East Lansing, Michigan
With its location in central Michigan, East Lansing offers convenient access along with the traditional features of a university town. The home of Michigan State University, it’s located within an hour and a half of 90 percent of the state’s population.
As a Big Ten research university, Michigan State is a center of activity with broad appeal to visitors as well as the campus community. Attractions include a planetarium, a museum that focuses on the natural and cultural history of the Great Lakes region, top-notch golf courses and horticultural gardens. At the university’s dairy store, guests can learn how cheese and other dairy products are made and then sample fresh ice cream. At any given time, musical performances, plays and Division I athletic events are also in the offing.
Both the university and the city offer attractive meeting sites. Located on the Michigan State campus is the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center, which offers more than 35,000 square feet of meeting space. Planners can choose from 32 rooms with seating capabilities of up to 1,000.
The Lansing Center is a state-of-the-art convention facility that boasts more than 175,000 square feet of space, including nearly 72,000 square feet of column-free exhibit halls and 20 breakout rooms. Located on the banks of the Grand River, it’s connected to the Radisson Hotel, which has 256 guest rooms and an additional 12,000 square feet of meeting space, by a covered walkway.
The Crowne Plaza Lansing West is another option, with 17,000 square feet of event space and 212 sleeping rooms. And the East Lansing Marriott at University Place offers 180 guest rooms and nine meeting rooms that total 10,000 square feet. All told, greater Lansing has 4,300 hotel rooms.
Along with plenty of restaurants and nightspots, there’s a zoo, a transportation museum and the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. A recent enhancement is Makers and Shakers, a beer, wine and spirits trail highlighting the area’s craft wineries, microbreweries, cider mills and distilleries.
Columbia, Missouri
A visit to Columbia also brings that college-town feel. With the university’s educational and cultural offerings, not to mention the vitality of the student scene, there is much to appeal to visitors.
A wide range of campus highlights include athletic and cultural events, a museum of art and archaeology, an anthropology museum, the Mizzou Botanical Garden and the historic Francis Quadrangle.
The city’s nightlife offers much to visitors, from music for every taste to a popular comedy club. Attractions include numerous boutiques and eateries, downtown galleries and a fun-filled obstacle course designed by a university team-building group. Movie lovers may want to check out Ragtag Cinema, a nonprofit independent theater.
The College Town USA tour is just one of the choices offered by Tiger Trolley Tours, which also provides a welcome tour, a cultural arts tour, a historical overview of Columbia and special-interest and seasonal outings.
Meeting choices include the Memorial Union and Student Center on the University of Missouri campus, with 29,000 square feet of event space. Another campus-based option, the Reynolds Alumni Center, has 9,200 square feet of space.
The Holiday Inn Executive Center offers 36,000 square feet of event space along with 310 guest rooms. The Hilton Garden Inn has 13,000 square feet and 151 sleeping rooms, and the Stoney Creek Inn and Conference Center features 11,000 square feet of meeting space and 181 guest rooms. All told, the area has 37 hotels with more than 3,700 guest rooms.
Nontraditional meeting choices are the Bur Oak Brewing Company, with seating for up to 450, and Les Bourgeois Winery and Distillery, which can handle 300-plus guests.
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison, known primarily as home of the University of Wisconsin, also boasts the smaller Madison College and Edgewood College. The combination makes for a thriving center of activity. Along with campus-based events such as Big Ten sports, concerts and other performances, the city offers visitors everything from ropes courses to bicycle tours. Considered a focal point of the craft beer movement, Madison also offers great variety in dining and entertainment.
Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center is a 250,000-square-foot facility with public promenades and meeting rooms offering lakefront views. Along with meeting rooms, a 68,000-square-foot garden is also available.
The center offers a 40,000-square-foot exhibition hall, a 14,000-square-foot ballroom and 20 meeting rooms with a total of 28,000 square feet of space.
The Alliant Energy Center, a 164-acre campus, features four different venues, including an exhibition hall with 150,000 square feet of convention and meeting space. Along with the expansive exhibit area are 14 meeting rooms with a total of 20,000 square feet of space.
The University of Wisconsin’s Pyle Center serves as a distance education and conference center. With over 135,000 square feet of meeting space, it has 30 rooms of varying sizes, including lounges, dining rooms, an auditorium, computer laboratories and a rooftop terrace. Complementing the Pyle Center, the Lowell Center is a hotel that offers additional banquet and meeting space.
