June 25, 2007
Meeting planners sound off on Worcester
By Matthew L. Brown
Overall, city gets good reviews
Cities around the country are banking on meetings, conventions and trade shows to enliven once bustling downtown districts, and Worcester is no different.
Destination Worcester was established to sell the city to conventioneers and trade shows, which have the potential to bring thousands of visitors at a pop to downtown Worcester.
The people who organize those shows and meetings and conventions say Worcester is great for those events in some ways - highway access, central location - and not so great in others - few places for a business dinner downtown, hotels that are old and run down, and concerns about safety.
Sew right
Tina Ingraham is the director of marketing for Cleveland-based MS Productions, which produces the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo.
The expo is held over three days at the DCU Center in April, and has been held there for the past five years.
Ingraham said MS puts on the sewing and quilt show in eight markets, including Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago and Minneapolis, and Worcester is one of the favorites.
"We require a very specific set of things in order for a convention center to meet our needs," Ingraham said.
The sewers and quilters use up to 13 classrooms, and require massive amounts of floor space for their expo, and the DCU Center gives them both, she said.
"That's hard to find," she said. Before coming to Worcester, the sewing and quilting expo was held in Framingham. It was there that an attendee turned Ingraham on to Worcester.
Ingraham said the cost of parking in some cities the expo visits is far too high. "In some cities, we call it extortion," she said.
In March, Ray Rapossa, executive director of the New England Water Works Association, brought 2,200 guests and 160 exhibitors to the DCU Center for the association's spring conference.
Rapossa said the DCU center impressed him in that it includes "very good meeting space, conference facilities and exhibition space all in one building."
But that's not a fact that anyone in Worcester does a particularly good job making known.
Ingraham said she wouldn't have considered Worcester as a location for the sewing and quilt show if it hadn't been for the helpful attendee at a past show in Framingham.
Rapossa said the water works conference has been held in Worcester every spring for the last seven years.
"The central location of Worcester works really well for us," Rapossa said. "People attend from all six New England states, and it's very easy for people to get to. There's ample parking and hotel space."
The missing link
But the city has some serious fundamental shortcomings for the convention crowd, and could learn a thing or two from the city where the water works folks hold their fall conference: Providence, R.I.
Downtown Worcester lacks sit-down restaurants, Rapossa said.
"There's been a couple new restaurants opening, and not that our members do a lot of entertaining, but vendors like to take people out," Rapossa said.
He said that "all information about restaurants" should be made easily available to conventioneers.
Rapossa added, "being able to show some of the cultural/historical strengths of the community would be a plus.
Pam McKenna, executive director of the New England Society of Association Executives, said there is enough convention business to go around to all the cities counting on the same to bring people and money to town.
"All of these cities have advantages," she said. "It depends on what your clients are looking for. Price points might be better in one area, travel time might be better in another, attractions might be better in others."
Cities around the country are banking on meetings, conventions and trade shows to enliven once bustling downtown districts, and Worcester is no different.
Destination Worcester was established to sell the city to conventioneers and trade shows, which have the potential to bring thousands of visitors at a pop to downtown Worcester.
The people who organize those shows and meetings and conventions say Worcester is great for those events in some ways - highway access, central location - and not so great in others - few places for a business dinner downtown, hotels that are old and run down, and concerns about safety.
Sew right
Tina Ingraham is the director of marketing for Cleveland-based MS Productions, which produces the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo.
The expo is held over three days at the DCU Center in April, and has been held there for the past five years.
Ingraham said MS puts on the sewing and quilt show in eight markets, including Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago and Minneapolis, and Worcester is one of the favorites.
"We require a very specific set of things in order for a convention center to meet our needs," Ingraham said.
The sewers and quilters use up to 13 classrooms, and require massive amounts of floor space for their expo, and the DCU Center gives them both, she said.
"That's hard to find," she said. Before coming to Worcester, the sewing and quilting expo was held in Framingham. It was there that an attendee turned Ingraham on to Worcester.
Ingraham said the cost of parking in some cities the expo visits is far too high. "In some cities, we call it extortion," she said.
In March, Ray Rapossa, executive director of the New England Water Works Association, brought 2,200 guests and 160 exhibitors to the DCU Center for the association's spring conference.
The DCU Center
But that's not a fact that anyone in Worcester does a particularly good job making known.
Ingraham said she wouldn't have considered Worcester as a location for the sewing and quilt show if it hadn't been for the helpful attendee at a past show in Framingham.
Rapossa said the water works conference has been held in Worcester every spring for the last seven years.
"The central location of Worcester works really well for us," Rapossa said. "People attend from all six New England states, and it's very easy for people to get to. There's ample parking and hotel space."
The missing link
But the city has some serious fundamental shortcomings for the convention crowd, and could learn a thing or two from the city where the water works folks hold their fall conference: Providence, R.I.
Downtown Worcester lacks sit-down restaurants, Rapossa said.
"There's been a couple new restaurants opening, and not that our members do a lot of entertaining, but vendors like to take people out," Rapossa said.
He said that "all information about restaurants" should be made easily available to conventioneers.
Rapossa added, "being able to show some of the cultural/historical strengths of the community would be a plus.
Pam McKenna, executive director of the New England Society of Association Executives, said there is enough convention business to go around to all the cities counting on the same to bring people and money to town.
"All of these cities have advantages," she said. "It depends on what your clients are looking for. Price points might be better in one area, travel time might be better in another, attractions might be better in others."
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