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Kansas Museum Meetings

Museum of World Treasures

Wichita

The Museum of World Treasures in Wichita is called that because it houses treasures from around the globe and across the ages.

“I tend to call it the mini Smithsonian of the Midwest,” said Lon Smith, the museum’s chief development officer. “It’s a very eclectic collection; a little bit of something for everyone.”

That eclectic collection is housed in a century-old former paper factory in downtown, and the surprising array of items goes back to the museum’s founders, John and Lorna Kardatzke, who donated much of their collection of historic artifacts to the museum. On the first floor, visitors are greeted by Ivan the Tyrannosaurus Rex, along with two other dinosaurs that are locked in battle.

Groups can reserve the third-floor banquet hall for daytime or after-hours events, although the space — which can seat about 170 for a meal — can’t be closed off to the public during operating hours. A small conference room works well for 16-person events. Groups can arrange tours, but most prefer to tackle the museum’s scavenger hunt, searching for answers to questions among the exhibits and artifacts, which include a piece of the Berlin Wall, a shrunken head and two mummies. An impressive Southeast Asia collection features huge hand-carved marble Buddha statues and Hindu sculptures, and the museum has signatures of every American president on original documents, as well as signatures of many royals, such as Queen Elizabeth I and Louis XVI.

www.worldtreasures.org

Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum

Abilene

For meeting groups that want to work on strategy and planning, nothing is quite as inspiring as seeing the table around which Allied Forces planned Operation Overlord, the code name for the D-Day Battle of Normandy.

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum sits on a 22-acre campus that features five buildings, including Eisenhower’s boyhood home, his burial site and a visitor center. Most of the event spaces are housed in the library, said communications director Samantha Kenner. The library courtyard is often used for meetings, trainings and banquets and seats up to 130 people at round tables; the skylight roof sometimes makes light control a challenge, but staff can still set up a screen and projector.

Groups can also reserve the 1,200-square-foot library lobby, the library training room and the library auditorium, with 132 fixed seats. The 2,880-square-foot visitors center auditorium can be divided into two spaces and was recently updated with new audiovisual equipment.

Meeting groups often tour the museum’s five major galleries, as well as the white farmhouse where Ike grew up as the third of seven sons. The giant bronze statue of him is a visitor favorite, and the Place of Meditation is the final resting place of Eisenhower; his wife, Mamie; and their firstborn son.

www.eisenhower.archives.gov

National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame

Bonner Springs

The National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame covers 160 acres about 17 miles due west of Kansas City. While most of that is pastureland, about 70 acres are event grounds where the center can host gatherings for up to 10,000 people.

The hall of fame also features six museums that house “one of the largest vintage implement collections in the area, with quite a few prototypes of different landmark inventions,” said executive director Dawn Gabel. The hall of fame itself “focuses on people who have had a national impact in the industry of agriculture,” including household names such as John Deere. Others are included and are less recognizable but even more important, such as Norman Borlaug, who led the Green Revolution and is credited with saving 1 billion people from starvation.

The center’s event barn has a catering kitchen and can seat up to 200 for a dinner presentation or a lunch meeting. Next door, the hall of fame is attached to a 200-seat lecture theater. One corporate client recently hosted its product release at the center and used the grounds to display equipment, presented product information to dealers in the theater and then gathered in the barn for a meal, she said.

Before or after a meeting, groups can take guided or self-guided tours or simply stroll the grounds, which include living-history displays as well as a vegetable garden, a pollinator garden, a nature trail and a conservation pond.

www.aghalloffame.com