Heartland Happenings The Oklahoma City
Convention & Visitors Bureau
Little Rock’s Statehouse Convention Center, operated by the Little Rock
celebrated National Tourism Week on May 11th with a luncheon to honor nine Hometown Heroes for their contributions to local tourism. In addition, the CVB is reporting that their citizens have approved a new $280 million downtown convention center. The proposal for the new convention center calls for 200,000 square feet of exhibit space and 50,000 square feet of meeting space and a 35,000 square foot ballroom to be built in phase one.
Convention & Visitors Bureau is scheduled for renovation in the fall of 2010. Plans include new carpet, paint, wall treatments, upscale lighting and public art upgrades in all ground floor meeting rooms and public areas. Additionally, new furniture in the lower level lobby as well as artwork and photography throughout the gallery hallway, outside of the center’s over 80,000 square feet of exhibition space, will be included in the project.
Erik Barstow is the new Sales
Several Heartland Chapter members are volunteering on the 2011
Manager for associations at the Sheraton Overland Park. Previously he spent three years at the Overland Park Convention & Visitors Bureau as a sales manager and director of the Overland Park Sports Alliance.
Susan Berger of Palace Resorts is reporting that Le Blanc Spa Resort on the beach in Cancun received the official accreditation of 5 Diamonds. The 260 rooms are served by a butler on every floor for any needs the guests may have.
ASAE annual convention committee. The convention will be held in St. Louis in August next year. Safer space is now available at the
Hilton Americas-Houston. The 1,200 room hotel now has a state-of-the-art advanced video surveillance system. The 3VR cameras have technology such as facial and license plate recognition, and the ability to follow the trail of a given object.
Give Back: Sign Up for Service N Sync Day! Each year, the Heartland Chapter joins forces with our sister chapters across the nation in giving back to our local communities. Mark your calendar for this year’s Service N Snyc day on November 4th. Members in Kansas City and St Louis will have an opportunity to volunteer for a half-day at their city’s food bank. In addition, chapter members will have an opportunity to have their association or venue participate in a week-long food drive. The food bank in each city will be dropping off and picking up food barrels for our members that want to participate.
If you are interested in taking charge of a food drive for your association or venue, or setting up a food drive or volunteer effort outside Kansas City or St. Louis, contact Stephanie Deel, Community Service Committee Chair, at Stephanie.deel@marriott.com. Your contributions will make a great difference for your community. INSERT SERVICE N SYNC LOGO HERE. Nonie should have this. If not HQ will have it. I asked Nonie to email it to Christine.