Leveraging Local: Infusing a Sense of Place to Create Greater Meeting Value

ANOTHER MEETING, IN ANOTHER CITY, IN ANOTHER BALLROOM...

Industry research shows that today's meeting attendees want not only great learning and networking, but also to experience a sense of place. Attendees expect events to incorporate the locale and they want to depart feeling that they not only connected with business partners, but that they truly experienced the destination. “Out” are windowless conference rooms and standard F&B; “In” are innovative spaces that cultivate expression while providing a sense of place, and partnerships with local food and beverage outlets.

Planner objectives now include infusing a sense of place into meetings and incorporating the
destination in as many ways as possible. This session will explore creative and cost effective ways to impart a sense of place through local partnerships, food & beverage programs, innovative services, and venue selection. This seminar will also discuss how hotels and event venues can leverage location and sense of place as the ultimate group business differentiator.

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

• Understand the psychology of meeting participants and how infusing a sense of place is so critical within the meeting industry.
• Learn how to achieve your meeting's business objectives through strategic planning and key collaborators.
• Discover how to strengthen your events through local partnerships, food & beverage programs, and innovative services – whether you are at a large chain hotel, or a small boutique property.

SPEAKER

Bree Brostko has spent a decade in the hospitality industry. She started her career as a convention planner, however she quickly realized that her love of sleep would prevent her from really succeeding as a professional planner.
She now works with boutique hotels and resorts around the United States helping them market the independent experience to groups, and introducing planners to the value of local. She was recently named one of HSMAI’s Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Optimization – a tid bit that she’s been trying to work into every conversation she’s had since.