CHICAGO — Are you considering new locations for your trade shows and events? Across the U.S., midsized cities are ripe with potential for business events, offering modern facilities, rich atmospheres, unique offsite experience opportunities and more. Trade Show Executive (TSE) explored three such places in its first Midsized Cities Spotlight.
Madison, Wis.
Madison, Wisconsin’s capital and home to The University of Wisconsin (UW) Madison, is known as “The City of Lakes.”
“Madison is a unique state capital and university town with an unparalleled culinary scene (including the country’s largest producer’s-only farmers’ market), incredible arts and culture, and a great opportunity for urban outdoor adventure — right outside the meeting and event spaces, which are nestled between two gorgeous lakes,” Jamie Patrick, Destination Madison’s Executive Vice President of Sales & Sports Strategy, said. “During appropriate seasons, groups can utilize our all-electric bike share program and ride along the platinum-rated trails, stopping at restaurants, retail shops, parks, breweries and more along the way.”
Meeting Spaces
- The Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, who was from Madison, has a LEED Platinum certification and offers five levels of meeting space, rooftop gardens and a 40,000-square-foot exhibition hall.
- The Alliant Energy Center’s 164-acre campus has four venues and nearly 630,000 total square feet of functional space, 29 acres of green space, a 90,000-square-foot exhibition pavilion and more.
- Schuster’s Farm can give events a wholesome, rustic touch and — while offering acres of zinnias and sunflowers in summer and a corn maze and haunted forest in fall — has a reception capacity of 450 and a banquet capacity of 350, with four meeting rooms and 4,800 square feet of meeting space.
“Madison is a welcoming place for all and is an incredibly accessible city,” Patrick added. “This year, Forbes named UW-Madison as ‘New Ivy’ and it is an easy place to build on intellectual capital, in addition to having a direct connection to potential diverse expert speakers and presenters for meetings and events.”
Related. Trade Show Executive’s Digital Convention Center Spotlight: Part 1
Tulsa, Okla.
More than one million people live in Tulsa, which boasts a vibrant culinary scene, fascinating historical sites and numerous meeting spaces.
“Tulsa offers a unique mix of attractions, dining, neighborhoods and venues that is one-of a-kind,” Jonathan Huskey, Director of Communications, Tulsa Regional Tourism, said. “Outside of the events, Tulsa has premier attractions like the Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie Centers, Cain’s Ballroom and The Church Studio for music lovers, or the two-time USA Today Best City Park Gathering Place … Tulsa has everything organizers need to put on a top-tier event and make attendees’ stay in town memorable.”
Meeting Spaces
- The Cox Business Convention Center has more than 275,000 square feet of flexible event space, the state’s largest banquet space and in-house catering from award-winning Executive Head Chef Devin Levine.
- Expo Square, which includes four free-standing buildings and 11 arenas and barns, features SageNet Center, one of the largest clear-span buildings in the world, a 448,000-square-foot facility with 354,000 square feet of column-free space.
- The BOK Center is a more-than-19,000-seat sports and entertainment arena in downtown Tulsa.
“Tulsa is also home to great museums like the Tulsa Air & Space Museum, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa Artist Fellowship and The Outsiders House Museum, a filming location from the iconic 1983 film shot and based in Tulsa,” Huskey said. “In the historic Greenwood District, you can find Greenwood Rising Black Wall Street History Center, which tells the moving and historically-significant story of Tulsa’s Greenwood community, site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and the history, culture and resilience of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street.”
Durham, N.C.
Durham is the fourth-most populous city in North Carolina and features iconic American landmarks such as the Historic Durham Athletic Park.
“Durham is a community-minded meeting location,” Neil Curiel, Discover Durham’s Director of Sales, said. “We welcome meeting planners and attendees with true Southern hospitality and offer all the amenities of a big city in a perfect, midsized city setting. Attendees are welcome to continue their networking experience in our backyard that is full of acclaimed restaurants, bars and breweries.”
Meeting Spaces:
- The Durham Convention Center has more than 35,000 square feet of versatile meeting space, a 15,500 square-foot Grand Ballroom and more. It partners with the Carolina Theatre, Durham Arts Council and the Durham Armory to create DPLEX, a unique way to explore outside the venue while still being attached to the main convention center space. “All four buildings sit surrounded by four branded and boutique hotels that change the typical ‘convention center’ feel of the area to more of a community space that invites attendees to explore the heart of downtown,” Curiel explained.
- HUB RTP is being built south of downtown, a new destination in Durham’s Research Triangle Park that will include meeting spaces, office parks, a hotel, greenspace, apartments and retail shops.
“Earlier this year, Discover Durham unveiled Durham’s first-ever, community-wide vision for Durham as a destination,” Curiel shared. “This 20-year vision states that by 2044, Durham will be the most welcoming, inclusive, innovative and vibrant destination in the U.S., while thoughtfully honoring its history and people.”
Stay tuned for more Midsized Cities Spotlights from TSE.
