Smart Meetings

Wynwood Walls

Just a few years ago, Miami’s Wynwood Arts District was a rundown area with a low-profile art community. It has grown in the past four years, and now is known for the many colorful murals and artistic graffiti covering the exterior of buildings. Some of the works are within Wynwood Walls, a sort of open-air, free museum.

On the second Saturday of each month, thousands of people crowd the district’s streets to enjoy a night out during Art Walk. Starting at 6 p.m. and extending throughout the night, the event features openings at art galleries, restaurants and retail businesses. Food-lovers enjoy dishes from James Beard Award-nominated restaurants and dozens of food trucks.

During Art Walk, participants also can enjoy the thriving craft-brew scene that has emerged in Wynwood. During a recent fam visit, my group toured and sampled beers at Concrete Beach Brewery, J-Wakefield Beer and Veza Sur Brewing Company. All of them are fun places for groups to visit and hang out, and Veza Sura, which had just opened the week we visited, is particularly vibrant, with lots of original beers, large spaces and fantastic energy.

We had dinner at Wynwood Yard, an outdoor public hangout with plenty of unique food trucks, live music and games, among other things. It’s ideal for groups seeking an active, high-spirited evening. Wynwood Yard has become very popular and is fulfilling Founder and CEO Della Heiman’s vision as a place where people of various ages can congregate all day and support local start-ups that, in turn, support one another.

Miami Beach Commissioners approved a five-year lease for a similar site, North Beach Yard, in Miami. Heiman foresees 35 food, retail and fitness businesses in the new space.

The Wynwood area has a wonderful raw, cutting-edge feel to it—with an abundance of young energy—and is a great place for groups to visit.

Read about other Miami attractions, including the luxurious new Nobu Miami hotel and vibrant Little Havana area, in the “Smart Dispatch” column in the November issue of Smart Meetings.

Located in Anne Arundel County, with its 533 miles of shoreline—composed of rivers, inlets, creeks, streams and coves, and boasting Chesapeake Bay as its playground, Annapolis offers a bounty of aquatic activities for groups. From sailing, yacht charters and cruises to kayaking, canoeing and paddleboarding, there is no shortage of water-based adventures for groups in “the sailing capital of the United States.” Here are a few to try.

Set Sail on a Schooner

For over 25 years, Schooner Woodwind Annapolis Sailing Cruises (featured in the movie The Wedding Crashers) has been providing sailing excursions, cruises and racing events on and around Chesapeake Bay.

Planners can choose from four different team-building activities: “Team Building Fun,” ideal for groups of seven to 35 to learn the basics of sailing together; “Team Challenge,” an interactive experience for groups of seven to 25, designed to increase awareness of team processes and encourage teamwork; “The Ultimate,” which involves a professionally led sailing session, followed by a race between two groups divided between two schooners; and “Crew Match Race,” a team-bonding experience for groups of 14-24 in which attendees join professional crews and captains aboard the two 74-foot schooners—Woodwind and Woodwind 2—in a competitive match race.

The company also provides customized cruise and tour packages for meetings on the water. Groups up to 48 get exclusive use of each schooner and both boats can be rented together to accommodate more people. Catering, wine and local craft beers are available aboard the boats.

Take a Tour on a Paddleboard

Planners who want to encourage attendee wellness in between meeting sessions can arrange a group tour with Capital SUP (stand-up paddleboarding). Private tours for more than 40 attendees can be arranged with a professional, certified paddle instructor. Stand-up paddleboards, pedalboards and kayaks are available–beginners welcome. Planners and attendees receive a lesson along with a history tour, an introductory fitness session and a team-building activity.

Play Captain on an Electric Boat

For small groups who prefer a slower pace, planners and attendees can take turns at the wheel of a battery-operated, eco-friendly Duffy boat from Annapolis Electric Boat Rentals for a unique breakout session, group lunch, or a relaxing team-bonding experience on Annapolis’ beautiful waterways. The boats can be rented for one to five hours and planners can order food and beverages from local restaurants or caterers to bring onboard. Each boat holds up to 10 people; multiple boats can be rented to accommodate larger groups.

More: Three Reasons to Take your Meeting Outdoors This Summer

Cruise Through Your Meeting on a Powerboat

Island Chill Yacht Charters provides floating venues for meetings, incentive groups, corporate retreats and team building experiences aboard their two vessels: a 34-foot powerboat, Irie Vibes, and a 43-foot sailboat, Therapy. The all-inclusive experiences are customized according to groups’ needs. Team-building events are designed to build communication skills, foster creativity, identify team assets and barriers, and boost team performance while maintaining a spirit of fun and celebration. The Captain, a former research scientist at the National Institute of Mental Health and a practicing psychotherapist, has EAP (employee resolution program) experience and offers conflict resolution training and psychotherapy for meetings and retreats aboard his vessels.

Creativity, pushing the envelope and being plugged in to a client’s tastes. These are among the many traits that make for great planners and great events, and Hillary Smith, CMP, CSEP, and co-founder of South Florida’s Koncept Events shows them off to great effect in the events she plans.

In late April, Smith and her team transformed the luxury hotel’s Mediterranean Ballroom into a scene out of an intimate dinner in a vintage Cuban city. The “Havana Nights” event earned her not only the praise of her client and the Breakers hotel, but it also made her one of the winners of Smart Meetings’ Think Big Meetings contest.

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Ms. Smith, and she shared several insights about the inspiration and creative drive that made the event such a memorable evening—and a fun one to plan.

think-big-meetings-havana-nights-1 “Because we’re in South Florida we [often see] a Cuban look to events, so we’re constantly wanting to reinvent it,” Smith says. “Everyone’s go-to for a Cuban event is, ‘I want to throw tropical flowers in a cigar box.’ So it was nice to have a client who allowed us to think a little more out of the box and actually push the envelope a little bit.”

Smith used her creative vision, knowledge South Florida’s Cuban culture and even a little inspiration from pop culture—specifically, TV’s Magic City, which “has a little bit of Havana and Cuban influence,” according to Smith.

“We called every single wedding vendor that we could possibly get our hands on and finally found this banana palm-inspired overlay and so we used that as a palette. Then we did a lot of research, pulled different colors that are prevalent in Cuban architecture, as well as the tiny little accents like coffee beans—and big monstera leaves to give us that shadowing over the tables.”

Smith emphasized the drive to bring a fresh look to events as one of the major attributes that led to the successful “Havana Nights” event. “I continue to push my internal creative team to say, ‘I know this works, but let’s switch the recipe, let’s continue to reinvent this, let’s look outside of our walls to make sure we’re staying on top of making this an evolving trend,’ versus ‘This is our one Cuban look that we do over and over and over.’”

Doing so isn’t easy in any industry, but it helps that Smith loves what she does. “We create environments and experiences. It takes a lot of love and care and passion versus just putting a bunch of flowers on the table.”

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A horseback ride through the Uncompahgre Plateau sounds like something you might see in a John Wayne or Gary Cooper movie. But there I was, ready for the adventure atop my yet-to-be-trusted horse, Tipi.

It was part of a four-day media trip that I participated in a few days ago to Gateway Canyons Resort & Spa in western Colorado. The ride took place in the early evening, as the weather was cooling down and the lighting on the magnificent reddish landscape was seemingly changing by the minute.

gateway-canyons-horse-ride I wasn’t a complete novice to horseback riding, having done so with a former girlfriend, but that was quite some time ago. So, when our group first hopped on our horses, I wasn’t sure what to expect. My horse, Tipi, seemed to be pleasant enough, although I could tell he was a bit over-eager to begin the journey.

I was told that he didn’t like to have his reins pulled back hard. So, I tried to avoid this, but he also liked to bend down and nibble on grass, which we were told to discourage. So, I had to find a happy medium in which I lightly pulled back on the reins, yet did so strongly enough that he would stop eating grass. At the beginning of the ride, I wasn’t very successful, and Tipi made the situation more problematic by cleverly and rapidly snatching grass before I could try to deter him. But as the ride progressed, things went more smoothly and he and I established a nice bond. By the end of the ride, I felt we had gained a solid understanding of each other, and had established a sort of friendship.

Some of the riders had no experience, while others had varying skill levels. Everyone seemed to enjoy the slow, safe journey up the rocky terrain, however, and after about an hour we reached our destination: the Pavilion, a cozy setting where we were greeted by a band of old-timers playing traditional American songs. We all enjoyed the music while feasting on a bountiful, country-style buffet. The whole experience took us back in time and slowed us down to appreciate the simplicity and beauty of our surroundings.

The rest of the media trip at Gateway Canyons consisted of a wide range of activities, including stargazing, touring resort-founder John Hendricks’ spectacular auto collection, a UTV tour to an amazing lookout point, a fabulous spa treatment, a dramatic helicopter tour, and a thrilling ride aboard a Pro-Baja racing truck. Clearly, Gateway Canyons suits both the meditative types and thrill-seekers—and everyone in between. And the brilliance of the red rock canyons, monoliths and mesas, snowcapped mountains, lakes and rivers defies description. gateway-canyons-playing-in-the-band

Gateway Canyons provides 72 guest rooms (including 14 casitas) and 11,778 sq. ft. of meeting space. It’s an ideal spot for incentive trips, as well as meetings with either a laid-back or busy vibe.

You’ve heard about 3-D printing, and maybe have even tried it. The once-fantastical concept is now available to everyone, allowing infinite uses, from creating headphone holders to musical instruments to medical prosthetics. But have you heard of 3-D-printed food? Lynette Kucsma has more than heard of it. As cofounder and chief marketing officer of Natural Machines, she saw that chefs wanted to create ever-more intricate platings. “3-D food printing was the best way to solve that problem,” she says.

How 3-D Printing Works

Today, you can find affordable 3-D printers everywhere. The concept is simple: Load the printer with colored filament, enter a design and voila—you now have a plastic, tangible object. To overcome size limits in the current generation of printers, multiple pieces can be assembled into a finished product—think violins or R2-D2 replicas. If your imagination can create it, so can a 3-D printer.

Natural Machines vs. Traditional 3-D Printers

In creating what she says is the world’s first 3-D food printer, Kucsma decided to break the mold of conventional 3-D printers. She wasn’t creating things in plastic; she wanted edible designs. Her solution is Foodini, which prints sweet desserts to savory entrees. “I’m passionate about healthy eating, technology and doing the right thing,” Kucsma says. “All of those things come together for me at Natural Machines.”

She swears Foodini is as easy to use as any kitchen appliance. The device comes with stainless-steel food capsules into which you put your own fresh ingredients. “This is real food, 3-D printed,” says Kucsma.

To print food, Foodini connects to the internet. The user then uses the device’s touch screen, a laptop or tablet to input a recipe and design. Foodini instructs which ingredients to insert in each capsule, and the printing process begins.

Let’s say you want to print fresh ravioli. The ingredients go into the capsules (the appliance comes with five). Foodini then prints the different layers of each raviolo dumpling—from pasta to filling to pasta again—that you pop in boiling water to cook. No more time spent individually filling each raviolo when making it from scratch! Choosing your own ingredients can mean healthier options, and fewer calories or carbohydrates, if you wish. Kucsma says 3-D-printed food beats out pre-made, pre-packaged foods in taste, as well.

Foodini comes with extruding—printing—nozzles of varying sizes, so there’s no need to blend ingredients before putting them in capsules. For example, you can 3-D print raw ground beef with minced onions and fresh herbs into patties, and they come out ready to be grilled. It works with raw foods, too.

Foodini in the Event Planner’s World

Foodini is useful not only for at-home printing—it can also be used for events as well. “Chefs are interested in Foodini for creating food presentations that aren’t possible by hand, and automation,” says Kucsma.

Foodini is expensive, as kitchen appliances go—$4,000, online—but Kucsma believes the time they save will prove worth the price. Chefs can focus elsewhere while Foodini takes control of repetitive shaping or filling. Flatter items, such as crackers or simple plate decorations, take only a few minutes to print, while more intricate designs can take up to 20 minutes. The technology has already been implemented by caterers and food service providers, and Kucsma says Michelin-starred chefs are a “top client segment.”

If there’s a downside at present, it’s time. How long it takes Foodini to print is based both on intricacy and quantity. In the ravioli example, dinner for a family of four would take longer to print than a single raviolo, making it most suitable for smaller events or food that can be made in advance and then stored or refrigerated. Foodini’s strength is in creating designs most chefs struggle to create by hand—perfect for wowing guests with dessert or an intricate appetizer rather than an entire three-course meal.

The Future of Foodini

Natural Machines is imagineering pre-filled capsules, much like Keurig coffee capsules, to eliminate the need to buy your own ingredients. Kucsma also hopes Foodini will be used to customize meals for individuals with special dietary needs. “If I’m low on Vitamin D and Iron, I’ll be able to up those nutrient levels in my freshly printed breakfast bar,” she says. While the original Foodini is available for purchase now, she also believes that Natural Machines will eventually produce 3-D food printers “to meet all budgets and functionality requirements.”

After six decades on the Las Vegas Strip, the Riviera Hotel and Casino has officially closed. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), which in February bought the 2,075-room property and the 26-acre site for $182.5 million, will tear down the building and expand the Las Vegas Convention Center to the Strip as part of a $2.3 billion Las Vegas Global Business District initiative.

This is the largest economic development initiative the LVCVA has undertaken since the Las Vegas Convention Center was built in the late 1950s. It is hoped that the project will attract more trade shows, conventions and visitors to the city.

“The Las Vegas Global Business District is the single most important economic development project in the state…this strategic acquisition of land gives us the much-needed space for expansion, while also providing a highly visible presence on one of the most famous streets in the world—the Las Vegas Strip,” said Rossi Ralenkotter, president/CEO of the LVCVA, in February.

The Riviera site will designate the entrance to the Global Business District. Phase One of the revitalization project will be a 1.8 million sq. ft. expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center that will add 750,000 sq. ft. of new exhibit space and 187,500 sq. ft. of new meeting space. Phase Two will focus on renovation of the existing convention center. When complete, the facility will grow from its current total footprint of 3.2 million sq. ft. to nearly 5.7 million sq. ft. The project is expected to take 5-8 years.

Las Vegas icons Frank Sinatra and Liberace both performed regularly at the Riviera. Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval said, “For the better part of 60 years, this historic property has created memories for millions of guests and will always have a place in the history of this great city. As the storied resort makes way for the Global Business District, this site will continue to play an integral role in the attraction of visitors to Nevada.”

When launching its new campaign, Beyond Words, Tourism Victoria decided to kick it up a notch. The CVB partnered with Baggins Shoes, a local company in Victoria, Canada, that customizes Converse sneakers. Guests attending their recent San Francisco party were sent a link in advance, inviting them to create their own unique pair of Canadian kicks, which they would receive at the event.

Budding artists selected either a low- or high-top version of the classic white footwear, and one of several designs depicting the beautiful city in Western Canada to adorn the outside of the shoe. Online they then decorated the inside of the sneaker with whatever image they chose. When Tourism Victoria’s Amanda Eyolfson and Trina Mousseau wheeled out a rack the finished products, everyone got a kick out of viewing their colleagues’ creations. (Some of the sneakers featured beer and donuts; while others had dogs, orcas and polar bears.)

Great Idea for Planners

Planners that want a clever conversation starter that doubles as a memorable souvenir can arrange a similar promotion with Baggins. The firm could imprint the company’s logo on one side of the sneaker, and let employees attending a meeting or incentive trip get creative with the other side.

Trina Mousseau, Tourism Victoria’s chief marketing officer, came up with the campaign. “I’m a huge fan of Baggins, which has one of the largest collections of Converse sneakers in the world,” she says. “What’s great about this promotion is that you get the buy-in from the group before even arrive at the event. Then they get to keep and wear the sneakers, which is continuous advertising for us.”

Victoria Beyond Words

When explaining the new Victoria Beyond Words campaign, Tourism Victoria’s travel media relations representative Amanda Eyolfson said that trying to describe why Victoria, BC is so special is difficult to put into words. “It’s just a two hour, direct flight from San Francisco, but it’s like stepping into a different world,” she says. Visitors get a relaxed feeling as they adjust to island time. In addition to being the cycling capital of Canada, Victoria is a very walkable city, with little traffic congestion and a lot of character.

Holly Lenk, manager of Travel Media Relations at Tourism Victoria, echoes her sentiments. “No car is needed to experience this destination, which is nice for busy planners. In Victoria it’s easy to get to the beach, or the wilderness.” She adds that Victoria is proud of its old-world history, but also has a fair share of modern tech startups, especially in the gaming industry.

Kick it up in Victoria, BC!

L.A. Live

Meet in one of the most exciting spots on the globe right now. Downtown is the beating heart of Los Angeles—an eminently walkable showcase for the city’s most spectacular entertainment, dining, sporting events, nightlife and more.

Everywhere you turn is a fabled landmark or cultural touchstone, including Walt Disney Concert Hall, L.A. LIVE, STAPLES Center and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Downtown’s neighborhoods reflect its rich mosaic, among them are the Arts District, Exposition Park, Chinatown, Olvera Street, Koreatown and Little Tokyo.

Planners have their pick of where to meet. High-profile events can be staged at Los Angeles Convention Center, Microsoft Theater and The Grammy Museum. More intimate gatherings can be held at any number of historic, state-of-the-art venues. And the inventory of thousands of guest rooms makes Downtown an easy choice to stay, work and play.

Vibrant Venues

exchange-LA Exchange LA

The city’s main business and financial corridor has evolved into a multifaceted work and lifestyle hub—and a prime locale for meetings. Historic buildings have been renovated to offer unique spaces for special events, such as Exchange LA, in the former Los Angeles Stock Exchange; Vibiana, in a former Baroque cathedral; and The Edison, a bar and club that is an homage to a historic power plant.

The new Ace Hotel on Broadway Street occupies the storied United Artists building, built in 1927. Its 1,600-seat theater, available for events, has a 2,300-square-foot grand lobby and a vaulted ceiling with thousands of tiny mirrors that glitter when lit.

The Sheraton Los Angeles Sheraton Los Angeles Downtown

L.A. LIVE, the $2.5 billion entertainment and sports complex in the center of Downtown, is adjacent to STAPLES Center and the convention center. It handles the red carpet with aplomb, hosting the annual Grammy Awards, Emmys and ESPYs, among other premier events. The Lakers, Clippers and Kings call it home, too. Meeting planners can check out all of L.A. LIVE’s spaces for offsites, including six live entertainment venues, a cinema multiplex, almost 20 dining experiences and outdoor space.

Venues include 7,000-seat Microsoft Theater (formerly Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE); 2,300-seat Club Nokia; 800-seat Premiere House; Target Terrace, a nightclub that can host up to 1,000; and numerous restaurants. The complex also features a 40,000-square-foot outdoor plaza known as “Times Square of the West.”

Beyond L.A. Live, new clubs and entertainment spaces are popping up, including many that can be rented for private events, such as Teragram Ballroom.

For culture mavens, much-anticipated The Broad museum opens in September. It will house nearly 2,000 works of contemporary art in The Broad Art Foundation and Eli and Edythe Broad’s personal collections. In addition to the 120,000-square-foot, $140 million building, there will be an adjacent 24,000-square-foot public plaza that will offer green space, dining and entertainment.

Culinary Capital

Diners in the Downtown area can sample everything from elegant restaurants in luxury hotels to casual eateries—and L.A.’s famed food trucks and lively food stalls. Some hot spots boast celebrity chefs or owners, and many offer al fresco dining, great views of the city, or both. For groups, planners should consider Grand Central Market, which brings together the cuisines and cultures of L.A. with many diverse options.

Redbird in the rectory of Vibiana is drawing raves. It has a private dining room for 16 where Chef Neal Fraser can cook right in front of you, and the general restaurant hosts 85 for dinner and 200 for cocktails. Brand new Barrel Down in the old Bronson Building is a bar and restaurant boasting 40 beers on tap in addition to wine and cocktails. Also new is Osso in the Arts District; it features flavors of the South with global accents.

Classic dining spots include Bottega Louie, Border Grill and Bestia. Chef Wolfgang Puck’s glam WP24 at The Ritz-Carlton at L.A. LIVE offers highly rated Asian fusion cuisine.

Lodging Options

Groups that need to be in the center of all the action will like 54-story JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE (878 guest rooms, 100,000 sq. ft. of meeting space) and The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles (123 guest rooms, 100,000 sq. ft. of meeting space).

The Ritz Carlton Los Angeles The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles

Sheraton Los Angeles Downtown (485 guest rooms, 26,000 sq. ft. of meeting space), in the Financial District and within walking distance of many attractions, is in the midst of a $45 million renovation to modernize guest rooms, public spaces and upgrade technology.

jw-marriott-los-angeles-la-live JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE

Other hotels include The Westin Bonaventure (1,358 guest rooms, 110,000 sq. ft of meeting space) and Millennium Biltmore Hotel (683 guest rooms, 70,000 sq. ft. of meeting space).

Downtown Data

–More than 8,700 hotel rooms in 35 properties

–L.A. Convention Center offers 770,000 sq. ft. of meeting and exhibit space

–Six fast and easy Metro Rail lines run through Downtown and offer transportation to multiple regions and neighborhoods; basic ticket cost: $1.50; day pass $5; 7-day pass $20. Expansion to the beach by early 2016!

A Newly Anointed Neighborhood

newly-anointed-neighborhood-2 The L.A. Corridor, four miles from Downtown, is described as the place where art, sports and education meet. It encompasses prominent attractions such as California Science Center in Exposition Park, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Natural History Museum and Shrine Auditorium. It also includes the University of Southern California, which operates Radisson Hotel Los Angeles Midtown at USC (240 guest rooms; 15,000 sq. ft. of meeting space).

Kate Crilly of hospitality and special events at the university, along with other corrider representatives from key attractions, think big when it comes to meetings. “We want to increase the profile of this area and let people know that when you plan, you have options in addition to the convention center and L.A. LIVE,” Crilly says. Planners could look to the area “for their welcome or closing dinner, or at the whole corridor for their event.”

Venues are well-equipped for meetings, with six restaurants and capabilities for customized team building and activities. “The School of Music can open a reception [or] we can get the marching band,” Crilly says. “The Coliseum has a vast amount of space where you can do substantial things. And of course USC can help with keynoters.”

City plans call for making Figueroa Street, the main thoroughfare linking Exposition Park and USC with Downtown, more green and pedestrian- and bike-friendly, which should make access even easier than it is now.

My L.A. Meeting

My Meeting Downtown My job is internal engagement—engaging hearts and minds of owners who invest in building our hotels. We look for partners to help deliver that spirit of hospitality. The team at Dodger Stadium hit it out of the park.

Our guys were at a hospitality conference at the convention center. We had a side event for one afternoon. We bused them up to the stadium upper deck, where one of the very passionate leaders at Dodger Stadium greeted them and gave them a snack and an overview of the stadium.

Our guys are developers, so [the Dodgers] customized their talking points, telling them about the rich history and intentional design, and why the stadium was built here.

We went to the stadium club for our meeting, then had a progressive dinner [with present and past Dodgers ballplayers]: Ron Cey was in the dugout, where we had a buffet of Dodger dogs and nachos. He did 20 minutes of storytelling, took photos with them and did a Q&A.

At Vin Scully press box for part two of dinner, with sliders and Tommy Lasorda pizza, Eric Karros charmed the daylights out of them. We went to the stadium club for dessert and after-dinner drinks. Orel Hershiser wrapped up the evening.

Everyone was gushing about what a cool experience it was.

–Gina Valenti, Vice President of Owner Services—Hilton Worldwide

For more on our Ultimate Los Angeles Guidebook for Meeting Planners – click here.

The top three cities remained the same but switched places in Cvent Inc.’s annual rankings of the top 50 meeting cities. Basing its rankings on more than $8 billion in sourcing through its marketplace in 2014−15, the cloud-based event management platform has Orlando No. 1 after a one-year absence from the top spot.

“Meetings like to come to Orlando because we merge facilities with general entertainment,” says George Aguel, president and CEO of Visit Orlando. “They’re attendees and tourists at the same time.”

Las Vegas moved up to No. 2, jump frogging No. 3 Chicago, which had been ranked No. 1 last year based on 2013−14 figures. More than 5,000 U.S. cities that are featured on the Cvent Supplier Network were evaluated for the report, which tracked activity from July 2014 to June 2015.

Here are the top 10 cities based on data collected by Cvent:

1. Orlando
2. Las Vegas
3. Chicago
4. San Diego
5. Atlanta
6. Washington, D.C.
7. New York City
8. Dallas
9. Nashville
10. Phoenix

The rankings were compiled from Cvent’s predetermined criteria consisting of: unique request for proposals received; total room nights; awarded request for proposals; awarded room nights; percentage of qualified meeting venues; number of profile views.

Among the cities breaking into the Top 50 this year are Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, Florida, Tucson, Arizona, and Charleston, South Carolina. Charlotte, which moved up nine positions to No. 25, represents a few trends among meeting cities, according to Kevin Fliess, vice president of marketing for Cvent Supplier Network.

“Planners are looking for value and differentiation,” Fliess said. “Charlotte is a very modern city. All the cities that moved up continue to make investments in infrastructure, including airports and hotels.”

Fliess stressed that “attendees want experiences─they don’t just want content.” Planners are responding by selecting cities that may be world renowned travel destinations, but haven’t always been considered top-tier meeting cities.

“They are popular destinations that resonate with leisure travelers and attendees are coming early or staying a few days after meetings,” Fliess said.

For example, Austin, Texas moved up three spots to No. 17, while Tampa, Florida, climbed four notches to No. 26.

To see the complete list of the Top 50 meeting cities based on Cvent’s rankings, click here.

Hate to brag, but I’m feeling like a rock star. I just got back from a weekend fam trip in San Diego where I stayed at Hard Rock Hotel San Diego and boy do I feel spoiled.

For starters, Hard Rock Hotel has a prime location at the entryway to the historic Gaslamp Quarter. It’s also just a short walk to the San Diego Convention Center and Petco Park, home of the MLB Padres and first-class concerts.

During my recent visit, Taylor Swift was performing at Petco Park on Saturday night. To be staying at the Hard Rock with all the buzz surrounding one of the hottest acts in music complemented my whole experience. The lobby was packed with tons of young girls dressed up in matching costumes bearing the names of TS songs. Hanging in the nearby hallway was a giant photo of Janis Joplin lounging on a sofa with a bottle of whiskey in her hand. The music vibe was ageless, and I felt right at home.

When I checked in, I was asked about my musical tastes. I said Southern Rock, but really meant Progressive Country and the music that was playing when I entered my guest room definitely matched what I like to listen to.

hard-rock-hotel-common-area Another slice of cool at the Hard Rock is its casual, yet upscale ambience. I couldn’t help but think how much fun it would be to stay there while meeting across the street at the convention center. One of five hotels near the convention center, the Hard Rock offers an out-of-the-box option with excellent amenities. Besides a full-service spa, there’s a great outdoor pool and bar area with cabanas, two restaurants, a rooftop lounge and a bar/restaurant capable of hosting private concerts. (We got to see Shawn Mendes perform a couple of songs; he was in town to open for TS.)

Meet here, play here

Hard Rock San Diego has amazing meeting and event space of its own, including The Edge with 3,946 sq. ft. of space and floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Gaslamp. Among Hard Rock’s 40,000 sq. ft. of space is an 8,700-square-foot outdoor venue called Woodstock that can be used for concerts or receptions in which planners can create their own backdrops. The 9,100-square-foot banquet hall can accommodate up to 1,000. There are 420 guest rooms and suites.

For pure rock star treatment, buy out the 11th-floor outdoor terrace and enclosed dining area, called Elevation, that are adjacent to a Platinum Rock Star Suite. This party area is perfect for small groups, especially executives looking for a special venue to host an intimate soiree during a convention.

DJ Booth Our amazing “Wine Riffs” dinner inside Elevation allowed us to experience all the senses with lights, music and wine that changed during each of six courses. For example, the second course featured Baja yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno. Music by David Bowie helped spice up the atmosphere, complemented by a crisp glass of Joel Gott sauvignon blanc.

As the evening progressed, the outdoor light show dominated the sky, with deep, rich colors that changed throughout a spectacular sunset over the convention center and Mission Bay. Just as concert lights go dim before the big star takes the stage, the night’s darkness seemingly cued up Taylor Swift within earshot at nearby Petco Park.