DESTINATION
ORLANDO
The Imagination! pavilion at EPCOT, one of many unique special event spaces at the park
CENTRAL FLORIDA’S MEETINGS HUB IS ONCE AGAIN THE COUNTRY’S MOST-VISITED DESTINATION By George Seli
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rlando has received much attention in the travel world this year, and deservedly so. The city is the first U.S. destination to surpass 70 million annual visitors, welcoming 72 million travelers in 2017. The achievement was due in part to the ongoing entrepreneurialism of Orlando’s hospitality industry: More than 100 rides, resorts, restaurants and retailers have come online in the last five years, giving travelers new reasons to revisit Orlando. While the occasional planner will see the city’s wealth of recreation as a potential distraction to attendees, most meeting organizers see it as an asset. The opportunities for offsite events at the theme parks are practically endless, and for many delegates, the prospect of free time in Orlando is an attraction that encourages attendance. The attendees of VMX Veterinary Meeting & Expo, the largest veterinary conference in the world, have certainly found Orlando’s theme parks a value-add to their onsite experience. Presented by the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC), VMX brings about 18,000 veterinarians, veterinary technicians and exhibitors every January or February to the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC). “The average [attendee] profile is a 38-year-old professional female who is very family oriented and motivated to do things with her family,” notes Thomas Bohn, MBA, CAE, Chief Executive Officer of the NAVC. “So they want [a destination where] they
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can take the entire family. And there is really I think no better location in the country right now [for that purpose] than Orlando. And you see that in our numbers, because you have 3,000 to 4,000 guests” of the registered attendees. Helping the NAVC to promote the destination and maintain those robust attendance numbers is Visit Orlando. “They’ve developed a number of videos and marketing collateral for us that we’ve been able to share with our potential customers, and they’ve helped us arrange all types of deals and packages through the parks,” says Bohn. “We signed on for 10 years at the convention center, and it was very much due to Visit Orlando.” Of course, the quality of the OCCC and its service also motivated the booking decision. “You don’t very often have that much space in one location that also provides the technological needs, the WiFi and the ease of use of a number of classrooms — and we’re heavy classroom users,” Bohn remarks. On the tech side, “we do live TV broadcasting on our own channel, and they having the AV group [LMG, Inc.] onsite available for all the projectors and videowalls. The AV team’s responsiveness is excellent and their price point is in line with the market.” In addition, Bohn cites the fact that the OCCC is “constantly making improvements and refreshing things, so it just looks great.” The facility’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan has upgraded the roofing, digital signage in the North and South FACILITIES & DESTINATIONS 2018 SUPERBOOK