Successful Meetings - March 2008 - 38

Cover Story Planner Peggy Young at Seascape Resort in Aptos, CA Conference Centers We Love By Kinley Levack kinley.levack@nielsen.com Here are a few conference centers that rank as planner favorites for their beautiful facilities, phenomenal settings, and consistent attention to detail, but what really resonates with planners is a staff that bends over backwards to make a meeting a complete success THE HEARTH OF THE MATTER Throw another log on the fire. Or two, or three—or six. The twostory fireplace in the lobby of the Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, WA, can handle it. The Lodge consistently gets rave reviews from planners who laud its proximity to the Portland, OR, airport, flexibility for groups, and attentive staff, to say nothing of its setting in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and variety of outdoor activities. “The lobby, with its fireplace mimegasite.com and rocking chairs, is superb for small groups to use as breakouts during meetings,” says Joan Eisenstodt, who is so enamored of Skamania that she vacations there as well. The IACC-approved facility has 23 meeting rooms and more than 22,000 square feet of meeting space in addition to more than 40,000 square feet of outdoor event space that is available seasonally. Stacy Weber, who chaired the 2007 OR/WA MPI Cascadia Conference at Skamania, says, “I was completely blown away by the service . . . We had 219 MPI members in attendance and not one single MARCH 2008 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS PHOTO: DANNY QUIJANO PHOTOGRAPHY / SEASCAPE 38

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - March 2008

Successful Meetings - March 2008
Contents
Editor's Note
Suppliers
On the Record
Research
Associations
Planner's Spotlight
Management Matters
Mouth for Sale
Meetings Law
Pre-Event
Pre-Event
Tools of the Trade
On Site
Quick Tip
Critical Conditions
A Family Affair
Conference Centers We Love
CSM of the Year
Places & Spaces
Luxury Las Vegas
New York CIty
Houston
New Orleans
Quebec
Bahamas
Oahu & Big Island
Florida Keys
Gurus

Successful Meetings - March 2008