More than 100 meeting planners, destinations, hosts and VIPs attended the 2025 Small Market Meetings Summit in Branson, Missouri, held April 30–May 1 at the Chateau on the Lake Resort overlooking Table Rock Lake. The Summit is a concise, two-day gathering that brings planners and destinations together for business meetings and an evening event.
“Branson can always be depended on to roll out the red carpet for their guests,” said SMM Summit general manager Jennifer Ferguson of the Group Travel Family. “Branson is well-known for its leisure business, but meetings are huge here as well. They host events that draw five to 10,000 delegates, but they know all the details. Yvonne Long, their assistant director for meetings and conventions, was at the airport for arrivals to make sure everyone got picked up. That’s how they do things.”
Two marketplaces were held, offering most attendees two dozen or more 12-minute appointments, and a boisterous evening event took place at Full Throttle Distillery Grill & Smokehouse in downtown Branson. Host organization Explore Branson treated delegates to an open bar and barbecue dinner with a superb live band. Most stayed for several hours, and many walked through downtown to enjoy Branson’s local sites.
“Our meeting business became very strong as a result of COVID, and now many of those meetings are returning,” said Yvonne Long of Explore Branson. “After having come here, they come back with their families so their kids can enjoy Branson. We have many military events here and have turned Veterans Day into Veterans Week. High school competitive events, like archery, come here because there is so much to do when the kids aren’t competing. Every age is entertained.”
Sponsors for the Summit included Chateau on the Lake Resort Spa & Convention Center, Explore Branson, Small Market Meetings Magazine and Visit Owensboro, which will host the Summit in 2026.
“We’re ready to bring this event to Owensboro,” said Teresa Jones of Visit Owensboro, a riverfront town in western Kentucky. “We host many Kentucky-based association meetings and any number of musician group meetings due to our bluegrass music heritage. The Southeast Regional Folk Alliance is coming this year with 150 musicians and entertainers, and many will perform in Owensboro.
“We call our convention center the ‘venue with a view’ because it overlooks the Ohio River,” she said. “We’re also able to incentivize some meetings, so the Summit is a perfect event for us to host next year.”
To register for the 2026 Summit in Owensboro, visit smmconf.com/summit.
What Delegates are Saying
Destinations
“Bentonville is home to Walmart, which drives a lot of meeting business for us. We’re also nationally prominent in sports and outdoor adventure meetings. USA Cycling (mountain biking) is headquartered in Bentonville and generates a lot of events. We’ll have 300-400 delegates in September for the Up Summit, an aeronautical industry showcase. They’ll host a community day for 15,000 guests. The Association of University Research Parks drew 250 attendees last November. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art hosts many receptions and dinners for meetings, plus outdoor tented events.”
Wes Oliver
Visit Bentonville
Bentonville, Arkansas
“Half our business in the hotel is corporate or association groups or meetings. We have 20,000 square feet of meeting space and have banquet seating for up to 400 guests. We host 350 delegates for the Assemblies of God eight times a year in the hotel. Russell Cellular comes twice a year with about 300. O’Reilly Auto just brought us 80 or so, and we had 80 this year from the Missouri Chiropractic Physicians Association.”
Wes Stoner
Doubletree by Hilton Springfield
Springfield, Missouri
“Our busy season is April through September, and we’re here to build off-season meeting business. We’re hosting the SMM Summit in 2027 and can’t wait to have this event in Ketchikan. A few of the activities that delegates could enjoy are boat tours to the Misty Fjords, ATV tours and walking or driving tours for our totem poles. We have 80 authentic totem poles throughout our city that are pretty cool for guests. We’re on the coast, and our seasons are moderated by that. Snow only stays for a day or so much of the year.”
Brittney Shull
Ketchikan Visitors Bureau
Ketchikan, Alaska
What Delegates are Saying
Meeting Planners
“I learned about incentives from CVBs for meetings at the Small Market Meetings Conference in Utah last fall, and this year I’ve earned $15,000 in incentives for meetings of ours! We teach licensed tax practitioners how to solve IRS tax problems. We host five to six smaller meetings from April through December for 60-75 attendees. We also host an annual advanced course for about 250 delegates. Recently, we’ve hosted the smaller meetings in Niagara Falls, New York; Park City, Utah; and Panama City, Florida. Our larger meeting will be held in Rockwell, Texas, outside of Dallas.”
Carolyn Ryer
American Society of Tax Problem Solvers
Williamsville, New York
“I’ve got a corporate annual reunion for 125 business owners coming up at Margaritaville in Hollywood, Florida. In October, I have a leadership conference for about 75 Lutheran church leaders in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I also have 250 Lutheran clergy members for a biannual meeting in Lone Tree, Colorado. I will have 150 or so corporate franchise owners meeting in Daytona, Florida, as well.”
Lynn Lawson
EventPrep
Aurora, Colorado
“I plan youth and young adult events for Seventh-day Adventist congregations. This year, we’ll have about 200 delegates at four small market destinations, including Wichita, Kansas; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Fort Myers and Naples, Florida. I met with CVB officials from Gillette, Wyoming, at the 2017 Small Market Meetings Conference, and we ended up placing our Seventh-day Adventist annual meeting in Gillette. We had 60,000 attendees, and Gillette was great to work with. The event was a home run.”
