Meeting News - February 15, 2010 - (Page 34)

South Regional Nashville Approves Convention Center, Ready For Music In 2013 continued from page 1 probably 2,000 to 3,000 peak rooms. MN: How does that compare with the convention center that Music City Center will replace? Spyridon: The average size group of what we’ve booked is double the average size of what’s been in our current facility—and that’s being conservative on the new business and generous on the existing business in terms of size. MN: What’s your demand outlook for 2013? Spyridon: I feel very good about a strong first-year opening, which is a relative statement. I don’t know of another market that took as much of a risk as we did in the pre-sell, and we put some terms on the table, financial penalties on us. We read the trades and we talk to cities and clients. We know who got burned and who opened without meeting projections. It’s a ramp-up, and it will be in our case too. But trying to minimize any slow start was important to us, and I think we’ve accomplished that. MN: Are you adding resources to lure meetings to Nashville? Spyridon: We expanded our staff leading into the recession, and it was intentional. We saw the downturn coming, but we didn’t see how big it was. We felt good about the convention center, so we increased our staff around late spring of 2008 to help us sell. We’re probably going to wait until summer or fall, but we’ll need to strengthen our sales staff again, because we’re obviously tripling the size of our existing building. 34 MeetingNews MN: Can you peacefully coexist with the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center? Spyridon: We still have Opryland in the mix, and we need to make sure that remains successful. We sell both. They’re in Davidson County, but they’re a member and a partner, and we need both Opryland and Music City Center to be successful. There’s minimal overlap, and there are significantly different markets. We expect them to be every bit as successful as they’ve always been, and we expect the new facility to capture the business that we’ve had to turn down or wouldn’t look at. MN: How much group business did you have waiting for the vote before they would sign? Spyridon: We pre-sold the building and, really starting in March 2008, we asked the mayor if we could talk to groups, putting all the responsibility on us. We had some pre-approval offers, and we put some penalties on us if we didn’t meet some benchmarks. We booked 26 groups—280,000 room nights and approximately $80 million in visitor spending for 2013 and beyond. We have some business that goes out as far as 2021—some multiyear deals, but we have the first group in late February 2013. MN: Did last month’s final project approval put your group sales efforts into high gear? Spyridon: We have a whole list of prospects that were extremely interested but wanted final approval. One was the American Institute of Steel Construction, and right at the same time as the vote, the American The 1.2 million-sq.-ft. Music City Center under construction in downtown Nashville will offer twice the meeting space available in the city’s current convention facility when it is complete in February 2013. The new complex will feature a 350,000-sq.-ft. exhibit hall, two ballrooms, more than 50 meeting rooms and 36 loading docks. An adjacent Marriott Marquis also is planned. Animal Hospital Association. It almost passed in the night—the contracts getting signed and the vote happening at the same time. MN: Who is the first group? Spyridon: The American Choral Directors Association, which fits with Music City. Then over the course of the first month or so we have the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association and the American Trucking Association—those are some good, significant groups already on the books. MN: What markets are you competing against now? Spyridon: It’s interesting. In the ’90s, we saw our direct competition as San Antonio, Dallas, New Orleans, Atlanta and Orlando. In the early 2000s, as we really outgrew our building, we saw a shift to markets more like Indy, St. Louis, Charlotte. Now—with the exception of Indy because of everything they’ve built—we’re seeing a shift back to the Orlando, Atlanta, Dallas, San Antonio and New Orleans markets. MN: Do you now consider yourself up against some of those toptier conventions destinations? Spyridon: Except for the super-size groups—that was never who we wanted to target. We have a great base of business in medical, education, religious markets and then even the trade organizations like hearth and patio and trucking. MN: There are also plans to open the adjacent Nashville Medical Trade Center in 2013. Does that play a supporting role in the success of Music City Center? Spyridon: I think it really helps us in the medical meetings market, continued on page 44 www.meetingnews.com February 15, 2010 http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - February 15, 2010

Meeting News - February 15, 2010
Contents
Newsmaker
Meetings Spotlight
Viewpoint
Meeting People
Construction Cites
Association Watch
Strategic Mtgs. Mgmt
Gaming Destinations
Island Incentives
Dateline: Hong Kong
South Regional
Travel Dashboard

Meeting News - February 15, 2010

https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20100412
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20100301
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20100215
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20100125
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20091221
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20091116
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20091019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20090921
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20090810
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20090727
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20090622
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20090525
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20090420
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20090323
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20090216
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20090309
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20090202
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20090105
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20081215
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20081110v2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20081110
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20081020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20081006
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20080922
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20080908
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn_20080811
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn072108
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn070708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn061608
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn051908
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn050508
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn042108
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn040708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn032408
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn031008
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn022508
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn021108
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn012808
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn010708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn121707
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn120307
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/mn111907
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com