million upgrade to its 301 guest rooms, sits on 6,300 acres and is located next to the St. John’s Convention Center, which has 40,000 square feet of meeting space. The combined hotel and convention center have 86,000 square feet of meeting space. The resort also is located next to the World Golf Hall of Fame and has two championship golf courses on-site: King and Bear, the only course ever co-designed by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, and Slammer and Squire, created by Slammin’ Sammy Sneed and Gene “The Squire” Sarazen. The resort offers free transportation to and from the Jacksonville International Airport for meeting attendees.

Planners can provide attendees with the opportunity to learn the history of this historic town. AdLib Tours organizes walking and driving tours through St. Augustine describing historic venues and sites such as the Lightner Museum, the Government House Museum and Castillo de San Marcos fort. For a teambuilding exercise, the tour company has created The Oldest Amazing Race, inspired by the popular television show. Groups are split up into teams and have to solve puzzles from clues accumulated at different sites across the city.

—Jennifer Garrett and Libby Hoppe

Click on the images below for additional spotlights

MEET | The Resort at MarinaVillage

COMPETE | Pensacola Sports Facilities

CONVENE | Tampa, Florida

VISIT | US Air Force Armament Museum

History buffs and adventurers alike will love perusing Emerald Coast’s U.S. Air Force Armament Museum, one of only three Air Force armament museums in the country. A collection of 25 reconnaissance, fighter and bomber planes, a fighter cockpit simulator, thousands of weapons and war films are part of the museum’s exhibits that span WWII, as well as the Korean, Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars. Located on Eglin Air Force Base in Okaloosa County, the museum has free admission for visitors, and the venue is especially popular for special military events.