Your group will be meeting in what will be one of the newest, most state-of-the-art convention centers in the world. This goes a long way toward making up for any concerns a planner may have.
continued from page 49
view’s incredible—I guess that’s the beauty of it. You’re not using something that’s tired and old. It’s glistening and new ... and that really drewus.We could have maybe crammed our- selves into a hotel somewhere, but the newness of the architecture, the use of the natural light- ing, and all these kinds of things just really attracted us to it.”
feet outdoors: Exhibitors must be able to demonstrate their products by burning wood, charcoal, gas, and other fuels—not just out- doors, but indoors (natural gas only) as well. Thus, NashvilleCVBPresident Butch Spyri-
C M P
Make Yourself at Home Getting into a building early also can result in more concrete advantages, such as possibly being able to work alongside facility management to tailor the center to your needs—at least in some ways. That is what’s happening for the Hearth, Patio&Barbecue Association (HPBA), whose HPBExpo is booked into Music City Center forMarch 2013—the same month that the building is scheduled to open. HPBA has a unique requirement for its trade show, which currently occu- pies about 200,000 square feet indoors and 50,000 square
CERTIFICATION MADE POSSIBLE
don and Nashville Convention Center Direc- tor Charles Stark (who also will head upMusic City Center) have been working closely with Kelly VanDermark, director of meetings and expositions for HPBA, to make sure that the exhibit hall will be outfitted with the proper
venting and piping, so that her exhibitors can burn indoors. DoesVanDermark think that Nashville is creating any of this indoors natural-gas functionality with HPBA specifically in mind? “I have to imagine the answer is yes,” she said. “Their hope probably is that if they can satisfy us, they can get other shows there as well.” Spyridon confirms VanDermark’s supposition. “We were
planning on this capability on the front end with groups like HPBA in mind,” he said. “HPBA helped us during the plan-