Successful Meetings - July 2008 - (Page 49)

are considering distributing protest permits to manage the contentious assemblies. Both St. Paul and Denver are already being sued by a range of protest groups for their published plans on handling demonstration routes during the conventions. Both convention cities are also incorporating sustainable, “green” policies at local facilities. St. Paul city officials are stationing 1,000 bicycles around town for use by visitors as an alternative to cars, sponsored by the Humana Inc. health insurance company in cooperation with Bikes Belong, a cycling advocacy group. The plan is to bring the bicycles from Denver, where they’ll have been used for the DNC the previous month. Denver organizers plan on having the greenest convention in DNC history, with a comprehensive calculation of the event’s carSUCCESSFUL MEETINGS JULY 2008 mimegasite.com bon footprint to use in reducing and offsetting emissions. Sustainable planning principles and environmentally friendly policies have been incorporated into the convention planning offices, and energy conservation measures are being used throughout all official convention venues. The Pepsi Center is installing a permanent solar array that will help keep the lights on for delegates this August and for future events. With all the complications a political convention brings to a city, the benefits are hard to ignore. Rochester, MN made history this year by winning both Republican and Democratic state party conventions, and—to make things even more interesting—hosted the conventions on back-to-back weekends in late May, early June. The CVB successfully bid for the Democratic convention based on previous conventions the party had held in the city, and then launched a separate, successful campaign for the Republican convention, MN State Senator which was up for grabs after being Norm Coleman (R) campaigns for bumped out of the Twin Cities for the reelection in national party convention. Rochester, MN “For two weekends, most of the state’s and some regional media [came] here; it’s a great benefit. All of our policymakers were here, and we showcased issues [important to the city],” said Brad Jones, executive director of the Rochester Convention & Visitors Bureau. However, many political convention planners are volunteers, or may have no experience working on a large convention with lots of last-minute needs, adds Lori Odegard, sales manager for the CVB. The CVB works with groups to keep convention facilities and local restaurants open if sessions were to run later than expected. “With political conventions there are certain things that are straightforward, while other things are just wild cards,” Jones says. “Everything is ratcheted up a couple of notches because of the media spotlight. We don’t want anything to go wrong.” —Robert Carey, Corrie Dosh, & William Ng 49 http://mimegasite.com

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Successful Meetings - July 2008 Contents Editor's Note Industry Trends Suppliers Newsmakers On the Record Technology Newsmakers Calendar Planner Spotlight Management Matters Meetings Law Websites of the Month Mouth for Sale Pre-Event On Site Tools of the Trade Pre-Event Initial Success Strong Medicine Risky Business Places & Spaces Birmingham Kentucky Georgia & the Carolinas Hong Kong Melbourne Gurus

Successful Meetings - July 2008

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