“This looks like a postcard.”
Lafleche Barbeau was looking at a sweeping view of the Ohio River through floor-to-ceiling windows at the Owensboro Convention Center in Owensboro, Kentucky, during the Small Market Meetings Summit.
Barbeau, with the DoubleTree by Hilton, Buena Park in California, was one of nearly 75 industry members who had meetings with 25 select meeting planners during the compact meeting May 13-14.
While the planners and industry representatives were busy making business contacts and networking, the star of the meeting was the city of Owensboro and its impressive modern convention center on the edge of the river.
“Owensboro is quaint,” said Patricia Stinson of SEEvents Group in Atlanta. “They catered to our needs, and the experience we have had is grand. The views are amazing.”
“I like Owensboro,” said Lisa Sharpe of Anointed Women of Power in Raleigh, North Carolina. “It’s a beautiful, beautiful city with hidden opportunity.”
“Owensboro is a surprising little hidden gem for meeting planners who have not been here,” said Jennifer Ferguson, general manager of the Small Market Meetings Summit. “The convention center is state of the art and newly remodeled. I have found feelings here. I really love it.”
“I love the facility,” said Rodney Young, of YoungHearts Event Planners in Atlanta. “It is modern and clean, and I like the way they have set it up. Sitting here makes it easy to see meeting with the view surrounding you. It would be a perfect place for a retreat. It is not so big you get lost in the hustle and bustles of city life.”
The summit’s opening speaker was Mary Katherine Wathen, owner of West of Perfection in Lexington, Kentucky, who discussed not losing the human element as the industry becomes more automated.
“The heart of tourism is emotion,” she said. “Human connection is a premium as we become more automated.
“Guests want a human experience,” she added. “Make people feel wanted. People remember when they are made to feel welcome.”
The opening event was a buffet dinner and night of fun at the newly opened Maui’s Indoor Theme Park. The delegates found their inner child while riding go-karts, bumper cars and a small roller coaster with rotating cars. They also played minature golf, duck pin bowling and a wide array of video games.
“We got to do something we don’t often do as adults — enjoy ourselves,” Sharpe said.
The heart of the conference is the two business sessions, called missions, that provide 12-minute appointments for meeting planners to hear from up to three representatives of small and medium-sized destinations around the country.
“We had meeting planners from more than a dozen states and industry suppliers from 15 states,” Ferguson said.
“The summit brings in planners who meet the size of our city,” said Lynda Peters-Jones, meetings and partner engagement lead with the Paducah Convention & Visitors Bureau.
“The meeting is very informal, and the energy level is great,” Stinson said. “I have had 12 meetings so far and am considering all of them.”
“It has been amazing and great,” said Teresa Jones, destination account executive for Visit Owensboro. “Once they have seen our little hidden gem, they get excited. We had 19 of the 25 meeting planners stay the night to attend Owensboro Racing & Gaming.”
The missions were broken up by a luncheon hosted by the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau, which will host the 2027 Small Market Meetings Summit in the southeastern Alaska town.
“We are excited,” said Kara Tetley, executive director of the bureau. “Ketchikan is gearing up for the delegates to have fun when they are here.”
What Planners are Saying
“We are a certification body for renewable energy. We have 30,000 people. Certifications are varied, from selling to installing and maintaining. Our annual conference, which includes technical training, draws 1,100. For 3 1/2 days, we have more than 100 training sessions. We try to keep in smaller cities. Last year’s conference was in Milwaukee. We will be in Mobile, Alabama, next year.”
— Shawn O’Brien, President & CEO
NABCEP, Clifton Park, New York
“I am an independent. I do a lot of family reunions, from 25 to 140 people. I also do religious groups and women’s networking. I go throughout Alabama and am looking to expand into Tennessee and Kentucky.”
— Tami Maynard Griffin
GEMS, Lithonia, Georgia
“We work with Christian-based businesswomen. We do retreats and conferences for 100 to 150. I can see having Owensboro as a destination with the water and peace. That is what we are looking for: peace and serenity.”
— Lisa Sharpe, Anointed Women of Power
Raleigh, North Carolina
“I have been planning meetings since 1991. I do mostly professional groups, primarily in the pharmaceutical field — physicians, clinical, doctors and nurses. I do more than 10 meetings a year.”
— Claudette Pusey, Summit Management Services
West Milford, New Jersey
What Destinations are Saying
“We have 100,000 square feet. We can handle everything from a small meeting to a convention. We do reunions, galas and sports events in our exhibit hall. We have 25,000 to 30,000 people during the annual Quilt Festival. We say, ‘If you can dream it, we can do it.’”
— Angela Yeisley, Sales Manager
Paducah-McCracken County Convention & Expo Center, Paducah, Kentucky
“We are next door to Washington, D.C. We have 72 hotels and more than 12,000 rooms. We have unique meeting venues, such as National Harbor and College Park with the University of Maryland. We have a lot of meeting spaces to choose from. And we are very close to three major airports: Dulles, Reagan and BWI.”
— Kirsten Ste.Marie, Director of Sales
Experience Prince George’s, Largo, Maryland
“We are located between Malibu and Santa Barbara. Our resort is right on the beach. We have been open three years. We are on 880 acres, and 440 of them are on the ocean. There are thousands of dolphins right out our back door. We have 16,000 square feet of meeting space indoors, including stacked ballrooms and a ton of breakout rooms. We do a lot of corporate and incentive meetings and some state associations.”
— Tom LaVaccare, Director of Sales & Marketing
Zachari Dunes on Mandalay Beach, Oxnard, California
“We are just north of Chicago. We represent 10 communities with an 11th being added June 1. We have the same brands of hotels, but we don’t have Chicago’s hotel tax. Our two largest hotels have a total of 50,000 square feet of meeting space. We are 8-to-12 miles from O’Hare Airport.”
— Betty Boduch, Sales Manager, Meetings and Events
Chicago’s North Shore Convention & Visitors Bureau
“We are smack dab in the middle of the country. We have a lot of direct flights and are 10 minutes from the airport. Our convention center is right downtown, and there are a lot of full-service hotels. The convention center has 275,000 square feet of meeting space. It has the two largest ballrooms in Oklahoma, and the exhibit hall has 102,000 square feet. We have a lot of local attractions that make Tulsa Tulsa.”
— Katie Bibens, National Sales Manager
Tulsa Convention and Visitors Bureau, Tulsa, Oklahoma
“We are in the middle of Orange County, California, by Knox Berry Farm and a mile from Disneyland. We have a shuttle to them. We have 13,000 square feet of meeting space for corporate, social, reunions and weddings.”
— Lafleche Barbeau
DoubleTree by Hilton Buena Park, Buena Park, California
“We are the three most southern cities that border Seattle. We have 60 hotels with a lot of options. Our two largest, a DoubleTree and a Hilton, each have 40,000 square feet of meeting space. We do everything from large conferences to family reunions.”
