INDIANAPOLIS Deliberately Designed forMeetings and Conventions
INDIANAPOLISWASN’T HIGH ON SHARON SULLIVAN’S radar. It wasn’t that Sullivan, vice president of marketing and conferences for the American Association ofHomes & Services for the Aging (AAHSA), had any negative percep- tions—Indianapolis just wasn’t one of those cities that immediately came to mind for a citywide. At a recent industry trade show, however, she decided to
stop by the Indianapolis booth. “I got a 10-minute overview thatmademe want to take a closer look,” she said, and she booked a site visit. “As most meetingplanners will tell you, there is no such
thingas the perfect venue for your citywide,” Sullivan said. “We all have what I call ‘success factors.’ Are the hotels spread out? Is the center well laid out? Are the hotels high quality and rates reasonable? Is the downtown walkable and safe?Does it have a good union situation?Does it have the culture and nightlife to hold our attendees’ attention? When
a city has asmany of these factors as possible, we’remore likely to be successful there.” Before her site visit, she knew that Indianapolis “looked
really good on paper.” But in person? “It was off the charts with success factors,” she said, “with almost no factors in the negative column.”Here’s what she “saw and loved” when she came to town: “The city is really charming. It has this wonderful, walka-
A new expansion to the Indiana Convention Center— which doubles its size— opens this month.
ble downtown.My members love cities where they can walk to restaurants and shops, where they don’t have to cab every- where. It’s a sophisticated city, but it also has a warmth that comes fromits people. AAHSA’s citywide attracts about 9,000, so I liked that we won’t get lost there, that ourmem- bers will see each other downtown and feel connected. But at the same time, they will have plenty of high-caliber culture and nightlife to hold them. “Themajority of our hotel rooms will be connected to the convention center. That’s unbelievable. When we choose a city that has hotels spread out, AAHSA will spend several hun- dred thousand dollars on shuttle buses.Our members don’t really like to spend time on buses, so to have almost all of our rooms in walking distance, well, that is a huge success factor. The convention center is laid out well with ample space, but not so huge that you need sneakers to get from one place to the other. They also have a reasonable union situation, so I know our exhibitors will be happy there. “Overall, it’s a really affordable city for
show management and for our members. Lastly, and this is very important tome, they have a really strongCVB with excellent people. As a city, they understand and invest in the convention industry and the people who produce them. I can tell by the caliber