For nearly 30 years, the San Diego Convention Center has been at the forefront of the meetings industry. Now, the venue has been honored with the Gold Award for Best Convention Center in the Western United States by the 2018 Prevue Visionary Awards.

This is the first time the Prevue Visionary Awards has included a category for convention centers, specifically recognizing venues that are forward-thinking and innovative.

“The entire team at Prevue is honored to recognize these innovators in the meetings and incentives industry as voted on by our readership and esteemed Advisory Board,” the organization said in its official announcement of winners in 30 categories.

San Diego Convention Center Corporation President & CEO Clifford “Rip” Rippetoe, CVE, and Vice President of Sales and Services Andy Mikschl were presented the Gold Award at the IMEX America Exhibition in Las Vegas on Tuesday, October 16. IMEX is America’s worldwide exhibition for incentive travel, meetings, and events.

“We are grateful to be recognized by those who nominated our venue and those who voted for us in this award category,” Rippetoe said. “Our purpose is to be the region’s premier gathering place. And since we are in the experience business, we are always looking to the future and how we will create new and better experiences for our customers.”

Earlier this year, the San Diego Convention Center completed its Sails Pavilion renovation, which included the new addition of colored LED lights. This feature allows customers and community partners to create vibrant, expressive displays that not only illuminate the interior of the 90,000 square foot exhibit space, but the surrounding cityscape as well.

The Convention Center’s food and beverage partner, Centerplate, has been a leader in creating remarkable new experiences for event attendees. From a new fish taco cart, to creating custom meals for thousands, the in-house food and beverage team is always looking for new and innovative ways to make a memorable catering experience.

Sustainability in meetings is another important goal of the San Diego Convention Center, which is a LEED Gold Certified Venue.

When one of its long-time customers began their “zero plastics” efforts, the Convention Center team swapped out all plastic water bottles for boxed waters, ordered canned juices instead of bottled beverages, and used plates and cutlery made of compostable materials.

In 2019, California law will prohibit plastic straws, but the San Diego Convention Center is already ahead of the game, cutting out plastics as of now from catering protocol.

By John Robertson, general manager

This is an exciting time for the City of Charleston, the staff of the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center and all of our clients. We broke ground on a $100-million expansion and renovation project in June 2015 and completed construction in October 2018.

This project could not have been possible without the vision of Mayor Danny Jones and City Council, our ability to create a source of funding through the home rule program of the WV Legislature, a dedicated group of volunteers from the Civic Center Auditorium Board of Directors, the competence of City Manager David Molgaard and his associates, and the perseverance of the loyal and dedicated employees of the Center. A great team delivering the best for Charleston.

The Civic Center was first opened in 1958. It was expanded in 1965, the coliseum was added in 1980, and expanded again in 2000. The facility is truly the “Center of it All.” Most things of importance in southern West Virginia happen at the State Capitol or the Charleston Civic Center. The facility impacts the quality of life for citizens of our region by providing opportunities for them to be entertained, educated, and enlightened. The new facility will ensure these opportunities remain and allow the local economy to be further advanced by increasing the attraction of more meetings to Charleston.

We invite our community to come visit this spectacular new facility. It will “knock your socks off.” The meeting and exhibition rooms and the technology incorporated in the facility is state of the art. It will make you proud that Charleston has such a magnificent new addition.

By Samantha Cart, editor, Executive Ink

Over the past 60 years, the Charleston Civic Center has played host to countless superstars, including Tina Turner, Elton John, Stevie Nicks, and Garth Brooks. It has been the site of classic performances by groups ranging from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to The Harlem Globetrotters and accommodated a variety of national conferences and tradeshows. In short, the Charleston Civic Center has served as a hub of business, art, and entertainment in the heart of West Virginia’s Capital
City since it was built in 1958.

Charleston leadership realized the space was in desperate need of improvements to continue being competitive in the convention marketplace. In 2015, BBL Carlton, ZMM Architects & Engineers and tvsdesign assembled a team of construction and design professionals that won the design-build competition for the civic center’s $100 million renovation, which was officially completed on October 19, 2018.

Along with receiving massive upgrades, the iconic arena also received a new name—the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center. “The new name more appropriately reflects what the facility is—a spectator arena for large entertainment events and a modern, state-of-the-art convention and meeting facility designed to service the meetings industry,” said General Manager John Robertson.

The new name came on the heels of a brand-new look that extends to every corner of the building inside and out. Along with a completely redesigned entrance and lobby, expanded and additional meeting space with high ceilings and a new ballroom, other interior upgrades include new carpet, tile and granite countertops; a catering kitchen; digital way-finding stations; functional public spaces; a refurbished exhibit space; loading docks; and WiFi access.

“Our new look and upgraded technology are competitive,” Robertson said. “This is what professional meeting planners who are doing business throughout the country require.”

The touch-screen way-finding stations present guests with a map of the facility and a list of what is happening and where. Each meeting room now has a digital screen outside the door that reveals what group has the room reserved, all of which is interconnected with the center’s booking software. The new catering kitchen offers back-of-house functionality to limit interruptions and is four times the size of the old kitchen. This modernized kitchen gives Distinctive Gourmet, the exclusive in-house caterer to the venue, the opportunity to showcase its talents at meetings, conferences and banquets of all types. All 25 meeting rooms are outfitted with state-of-the-art audio/ visual equipment, flexible meeting configurations, digital screens and LCD projectors or smart TVs.

The physical upgrades also included an increase in overall wireless internet connectivity and availability. Leaders understood that in order to properly serve people attending events in this smartphone and social media driven era, the venue needed to dramatically increase its overall wireless scale and capacity.

The Edmonton EXPO Centre and ticketing platform Showpass announced a new ticketing partnership for trade and consumer events in the venue.

“We strive to deliver exceptional service and technology to our clients at the Edmonton EXPO Centre, and our new partnership with Showpass will keep us on the cutting edge of ticketing service in the growing mobile market,” said Arlindo Gomes, general manager of the Edmonton EXPO Centre. “This partnership supports our vision of becoming one of the top performing venues in North America, and we look forward to the benefits for our trade and consumer clients.”

“Showpass and Edmonton EXPO Centre share a passion for innovation and a clear vision of how technology can impact live events, delighting attendees and streamlining activities for those running the show”, said Lucas McCarthy, CEO of Showpass. “Showpass delivers Edmonton EXPO Centre clients the power to sell out shows more quickly and run all aspects of the events – from ticket sales to check-ins and add-ons – seamlessly.”

A hub of activity in Edmonton and the Northern Alberta region, the Edmonton EXPO Centre is the largest venue of its kind west of Toronto. Millions of guests visit the Edmonton EXPO Centre annually to take part in hundreds of conferences, catered events, graduations, and more. In addition to hosting attractions, exhibits, concerts, and sporting events, the venue is the destination for large consumer and trade shows.

Showpass is a leading independent ticketing platform in Canada. With Showpass, event-goers can find the latest events, buy tickets and get in quickly, right from their phone. Event organizers choose Showpass so they can sell more tickets and merchandise as well as manage everything from sales, check-ins, guest lists, stats and more from the palm of their hand. Showpass serves an ever-expanding variety of organizers including festivals, venues, universities, and trade show clients.

The Walt Disney Company (Australia & New Zealand) and Melbourne Stadiums Limited (MSL) announced the unveiling of the official rebrand of Marvel Stadium, via the installation of the main Marvel Stadium signs – the first physical presence of the eight-year
partnership between the two companies.

As well as the main Marvel Stadium signs, visitors to the venue can expect to see new street artwork, a large-scale character wall and other signage throughout, including the sign at Gate 3 near Southern Cross station.

The main signs are one of the largest neon signs in Australia, each measuring 35 metres wide by six metres high, while the sign letters are 4.3 metres high. The signs are also 2.3 times the height of the popular Marvel character, Hulk.

The first official event at Marvel Stadium was the Melbourne Victory/Melbourne City FC match on Saturday, October 20, followed by the Taylor Swift concert on Friday, October 26.

The official rebrand marks the start of an ever-evolving experience at Marvel Stadium over the life of the partnership between Disney and MSL, with the venue to include innovative, best-inclass experiences for visitors.

A public/private partnership designed to create a new convention center in downtown Muskegon, Michigan, will connect a 201-room full-service hotel, a new 45,000 net square foot convention center, and the city’s LC Walker Arena to become a modern convention and exposition campus.

The public/private partnership between the County of Muskegon, City of Muskegon, and Parkland Properties of Michigan, calls for a $17 million convention center connected to a renovated and rebranded hotel – at a cost of $6 million – and the L.C. Walker Arena, which has just completed a $1.7 million renovation to modernize the 1960s-era arena, with an additional $1.5 million investment in roofing and HVAC improvements planned for the facility. Total estimated investment in the convention/exposition campus is estimated to exceed $26 million.

“The LC Walker Arena is an important part of the fabric of our community,” said Muskegon City Manager Frank Peterson. “People young and old have great memories of watching hockey and attending concerts at the LC. We feel the addition of the convention center will only enhance our growing downtown and provide new opportunities to host larger meetings, conventions, exhibits,
etc. This is a great opportunity to breathe new life into the arena, and ensure that future generations can make similar memories in that building as well as create new memories in our new convention center.”

“The public/private partnership is a long term relationship that allows Muskegon County to achieve goals that otherwise would be unachievable due to PA59 limitations” said Muskegon County Administrator Mark Eisenbarth. “This partnership will give Muskegon County a boost to businesses development, increase competitiveness in the convention marketplace, and increase business
tourism in Muskegon County. It adds to the year-round aspects of tourism in Muskegon County, and will help us draw new meetings, conventions, and events to the County.”

Progressive AE of Grand Rapids was chosen as the architecture and engineering firm for the project, and has been working with the County of Muskegon, the City of Muskegon, and Parkland Properties on initial siting and concept design for the convention center, and the project is now in the Design Development phase.

The convention center portion of the project will be funded with county accommodations taxes and assessments collected from hotels located within the City of Muskegon and will result in a 45,000 net square foot convention center connected to the 201-room Holiday Inn Muskegon Harbor, owned by Parkland Properties and currently undergoing a $6 million renovation and rebranding to become a Delta by Marriott.