IACC centers are often unconventional.
About 100 of the 400 members of the International Association of Conference Centers (IACC) are in the United States. These conference venues are far from cookie-cutter — some IAAC centers are at colleges, others in urban office towers. Many are part of a hotel or a resort; several had other purposes in a past life, like the Queen Mary ocean liner.The variety offered is just one of IACC’s upsides. Each member had to prove it’s committed to things meeting planners and attendees value, like sustainability, guest service, professionalism, leading-edge equipment and technology. IACC members also offer complete meeting packages, a time-saver and stress reliever for meeting planners.Each year, a few more properties pass the test and become IACC members. Here are six of its newest members.
Get down on the farm in Franklin
Southall Farm and Inn
Franklin, Tennessee
About 45 minutes south of the Nashville International Airport, Southall Farm and Inn is a working farm on 425 acres. Its meeting spaces — 62 guest rooms and 16 cottages — border the farm’s Lake Miskin, with views of land and lake through large windows. Indoor spaces abut patios and event lawns, and unexpected event spaces, such as a speakeasy and a covered bridge, can make for memorable evenings.And while the pastoral setting can slow the pace, the conference center has provided the solid connectivity meetings require by installing 4 gigabit internet and a 1 gigabit backbone to make 5G bandwidth seamless. Although it’s doubtful anyone will feel the need to venture beyond the farm, downtown Franklin is nearby, offering a historic small town crammed with cute shops and local restaurants.
Meet at America’s newest national park
The Lookout Post
Lansing, West Virginia
A conference at the Lookout Post comes with this perk: The meeting venue is perched at the top of New River Gorge, the nation’s newest national park.The Lookout Post is part of Adventures on the Gorge, one of the first resorts developed on the heavily forested gorge rim about 1,000 feet above the New River. The conference center and accommodations’ log cabin-construction fit the wooded setting.The center is a flexible space, which can be divided into up to five breakout spaces or used as one open space, and is connected to a roomy deck with gorge views. There’s room for up to 90 guests in one to four-bedroom cabins, hotel-style cabins and vacation homes scattered in the woods nearby.Adventures on the Gorge has a full menu of outdoor activities, from zip lining and rafting trips to hikes and rock climbing
History reigns at these California sites
The Queen Mary
Long Beach, California
Asilomar Conference Grounds
Monterey, California
The Queen Mary no longer sails the high seas, but even docked in Long Beach, the Transatlantic ocean liner continues to dazzle.The ship is huge, with 80,000 square feet of meeting and event space, as well as 250 guest rooms, all decked out in the Art Deco décor. Staff point out that in her day, the Queen Mary had the latest in technology, and as the ship steps into a new role as a hotel and conference center, its technology has been updated to the height of 2025 capabilities.Lovers of architecture and nature are sure to be enamored with Asilomar Conference Grounds, designed by the esteemed Julia Morgan, architect of 700 buildings in her home state. Morgan was attuned to nature and carefully fit Asilomar among local forests at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.There are 313 guest rooms in all, and the ones Morgan designed in the early 1900s are in style today with their hardwood floors and rustic furnishings. There are 313 guest rooms in all. The conference center’s 30 venues, from handsome boardrooms to dramatic ballrooms, provide plenty of options.
Hudson River center now welcomes all
Windrose on the Hudson
Ossining, New York
This summer, the former Crotonville Conference Center, a private leadership institute that had long been a fixture in this town an hour from New York City, became Windrose on the Hudson. The venue offers 52,000 square feet of meeting space and 248 guest rooms to a wider audience, including meetings and conferences of all types.On 60 acres just off the Hudson River, Windrose is an easy getaway from the city, and it emphasizes the outdoors, with 10 miles of hiking trails and outdoor gathering spaces. Its 65meeting rooms include an auditorium, executive breakout rooms, advanced audiovisual technology— including multi-direction projection — and writable walls and virtual collaboration rooms. The11,000-square-foot Greenhouse, a standalone building, can be set up for 100 or in rounds. For executives who need to pop in from the city, there’s a helipad on site.
Convenient location in a Texas college town
Hilton Hotel and Conference Center at College Station
College Station, Texas
The Hilton Hotel and Conference Center at College Station, a mile from the Texas A&M campus, takes its conference business up a notch, with 10 meeting planners to handle business for its 32,000square feet of meeting space. The largest ballroom, the Bluebonnet, has 11,360 square feet of space; its smaller 4,800-square-foot Oakwood Ballroom features a built-in stage and tiered floor. A variety of smaller spaces includes the Brazos Amphitheater, which seats 150. Ten minutes from the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library, the 301-guest room hotel also has a free shuttle to take guests aroundCollege Station. Although it is in the city, the Hilton takes advantage of Texas’s sky and sun, with a rooftop bar and upscale dining by its outdoor pool.
