DTD: Dallas Convention Center

[CTroyMathis]

Dallas Convention Center to have world's largest column-free room
03/12/2002

By MIKE JACKSON / The Dallas Morning News

There's Reunion Tower, Pegasus, and the green argon lights of Bank of America Plaza. On Monday, Dallas' skyline got a new striking feature.

Construction crews hoisted the first of two 110-foot-high steel arches that will support the ceiling of what officials say will be the world's largest column-free convention space – nearly 5 acres large.

The 203,000-square-foot hall is the centerpiece of the Dallas Convention Center's $130 million renovation, expected to be completed this year. The hall's area is easily larger than the circumference of Reunion Arena and, because of the way it is being built, its massive roof will require no pillars.



"It will be an architectural signature in the southwest portion of downtown," Mr. Whitney said. "It will be a great entry point. I am quite excited about the fact that we have the largest singular pillarless room in the world. From a marketing standpoint, it gives us marketing value that no one else has."

http://a1416.g.akamai.net/f/1416/744/1s/www.dallasnews.com/img/03-02/120312convention.jpg

J. MARK KEGANS / DMN
Hydraulic jacks raised an 850-ton truss Monday as part of renovations at the Dallas Convention Center.
Large conventions are drawn to such wide-open spaces because they are easier to work with, Mr. Whitney said. Pillars cut off space and limit what can be done with displays, he said. They also block participants' views of stages and large exhibits.

Building a room that big without pillars is no easy feat, architects and engineers said Monday. It requires constructing a pair of 850-ton trusses at floor level and raising them to 40 feet with giant hydraulic lifts.

Workers started building the first truss, a bridgelike arch, and its lifts 12 weeks ago, said Thomas Wurtz, project manager for the city.

Then, at 10:30 a.m. Monday, they began to raise the roof. Bundles of cable, which were attached to four hydraulic lifts atop about 60-foot towers, raised the white truss structure 6 inches at first, then 18 inches at a time over about two hours. Eventually, the truss was 40 feet off the hall's concrete slab.

Officials said the process came off without a hitch.

"The first couple of feet were baby steps," Mr. Wurtz said. "It's a miracle of architecture, art and engineering."

The lifts will hold the truss in place until concrete columns can be poured at the building perimeter. Meanwhile, workers are building a second truss, to be raised in May.

Construction on the new building – roughly 400 feet by 500 feet – began in July 2000 and is scheduled to be completed by mid-September, said R. Bruce Lane, senior project manager of Austin Commercial.

The building is so large that part of it covers six sets of underground railroad tracks.

"We had to put the exhibit hall on springs so you wouldn't feel the trains going under the building," Mr. Wurtz said.

Besides the new convention space, the project includes renovations to the north entrance of the convention center. The convention center has been expanded three other times since it opened in 1957. It has about 525,000 square feet of contiguous space, the most sought-after area by people planning large conventions. A second level contains about 300,000 square feet of space. The addition will push the total space to more than 1 million square feet.

And, convention center officials say, it'll change the look of Dallas.

Said Wilhelmina Boyd, the center's director: "It changes the skyline dramatically."

[MustangMonkey]

<a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/business/stories/092402dnbusconventioncenter.acf.html"> <h2>Dallas Convention Center: More room with a view</h2> </a> Details color convention center's expansion

09/24/2002

By SUZANNE MARTA / The Dallas Morning News

When the Dallas Convention Center expansion opens Thursday, it will be easy to overlook one of the most important additions: the new front door.

For the first time in eight years, the convention center finally has an obvious main entrance. It's a two-story, sloped-glass lobby at the center's north end that is intended to give the Dallas convention business a public face.

"It looks much more modern and much more attractive with that entryway," said David Audrain, chairman of the International Association for Exhibition Management.

The new lobby is representative of what city officials were hoping to achieve when they approved the $128 million expansion project in 1998.

At the time, Dallas risked losing its place among the nation's top tier of convention destinations.

The convention center, last renovated in 1994, couldn't compete, spacewise, with some new halls going up across the nation. And with tourist destinations such as Orlando, Fla., and Las Vegas joining the convention competition, Dallas needed to jazz up its center, which has grown piecemeal since 1957.

The latest expansion's showpiece is the new Hall F, which is the world's largest column-free exhibit hall. It's already attracting buzz.

"It was a very good convention center to begin with," said Galen Poss, president of Irving-based Hanley-Wood Exhibitions. "Now, it's an outstanding convention center."

The expansion opens the door to larger conventions that had outgrown the Dallas Convention Center. Dallas could compete for 94 percent of all U.S. meetings and events before the expansion. Now, that figure is up to 97 percent.


http://www.dallasnews.com/business/stories/L_IMAGE.f029164100.93.88.fa.80.5263e598.jpg
RICHARD MICHAEL PRUITT / DMN
Bruce Lane (left) and J.R. Russell of Austin Construction visit the Dallas Convention Center's spacious new Exhibit Hall F.


That extra slice of the market may not seem like much, but "that 3 percent is a lot of money," said Dave Whitney, president and chief executive of the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"We don't want our current customers to leave us because they outgrew us," he said.

The expansion and renovation also will change the way that Dallas markets itself to the meetings industry, city officials said. The goal: Create a convention center that can host several groups at the same time while attracting the nation's largest conventions as well.

"This helps us flatten the demand curve out," Mr. Whitney said. "We want fewer days of low occupancy in our hotels."

The expansion is expected to bring an extra 500,000 visitors to Dallas each year, industry officials said.

Tough competition


"The market is changing so fast, if you don't renovate or add, you're going backwards," said Steve Vissotzky, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Dallas and president of the Hotel/Motel Association of Greater Dallas.
In the eight years since Dallas last expanded its convention center, 36 competing centers have gone up across the nation, according to Tradeshow Week magazine. The space in those centers, combined with expansions to existing facilities since 1994, add up to 11.8 billion square feet of new meeting space.

The result is that the Dallas Convention Center, even after adding more than 200,000 square feet of exhibit space, will remain where it was before the expansion began – the nation's sixth-largest center.

Still, changes inside the convention center are as important as the added space, meeting planners say.

Space at the Dallas Convention Center now flows seamlessly. Carpeting has been replaced and walls have been cleaned and relit to look fresher. Architectural features, such as grooved walls and stainless steel doors etched with the Texas star, tie the center's various additions together. The updated look makes the space easier to sell.

Before the renovation, the center had no uniform design. The 1994 addition didn't match earlier expansions, and that "was distracting for customers," Mr. Whitney said. "They'd see the space we added in 1994 but wouldn't be as interested in the older space."

The convention center opened in 1957 with a theater, arena – then known as Memorial Auditorium – and ballroom. The first exhibit halls were added in 1974, with additions in 1984 and 1994.

The latest renovation gives the convention center 726,726 square feet of contiguous exhibit space and a total of more than 1 million square feet of exhibit and meeting space.

Another selling feature is the lobby leading into Hall F. It includes 45,000 square feet of carpeted space and has sweeping views of downtown that could be used for registration or receptions. "This is larger than most hotel ballrooms," Mr. Whitney said.

Easier access


Access inside the convention center also has been improved. A 900-foot corridor on the second level links all the exhibit halls for the first time. Previously, conventiongoers had to walk outside to get from hall to hall or risk trespassing on other groups' space.
"The corridor is a huge enhancement," Mr. Audrain said. "Dallas can accommodate a lot more shows at once now."

Mr. Poss said the center's design is now more user-friendly. "It's more space, but it's also better space," he said.

The flexibility to accommodate several small groups or two large groups at the same time will allow the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau to attract more groups to the center. Bureau officials plan to target small and midsize groups, which hold about 11,000 conventions and trade shows each year.

"We'll be more diversified," Mr. Whitney said.

Hotels hopeful


The expansion's opening has been eagerly anticipated by area hoteliers, who have lost business during the construction.
"Customers don't want to deal with the unknowns, like unexpected noise or other disruptions," said Gerald Wolsborn, general manager for the Adam's Mark Hotel in downtown Dallas.

"This just takes away one of the negative factors we've been dealing with," he said. Those problems include the slump in business travel that began in early 2000 and got a lot worse after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a nationwide glut of hotel rooms, which grew by 20 percent in the last five years.

The nation's meetings business hasn't escaped the economic downturn, and convention attendance has slipped since 2000. But the number of exhibitors and events have been growing, said Doug Ducate, president and chief executive of the Chicago-based Center for Exhibition Industry Research.

"There's pent-up demand," he said. "That's an opportunity for convention centers."

E-mail smarta@dallasnews.com


Also Online***
Multimedia: What's expanded, what's new at the Dallas Convention Center (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/graphics/09-02/conventionCenter.html)

Official site: Dallas Convention Center (http://www.dallascc.com/)

[GarrettCarey]

I walked around the the conv ctr this evening and it was pretty darn nice. I commend the vision, funding, design, builders, etc. I truly hope it helps Dallas land more (and bigger) conventions in the years to come.

Now we need some restautants and retail and a hotel and something else to make the area more inviting!

[GarrettCarey]

I understand the two arches will light up at night along with the dome at the other end. Does anyone know the timeframe for this or are they already lit?

Anyone?

[CTroyMathis]

Warning:
Really old thread revival alert. Gasp! The horror.

Ok.

Felt like posting this image to get it back up online. (It used to be here back in 2000ish.)

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10937




But, on another note. . . Why not green roof (http://www.greeninggotham.org/greenRoofs.php) that gigantor topside (http://home.att.net/~seanchris21/SK8.jpg) as well?

[Mephis Gooseberry]

Funny. Thanks for finding that. I needed that pic last year to prove my point in another thread.

So there wasn't an expansion plan for Lot E heh? I am so relieved that sham Rodeo Arena Land Swap deal went to sh.t. Our last DCC expansion was just part of a phased project. It annoys me how quickly our city conveniently forgot our original plan, didn't bother to remind us and almost got ripped off by a shady developer in cahoots with some city staffers. Thanks to everyone who helped fight the good fight.

It sure would be cool to get the other phases done in conjuction with the Marriott proposal. Another 10-15 years maybe, once the life is thriving on main street and Dallas is a destination again. Wish we could do it this bond election so the city would have the money to spend during the next recession when materials cost less.

For comparison. This is what we currently have:

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/5023/dccrk3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[dfwcre8tive]

Escalator mishap injures women at Mary Kay convention in Dallas
04:49 PM CDT on Friday, July 18, 2008
By RACHEL SLADE / The Dallas Morning News
sslade@dallasnews.com
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/071908dmmetmarykay.6a3acbcc.html

Several of Mary Kay’s pink ladies were injured at the Dallas Convention Center this afternoon when a contracted employee changed the direction of an escalator while they were still on it.

The women were heading to lunch on a downward escalator in area "D" near Lamar Street when the incident occurred, said Frank Poe, Dallas convention center and events director. Mary Kay spokesman Crayton Webb said a contracted security person reversed the escalator and the abrupt change surprised the women, causing them to fall on each other.

“From our perspective, this was an unfortunate accident that was preventable,” Mr. Webb said.

At least 10 people received minor injuries and five were transported to nearby hospitals, Mr. Poe said. Some women suffered scrapes, bruises and one may have sprained an ankle. The women taken to the hospital were treated and released.

...

[dfwcre8tive]

Dallas Convention Center Arena may get a makeover
09:23 PM CDT on Saturday, September 20, 2008
By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News
dlevinthal@dallasnews.com
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/092108dnmetconventioncenter.143e635.html

Elvis Presley. Frank Sinatra. Ray Charles.

The Beatles. The Doors. The Grateful Dead.

They're names on a roster that reads like an American music retrospective. And they're united in all having once played the 51-year-old Dallas Convention Center Arena, a storied but increasingly obsolete facility that today is more likely to host a high school graduation than an international musical act.

But some Dallas City Council members are bent on reversing the arena's decline, suggesting that the government explore wholesale renovations that range from reconfiguring its 9,816 bolted-down seats to erecting a fixed stage suitable for large-scale performances.

"We're looking to have the same kind of acts in downtown Dallas as they have at the Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie," said Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway. "No doubt we attract the big acts if we do the right thing."

Such optimism is tempered, however, by numerous hurdles.

Most notably, improvements to the Dallas Convention Center Arena – known until the early 1970s as Dallas Memorial Auditorium – could cost millions of dollars. And they would come immediately after Dallas taxpayers voted to fund the bulk of the Cotton Bowl's $57 million remodeling – an effort that so far has failed to yield a promised influx of high-profile college football and professional soccer games to the 78-year-old stadium.

Even if the arena did feature the amenities of a top-flight concert hall, similar-sized competition abounds.

Nokia Theatre, for example, houses 6,350 seats and already draws dozens of acts not suited for a more intimate showplace but unable to draw the 20,000-person crowds of Dallas' American Airlines Center. Dallas' own Superpages.com Center in Fair Park features 7,533 reserved seats and outdoor lawn seating for thousands more concertgoers.

"Talk of remodeling this arena is very premature. We supposedly don't have money for so many other things in the city, but we're wanting to spend money down here like it's going out of style," council member Mitchell Rasansky said.

"It'll be an uphill battle for Dallas. They'd have to pour an incredible amount of money into it to get the creature comforts of a hall like us or the American Airlines Center," said Justin Press, sales and media manager for Nokia Theatre.

Mr. Press also said that many concert events are driven by corporate sponsors that the city may not find palatable.

"Say Marlboro promotes Toby Keith or someone," Mr. Press said. "We don't care. But is the city going to want to deal with that?"

Costs, benefits

What city officials are interested in is studying the potential costs and benefits of renovating the Dallas Convention Center Arena, located on the corner of Akard and Canton streets across from Dallas City Hall.

A comprehensive, independent study would cost between $30,000 and $70,000, Dallas Convention and Event Services Director Frank Poe said.

That's a figure with which key city officials appear comfortable.

"I sure support the idea of investigating arena renovations. I don't know if it'll turn out to be a good facility to invest in, but it's a good question to ask," Mayor Tom Leppert said.

Ron Natinsky, chairman of the council's economic development committee, is even more certain of the value of renovating the arena.

"Look at everything going on downtown now. It seems like the right time to invest in renovations and have a goal of turning this into a first-class, state-of-the-art facility as a second major indoor venue for Dallas," Mr. Natinsky said.

Indeed, downtown is on an uptick. And the Convention Center itself is primed for expansion with an attached hotel boasting at least 1,000 rooms.

Reunion Arena

Why the focus now on a facility virtually unknown to most Dallasites?

Blame Reunion Arena.

Built in 1980 to effectively replace the Dallas Convention Center Arena, 18,000-seat Reunion Arena quickly gobbled up the concert and event business that once went to its smaller counterpart.

A generation later, Reunion Arena found itself eclipsed when American Airlines Center opened in 2001.

Because of a noncompete clause in the city's contract with AAC's private manager, Center Operating Company, Reunion Arena could book only events its larger, newer cousin a mile north first rejected.

As a result, taxpayer-supported Reunion Arena hemorrhaged hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, prompting the City Council to close it for good on June 30. Its demolition is scheduled to commence early next year.

Mr. Caraway, for one, was loath to agree to Reunion Arena's closure. In exchange for Mr. Caraway's support and at his behest, the City Council agreed to order Reunion Arena's closure contingent on exploring new uses for the Dallas Convention Center Arena, which doesn't have a noncompete agreement with AAC.

Exploring options

To be sure, Mr. Poe said, the Dallas Convention Center Arena needs upgraded restrooms, improved concession stands and roof repairs just to cater to its modest slate of business conventions and low-profile gatherings, which this year have included a Texas Library Association meeting, a prayer convention and graduations for high schools in DeSoto, Cedar Hill and Red Oak.

But structurally, the arena is sound. Its sightlines are excellent, its maroon seats cushy.

Brad Mayne, president and chief executive officer of Center Operating Co., says he doesn't foresee a renovated Dallas Convention Center Arena directly competing with American Airlines Center.

"Anything the city can do to make that facility successful is great. ... It's a different animal from what we are," Mr. Mayne said.

That's but one good reason, Mr. Natinsky said, why it doesn't hurt to explore options.

"Ironically, the Dallas Convention Center Arena now fits squarely in that sweet spot for venues attracting big acts that are too small for a sports arena," Mr. Natinsky said of the facility, which opened in 1957 at a cost of about $8 million. "What's old could be new again."


TIMELINE

Opened: 1957

Cost: $8 million

Seating: 9,816 fixed seats and up to 2,000 additional, movable floor seats

Conventions and rock 'n' roll: A timeline

1927 – The city authorizes the sale of $1 million in bonds to build a large civic auditorium in downtown Dallas. The Great Depression, and later, World War II, help shelve the project.

1945 –Dallas voters approve $7 million in bonds to build a downtown auditorium, but the project is again delayed to focus on other municipal needs.

1955 –Construction commences in January with a ceremony led by Mayor R.L. Thornton.

1957 –The Dallas Gift Show is the first event conducted in the newly constructed auditorium. A ceremonial opening is conducted later in the year.

1964 –Violence erupts at a rock concert. One man is shot and wounded, and numerous windows are shattered. Assistant City Manager H.M. Clay plays down calls to ban concerts at the arena, saying, "Rock 'n' roll could be orderly entertainment, enjoyed without incident." Later that year, irate fans smash windows and auditorium equipment when Ray Charles cancels an engagement. Police draw their guns, but no shots are fired.

1967 –City consultants recommend the city construct a bona fide convention center, noting that conventions have outgrown the auditorium. Two years later, voters approve $20 million to create a convention center.

1971 –Citing "foul language," the Dallas City Council nearly bans actors from the musical Hair from singing songs from the show during a voter registration rally at the auditorium. The actors ultimately conduct their performance elsewhere.

Mid-1960s-1970s – Hundreds of musical acts flock to the auditorium, still the city's premier concert venue. Among them: the Beatles, the Doors, the Who, Elton John, Frank Sinatra, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Alice Cooper, Frank Zappa, Chicago, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The auditorium is renamed Dallas Convention Center Arena in the early 1970s.

1980 – Dallas' Reunion Arena opens, instantly attracting major sporting and entertainment events.

SOURCES: City of Dallas municipal archives, Dallas Morning News archives

[CTroyMathis]

Noticed the image in Post #5 had died.
Here it is again, with some companions I rediscovered on an old cd I labeled dm.com 2001:

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=353

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=354

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=355

Just posting in case this cd disintegrates now that it's protective layers of dust have been removed. . . ; )

[Double Wide]

it has a hotel attached. And i wish they would re-develop the Arena like the image above.

[NThomas]

The little that I can make out, where the hotel is/might be going is reminiscent of One Arts.

[cowboyeagle05]

The rendering posted above was a concept rendering based on trends in the convention industry in 2001. Plus all the wish list projects added in, like the total renovation of the arena which will not be getting that treatment in those recent renovations talks related to knocking down Reunion.

The hotel in that rendering is just suggesting what other conventions centers were starting to do. Kinda like when Billy wants a Razor scooter cause his best friend has one but does he really need it. If done back then I would have supported it and just ignored a city run concept most likely, but I believe lots of things have changed since 2001 especially in the convention industry, local and national hotel industry, and Downtown Dallas current environment that does not make a attached hotel a obvious choice.

[dfwcre8tive]

From the food to the fork to the plate, dining at the Dallas Convention Center to go green
2:47 PM Wed, Jul 22, 2009
Rudolph Bush/Reporter
http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/07/from-the-food-to-the-fork-to-t.html

Dining at the Dallas Convention Center is about to get a little easier on the environment, according to a press release that just hit the inbox.

The Convention Center will announce tomorrow that the facility is moving toward having all of its plates, cups, flatware, etc. be biodegradable by 2010.

According to a spokeswoman for Centerplate, the city's food service contractor at the Convention Center, a series of biodegradable products will replace the plastic used now.

Cutlery will be made from potato starch. Clear cups will come from corn. Bowls and other containers will be sugarcane products. Even the trash bags will break down.

"It's a point of pride for us to be able to operate a world class venue offering a world class experience while simultaneously maintaining one of the most environmentally responsible such facilities in the country," Frank Poe, the director of convention and event services, said in a prepared statement.

[downtownguy25]

From the food to the fork to the plate, dining at the Dallas Convention Center to go green

The Convention Center will announce tomorrow that the facility is moving toward having all of its plates, cups, flatware, etc. be biodegradable by 2010.


Not really green as studies have shown that biodegradable products end up making methane in landfills which are 21 times worse than carbon dioxide for global warming. Unless the convention center plans on composting all their biodegradable trash they maybe better off sticking with regular plastics.

[tamtagon]

Not really green as studies have shown that biodegradable products end up making methane in landfills which are 21 times worse than carbon dioxide for global warming. Unless the convention center plans on composting all their biodegradable trash they maybe better off sticking with regular plastics.

I know somewhere in the area, landfill methane reclamation is already in progress.... I'm pretty sure it's happening in Denton, and I'm thinking maybe also in South Dallas somewhere..... Haul the CC trash to one of the right landfills and that "21 times worse" deal you're referencing becomes ... um, maybe, 21 times better.

[dfwcre8tive]

I know somewhere in the area, landfill methane reclamation is already in progress.... I'm pretty sure it's happening in Denton, and I'm thinking maybe also in South Dallas somewhere..... Haul the CC trash to one of the right landfills and that "21 times worse" deal you're referencing becomes ... um, maybe, 21 times better.

Denton makes electricity out of their methane: http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/The-Money-Pit-Dentons-Landfill-is-Turns-Trash-to-Cash.html

[tamtagon]

Here's some Convention Center talk what began as a sideline in the thread about the relocation of the College Football Hall of Fame (http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showthread.php?p=349457#post349457):


Actually, I did that, but didn't think the side issue was important enough to bother with posting the numbers... but since you asked:

Dallas Convention Center: 1 Million square feet

Georgia World Congress Center: 1.4 Million Square feet

Thanks for the informational update, Tucy. I knew they had added on, but I hadn't kept up with the sq ft totals.... There certainly is a lot of exhibition space right there, and the more important than the gross square footage, the Georgia World Congress Center Authority has an advantage over many convention/trade show hosts by coordinating not only the conference and exhibition space, but also the Arenas and Olympic park -- kinda of like one stop shopping for event planners.

Obviously, the superior facility advantage enjoyed by the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau to lure has been met or exceeded. Fortunately the Conv Ctr already has a clearly defined array of facility expansion and renovations; unfortunately I do not believe funds have been secured for all of the plans. Updating the City Hall arena will be a huge benefit, but of course not nearly as important as the FINALLY approved and in progress CC Hotel.

I've never really understood why the exhibition space at Fair Park is not marketed more aggressively for trade shows and conventions which have vital and direct interaction with the public.

[gshelton91]

/\ I agree Fair Park is a really big missed opportunity here in Dallas... I think it may be because that is owned by the park department and everyone is in their silos

So is this re-do of the City Hall Arena a done deal? would they squeak in under the agreement with AAC about non-competes?

[UrbanHope]

^ the AAC noncompete doesn't apply to the convention center arena.

[cowboyeagle05]

Which is one reason the city choose the update of the Convention Center Arena over the Reunion Plan no interference with the AAC and their well known issue with "competition" in the same city. While I still disagreed with the council decision on closing Reunion I do agree with renovating the Convention Center Arena for some of those profitable uses.

[dfwcre8tive]

Dallasites' best behavior could help convention-center hotel become a magnet for meetings
12:00 AM CST on Thursday, January 7, 2010
The Dallas Morning News/Steve Blow
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/sblow/stories/DN-blow_07met.ART0.East.Edition1.4ba67a4.html

...

The Professional Convention Management Association rolls into town this weekend for its annual meeting. It's a convention of convention planners.

And with the city of Dallas' $500 million investment in a new convention-center hotel on the line, this little get-together is huge for the city.

I'd hate to go so far as to call this a make-it-or-break-it event for the new hotel. After all, at this point, the hotel is nothing more than an anthill of construction activity.

Cranes of every shape and size loom over the site next to the downtown convention center. A concrete foundation is just starting to emerge from the dirt.

So, yeah, we're still a couple of years away from putting mints on the pillows.

But the impression that Dallas makes in the next few days will go a long way in deciding whether the hotel is the meetings magnet that supporters promised or the ghost town that opponents predicted.

About 3,000 of the nation's top meeting planners will be here until Wednesday. If they like what they see, they'll be back – bringing hundreds of thousands of conventioneers with them.

...

[tamtagon]

Dallas eager to impress convention planners
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/010910dnbuspcma.38999b3.html


09:47 AM CST on Saturday, January 9, 2010

By KAREN ROBINSON-JACOBS / The Dallas Morning News
krobinson@dallasnews.com

...Beginning Sunday, more than 3,000 members of the Professional Convention Management Association will test Dallas' convention facilities, and its facility at hosting conventions. Future business worth millions of dollars is on the line.

...It's the association's first Dallas convention since 1992, and the city will spend about $2.5 million on host activities, including tours and receptions.

..."This is a huge opportunity to showcase the new developments in the city," Phillip Jones, chief executive of the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau, said. "There is a dated perception that exists in the marketplace about Dallas. ... Our goal first is to update the brand image of Dallas."

..."Any city that's been able to host it has seen future conventions purchased increase," the Hyatt's Vissotzky said. "History shows that the city and the headquarters hotel will benefit greatly from the exposure."

..."The convention center hotel is real news for this market," said Deborah Sexton, chief executive of the Chicago-based association. "It was a missing component."

Sexton expects Dallas to benefit more than any other city that has played host in recent years.

"It's really a new destination," she said. "Members who have not been here [recently] are going to be incredibly impressed."

[lakewoodhobo]

^Ironically, the streets downtown will be pretty "safe and clean" to these guests because most of the panhandlers are in shelters this weekend.

[GennadyB]

uhhhh... oh boy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA0EczVe5C0

[NThomas]

uhhhh... oh boy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA0EczVe5C0
:2doh:

[mstephdallas]

Vanilla Ice, really?!? Errr

[dfwcre8tive]

Jones: Meetings Convention A Big Success
Posted on January 13th, 2010 2:46pm by Glenn Hunter
Filed under Business, Local News
http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2010/01/13/jones-meetings-convention-a-big-success/

Relaxing on a couch near the Gilded Shopper this morning, the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Phillip Jones called the PCMA meeting “our Super Bowl” and said “I never expected it to be as successful as it was.”

Total attendance could top the previous record set by Seattle, Jones said, and, as of this morning, local tourism types had already hosted 180 “site visits” by meeting planners during the confab. Seattle, by contrast, hosted just 80 site visits during its meeting in 2008, Jones said. Joseph Perkins, a manager with the Sheraton Dallas, said the Sheraton alone hosted 52 of this week’s visits. And, something else came out of the PCMA convention, Perkins said: a signed contract calling for Dallas to host a gathering of the International Trademark Association, bringing some 7,000 people to North Texas in 2013.

Must have been the Gilded Shopper that cinched it.

[mjblazin]

What defines a site visit?