Successful Meetings - October 2007 - (Page 41)
THERE Fortune 1000 Nantucket How one company holds a big meeting on a small island By Suzie Amer suzie.amer@nielsen.com In 1990, Wachovia Bank gathered 40 or so equity analysts on the island of Nantucket for a meeting. It went well, so the bank decided to hold another one the following year. And the year after that. Flash forward to 2007. This past June, some 850 people—members of the financial community and their guests—descended upon the tiny island off the coast of Massachusetts for the 17th annual Wachovia Nantucket Equity Conference. Over the course of nearly two decades, the once-intimate gathering has grown to more than 20 times its original number. The island of Nantucket, however, has remained the same size. As a result, planning and executing the annual—and annually growing—Wachovia conference is literally a bigger challenge each year. But it’s been a continued success, thanks to long-established working relationships and a host community that pulls together to pull it off. SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS OCTOBER 2007 ONCE WAS A GROUP ON FITTING IN The entire island of Nantucket, just 3.5by-14 miles, has been named a National Historic District. Nearly 40 percent of it is protected conservation land; the developed areas maintain the architectural look and feel of the original 17thcentury whaling port. With just 1,000 lodging rooms islandwide, there is no single property on Nantucket that can host all the Wachovia attendees. As a result, they are spread among 12 different hotels and inns throughout the island (see sidebox). And that, says Natalie Metallo, assistant vice mimegasite.com president at Wachovia and the primary planner of this conference, creates the biggest challenge for her: transportation. “It’s pretty complex,” Metallo says. “Because it is an island and people are coming from all over, there are connecting flights from many airports. Then, there’s the extra element of getting everyone around on the island.” Because the island is so small and attendees are staying at several different properties, Metallo says, “You can’t just exclusively bus folks everywhere. We can do some of that, but it’s a collection of buses, vans, walking, and driving.” Metallo works with two transporta- ILLUSTRATION: MARK BREWER 41
http://mimegasite.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - October 2007
Successful Meetings - October 2007
Contents
Editor's Note
Suppliers
Suppliers
Calendar
Research
On the Record
Technology Talk
Mouth for Sale
Pre-Event
On Site
Tools of the Trade
Striking a Balanace
IACC’s New Generation
Suffering from “Green” Fatigue?
There Once Was a Group in Nantucket . . .
A Trick and a Treat
Places & Spaces
Reno / Lake Tahoe
Austin
New Orleans
Los Cabos & Baja
Ontario Province
Korea
Gurus
Successful Meetings - October 2007
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