Midwest convention and visitors bureaus are doing far more than booking hotel rooms: They’re connecting planners with the chefs, makers and stories that turn a destination into part of the program.
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By Maura Keller | Photo: ©Visit Middleton
A ballroom can be virtually anywhere. So can a chicken-and-rice lunch, a branded tote bag and a reception with a playlist that could have been created anywhere in America.
None of those things are necessarily bad — but they do little to give attendees a sense of place.
The more memorable event may be the one where a local chef explains why a particular dish matters to the community, where a small-business owner welcomes attendees into a neighborhood shop, where a local historian tells the story behind a landmark or where a coffee break introduces a regional roaster whose products guests can later purchase.
Those experiences are becoming a bigger part of the value proposition of Midwest destinations, and convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs) are uniquely positioned to make them happen. While CVBs and destination 28 marketing organizations (DMOs) have traditionally helped planners find hotels, meeting venues, transportation and other logistical necessities, many are increasingly serving as community connectors, using local relationships and knowledge to uncover experiences that may not appear in a standard search for “things to do.”
“When an event works with its local [CVB or] DMO to brainstorm ideas to encourage shoulder stays before or after an event, or goes so far as to plan activities and excursions, the event is automatically elevated from work to leisure for that attendee,” according to Mari Olson, the director of tourism at Visit Middleton in Wisconsin.
“Something like a scheduled tour or dine-around can make a conference feel more like an experience.”
That distinction matters because the destination can become part of how attendees evaluate an event. The goal isn’t to entertain attendees after the sessions, but to weave enough of the community into the program that people leave feeling like they visited someplace special.
The best time to involve a CVB may be earlier than many meeting planners realize — before the itinerary has been filled and, ideally, before a venue has been selected. In fact, Glenda Smith, director of conventions and tourism at the Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism in Minnesota, encourages planners to begin with a conversation about what they want the meeting to accomplish and what they want attendees to experience.
“Before you’ve selected your location, give us a call — share with us your goals and what kind of experience you’re trying to create,” Smith says. “Then let us help you build our community into your itinerary or agenda.”
That approach changes the conversation from a checklist of meeting requirements into a discussion about possibilities. A planner may need a hotel with 150 rooms and a ballroom for 200, but the CVB can also help determine which local restaurants can accommodate a group, which attractions offer private tours and which businesses are comfortable working with meeting groups.
Brandy Johnson, CAE, of Johnson Association Services has seen that value firsthand while planning meetings and events in Topeka, Kansas. “Having a local partner who understands the community, venues, attractions and service providers is incredibly valuable,” Johnson says. “They also help identify opportunities and services that I may not have known existed.”
Melissa Sowers, the vice president of convention sales and marketing at Visit Topeka, says the information planners provide about their attendees can help a CVB narrow the possibilities to experiences that genuinely fit the group.
“Don’t just ask, ‘What is there to do in Topeka?’” she says. “Tell us who your attendees are, what they enjoy, what has worked at past meetings and what you want them to remember.”
That last point may be the most important. If the desired takeaway is stronger connections among attendees, a hands-on local activity might be more effective than a formal tour. If the audience is interested in history, a landmark or museum may become part of the program. For a group interested in food, local restaurants, producers or culinary experiences can become the destination’s calling card.
The objective isn’t to force local flavor into the program. It’s to find the right flavor for the audience.
For CVBs and DMOs, community connection often comes down to something remarkably simple: knowing whom to call. “A list is inventory. A connector is somebody who makes the introduction and stays in the room afterward,” says Jodi Thoele, tourism director at Visit Effingham in Illinois.
That distinction is particularly important in smaller Midwest communities, where many interesting experiences may be offered by businesses that don’t have dedicated group sales departments. A planner can find a restaurant online, for example, but a local CVB may know which restaurant can accommodate a particular group, which owner is willing to customize a menu or which business has successfully hosted similar events.
“It’s the small-market advantage and I’d argue it’s a real one,” Thoele says. “We don’t hand a planner a database. We hand them a phone number, and usually we’ve already made the call to give the owner or manager a heads up.”
That personal knowledge also allows CVB staff to act as translators between planners and local businesses. Planners naturally approach an experience in terms of capacity, food and beverage minimums, insurance requirements and schedules, while a small-business owner may be thinking about staffing and resources. “Both sides want the yes,” Thoele says. “Somebody has to sit in the middle and get them speaking the same language and that’s usually us.”
In Topeka, those introductions can open doors to experiences a planner might never discover independently, including behind-the-scenes opportunities at Hazel Hill Chocolate, cooking demonstrations or classes at Moburts specialty spice shop, and visits to Cashmere Popcorn.
“Sometimes the best thing we can give a planner isn’t another brochure or list,” Sowers says. “It’s an introduction.”
Rather than handing planners a massive list of attractions, convention services teams can filter possibilities based on group size, interests, timing, budget and the type of experience the planner wants to create. “I would rather find a couple of really memorable things that fit their group than give them a giant list of attractions and tell them to choose,” emphasizes Sowers.
A common mistake meeting planners make is treating local experiences as something that happens after the “real” meeting is over. But attendees who spend eight hours in sessions may be too tired to leave the hotel for a formal evening excursion, which can make small moments built into the existing agenda more effective.
“The after-hours slot is the easy one, and it’s often the one people pass on after a long day of meetings and travel,” Thoele says. “The good stuff happens when local flavor shows up in the parts of the agenda people can’t skip.”
That could mean replacing a generic pastry tray with products from a local bakery, bringing a regional coffee roaster into the coffee break, hiring a neighborhood restaurant to provide a meal or tucking locally made products into a welcome bag. Likewise, a local artist or musician can add a sense of place to a reception without requiring attendees to go anywhere.
Even transportation can become part of the experience. A shuttle ride between hotels and meeting venues is little more than dead time, but a local historian or community expert can provide stories and context along the way.
“Give the driver two minutes of material from the local historical society and the ride becomes part of the program,” Thoele says.
Visit Middleton also uses vendor markets to bring the community inside when an agenda doesn’t allow enough time for attendees to explore outside on their own. Local businesses can set up in a hotel or meeting venue lobby, allowing attendees to meet makers, sample products and purchase something to take home.
“It’s a great way to help attendees experience the destination, especially if their schedule does not allow a lot of off-site time,” Olson says.
Of all the ways to introduce attendees to a destination, food may be the easiest place to start because it is already built into every meeting and event agenda. “Food does the heaviest lifting,” reinforces Thoele. “It’s the one local element every attendee is guaranteed to encounter, usually three times a day.”
The opportunity isn’t necessarily about serving the most elaborate meal. A local bakery at breakfast, a regional snack at registration or a neighborhood restaurant for a dine-around can establish a sense of place without adding significant cost or complexity, for example.
Olson says Wisconsin visitors often arrive expecting beer, cheese and brats, but the state’s culinary identity is considerably broader. CVBs can help planners uncover restaurants and food traditions that go beyond the obvious.
“We suggest everything from supper clubs to diners, depending on the vibe they are going for, but we also add suggestions of places they might not think about,” she says.
Visit Topeka brought Cashmere Popcorn into the registration area for the African American Travel Conference, creating a popcorn bar that added a local touch to what would otherwise have been a routine check-in. For the NAIA Cheer and Dance National Championships, the CVB added a Kansas Museum of History experience and brought in a newly opened local restaurant for a meal.
“It was a fairly simple addition, but it took something that would normally just be checking in and picking up materials, and made it a little more fun and local,” Sowers says.
Food also offers an opportunity to connect attendees with the people behind the destination, whether through a chef presentation, a visit from a local producer, a tasting or a conversation about the history of a regional dish.
Authenticity isn’t necessarily about choosing the biggest or most famous attraction. Often, the most effective destination experiences are the ones with a story attendees don’t expect.
For instance, Topeka offers nationally significant history through the Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park, as well as the Kansas State Capitol and the Kansas Museum of History. For smaller groups, Visit Topeka can look beyond traditional tours to behind-the-scenes experiences at the Topeka Zoo and local businesses. “I had no idea this was in Topeka” is one of Sowers’ favorite reactions, because it signals that an attendee discovered something rather than simply checking an attraction off a list.
Owatonna has its own distinctive stories, including the Minnesota State Public School Orphanage Museum, the Steele County Historical Society and National Farmers’ Bank designed by architect Louis Sullivan.
Thoele points to Sculptures on the Avenues, a rotating outdoor sculpture exhibition, as well as Lake Sara, where visitors can find lakeside dining and outdoor recreation minutes from downtown Effingham.
Even a city’s location can become part of a meeting or event’s story, particularly for groups who might be interested in logistics and distribution. Effingham sits where interstates 57 and 70 meet, earning it the nickname “Crossroads of America,” for example.
“The crossroads story is not just geography trivia — it’s a live logistics and distribution economy,” Thoele says.
The lesson for planners is to ask not only what a destination has, but also what it might mean.
Passive sightseeing has its place, but our Midwest CVBs say that participatory experiences often resonate more strongly with meeting and event groups.
“Groups that have been sitting since eight in the morning don’t want to be shown things,” Thoele says. “They want to use their hands or feet.”
A walking route through an outdoor sculpture installation, a cooking class, a nature tour, kayaking, yoga or a hands-on visit with a local maker can turn attendees from passive observers into active participants.
Visit Middleton has helped coordinate a volunteer experience in which groups take a lasagna cooking class, enjoy snacks and wine, and then donate the finished meals to a local food pantry.
The activity combines food, teamwork and community involvement with a tangible local impact.
Other destinations can similarly help planners connect groups with nonprofits, community organizations and local events, which can be particularly meaningful for associations and corporate groups looking to 38 incorporate service or team-building into their programs.
CVBs can also help planners take advantage of seasonal opportunities, from hiking and kayaking to winter recreation and festivals.
For planners who want to make authenticity part of their next meeting or event, the advice from CVBs across the Midwest is consistent: Make the local CVB or DMO one of your first calls. “Contact your local CVB from the beginning of the planning stages,” Johnson reiterates. “We can be a true partner in the process.”
The CVB is often the bridge that makes local connections possible, translating a planner’s objectives into experiences, and introducing visitors to the people and places that give a destination its identity.
When planners use that bridge early and intentionally, the destination stops being the backdrop to the meeting and becomes part of the story attendees take home.
That means sharing more than dates, room counts and meeting space requirements.
Tell the CVB what attendees care about, what has worked in the past, what hasn’t worked in the past and what you want people to remember. Then leave some room for discovery.
“A piece of advice: Leave one slot open,” according to Thoele. “Not a whole day … just one hour somewhere in the middle that isn’t yet assigned. If every block is spoken for before you call us, we can only help you execute the meeting you already planned. That’s a fine meeting. It’s just not one anybody’s going to describe on the drive home.”
In an industry where destinations increasingly compete not only on convention facilities and hotel inventory, but also on the overall attendee experience, that distinction can be significant. After all, the Midwest’s advantage may be something a generic ballroom can never replicate: a genuine connection to the community right outside its doors.