Where to go, what to do?
For planners who set up the team meetings, sales conferences,
strategy sessions and trade shows that keep business people busy,
those concerns are an ever-present challenge to find the best
sites in the most appealing settings with the best amenities and
attractions, and manned by the most attentive staff.
We talked to some area planners about their favorite sites, both
in and outside of Western New York, to hold corporate and association
events. A lot is at stake, they say.
"A location can make or break a meeting," says Shari
Rife, manager of creative process and facilitation at Rich Products
Corp. "If you don't have a comfortable location with everything
you need and a staff that's helpful and works with you, nothing's
going to get done because everyone is miserable."
The standouts
Two area meeting sites - one a newcomer to the local conference
scene, the other in business for more than 15 years - drew high
praise from several planners.
Since it opened in May 2004, the Conference
Center Niagara Falls in Niagara Falls, N.Y., has received
rave reviews.
"Really state-of-the-art. Everything caters to your needs,"
Beth Lasky, community-relations director for BlueCross BlueShield
of Western New York Inc. and president of the Buffalo Events Network,
says of the center, which is located across from Seneca Niagara
Casino. "The nice thing is, it has so many rooms - some equipped
for a more intimate setting of 20, others for hundreds."
"You've got ergonomic chairs,
wonderful audiovisual and anything that you would need for the
high-tech meeting," agrees Susan Lojacono, vice president
of the Events Network and president of Eventssource.
Owned by Olympic Management Systems Inc., Beaver Hollow Conference
Center in Java Center wins fans with a combination of rural beauty
and modern comforts.
"Their focus is meetings, so I think that's a huge plus,"
Rich Products' Rife says. "It's offsite, it's far enough
away to feel like you're hundreds of miles away but not too far
if people have to be getting back to the office. They keep building
and expanding and understanding customer needs."
"You're out in a wooded setting that also has interactive
team activities," adds Lasky. "It lends itself to a
relaxed tone, but it also has all the amenities to conduct a professional
business meeting: everything from the chef, who is excellent,
to all the high-tech stuff that you need."
The professionals
The Adam's Mark Hotel, Buffalo Convention Center and Hyatt Regency
Buffalo are standbys for area planners, who often use these sites
on a rotating basis when designing annual events for large groups.
"They were extremely flexible. They let us come in, bring
our chef in, really worked with us to make a great event,"
Rife says about a recent event at the convention center. Rich's
often brings its own chefs and products to a meeting site, so
that's an important consideration.
She liked the flexibility of having both a ballroom and conference
rooms for breakout sessions on the center's ground floor. "The
layout and format worked really well for us, and the staff was
really helpful on meeting some unique needs," Rife says.
Rife cited convenience and reliability in her comments about the
Hyatt, also owned by Olympic Management Systems, and its Buffalo
Conference Center. "It's a nice place to have a meeting.
There's nothing totally unique or special about it, but if we
want to do something offsite, it's local, it's easy to get to,"
she says.
The little guys
Lojacono says she likes to expose Buffalo Events Network members
to new or little-known spots for smaller gatherings.
She recommends the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum,
Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, Neighborhood Collective, University
at Buffalo Anderson Gallery and Shanghai Red's as five Buffalo
locations to break the monotony of meeting sites.
But because of its accessibility, the Network has held most of
its monthly meetings this year in the community room at the Walden
Galleria.
"Early in the morning, it's a great place because of the
centralized location, so people aren't too far away from where
they work," Lojacono says.
Lasky calls Canisius College's Montante Cultural Center, walking
distance from BlueCross headquarters, "a visually stunning
location" for staff get-togethers.
Restaurants and coffee shops are also a good site option for smaller
meetings. Lojacono likes LeMetro, Sonoma Grille and Tempo, and
says Dave & Buster's is on the organization's radar.
The local American Heart Association affiliate had a thank-you
dinner for Heart Walk supporters and participants at The View
in Amherst this year, and at the Harbor Club at HSBC Arena the
year prior.
"We try to utilize when we can - because we're a nonprofit
organization - other organizations and restaurants in our community.
We like to give back too," says Trina Tardone-Steinhart,
communications director for the association's Northeast Affiliate,
Western region. "Often they're very gracious and much of
it will be donated."
The outsiders
As for meetings outside Western New York, corporate planners say
they don't go out of their way, so to speak, to make that happen.
"I probably don't do a whole heck of a lot out of the area,"
says Rife. "Domestically I probably do maybe four or five
meetings (outside the Buffalo area) a year and then internationally,
eight to 10." Since her full-time job is meeting and event
planning, those figures represent just a drop in the bucket.
"We have a lot of meetings in Chicago and Charlotte, North
Carolina, because those are places people can get to easily,"
Rife adds. "The Chicago Hilton is nice because it's right
at the airport. It's because of the convenience that we go there.
They're very focused on meetings. They do it really well."
She raves about Marriott's Evergreen Conference Resort near Atlanta.
"They're absolutely phenomenal. They're very, very focused
on service," she says. "It's in a beautiful setting,
beautiful surroundings, and the conference facilities are all
up-to-date."
When she plans an event overseas, Rife says, it will always be
near a Rich's plant, and she'll work with a local team on site
selection and planning.
Based in Buffalo, BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York has
divisions in Albany, Rochester, Syracuse and Binghamton, so the
company often holds its sales meetings in central New York. The
Lodge at Woodcliff in Rochester, Geneva on the Lake Wine Country
Villa & Resort on Seneca Lake and Genesee Grande Hotel in
Syracuse are favorites of company planners, Lasky says.
Just over the border in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Lojacono
likes White Oaks Conference Center and Spa and Queen's Landing
Inn & Conference Resort.
"White Oaks is probably the premier conference center in
Southern Ontario," she says. "It's a real beautiful,
plush conference center with a really amazing spa."
The bottom line for Rife in choosing the location for any large
meeting is making sure the venue prioritizes conference business.
"If we're going to have a meeting in a hotel and the meeting
part of their business is secondary, it just doesn't work. They
have to decide: Are they in the hotel business or the conference
business?" she says. "If I don't feel they are focused
on meetings, I won't have our event there."
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