VENUE REVIEW
Rooftop event at the Hawaii Convention Center
HAWAII CONVENTION 2019 IAVM VENUE EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNER INTRODUCES A VARIETY OF NEW AMENITIES
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eographically speaking, the Hawaii Convention Center (HCC) may well be the ideal site choice in the United States for conventions aiming to cater to members in the Asia-Pacific region. An organization that recently began taking advantage of this accessibility is the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), which had been meeting in Florida until 2012 and then in various mainland North American cities. “ARVO has a large membership base in Asia, and this group had been disadvantaged related to the location of the meeting always being in Florida. So Hawaii made sense both as an appealing destination to all of our members and as a good option for our members in Asia,” explains Lancey Cowan, JD, CAE, Chief Meetings Officer. ARVO first held its Annual Meeting at the HCC in 2018, drawing over 11,000 delegates. The first ARVO International meeting — branded ARVO Pacific Rim — will be held at the facility in October 2020. “We chose Hawaii [a second time] because of the success of our 2018 Annual Meeting there and the good attendance from Asia, in addition to the ease of executing a meeting at the Center,” Cowan says. That prowess in customer service garnered major
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industry recognition this summer when the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM) named the HCC its 2019 Venue Excellence Award winner. The award was presented on July 24 at VenueConnect to Teri Orton, General Manager of the HCC, managed by AEG Facilities. “This award honors the work of our entire team for providing world-renowned service and aloha to each of our guests,” Orton said. “During the past year, we were proud to welcome a variety of major conferences and international sports tournaments, and develop new and engaging community events, such as Sunset Mele and Night Market,” she added. “We also rolled out numerous amenities to provide additional convenience, as well as launched our Ho’omaluō environmental conservation program, which includes our Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.”
THE LATEST ENHANCEMENTS
Among the new amenities, features and venues recently introduced at the HCC are the following: 1801 Café + Bar in the main lobby, offering fresh-made snacks, lunch items, beverages and local treats and gift items
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FACILITIES & DESTINATIONS 2019 FALL
