Meetings: Minnesota's Hospitality Journal

An "Unconventional" Take on Mpls-St. Paul

Alrighty. I've been sitting on this post since about Monday because it's not exactly earth-shattering hard news. Plus it's a 22-minute video and who has time to watch something like that in the middle of the week? But it's a good Friday post and for all its silliness, it gave me something to think about.

The video is from Current TV, the online, cable and satellite news network featuring viewer-created content and launched in 2005 by Al Gore. The network's unique format and content is obviously aimed at younger viewers, so it's not surprising that their introductions to the 2008 convention sites would be a little ... quirky. I mean, If I'd never been to Minneapolis-St. Paul, this video would leave me with the impression that our fair cities are all gay rugby, meat raffles at topless bars and pickled herring from Ingebretsen's. It includes an interesting interview with R.T. Rybak and local musician Mark Mallman gives a nod to our arts scene, but then there's Jesse Ventura comparing Bush administration policies to Nazi propaganda and comments from antiwar convention protesters --none of which I found particularly insightful.

I'm just not sure what Current TV's Trace Crutchfield is getting at here. Is he trying to make us look like an extreme liberal hotbed so he can draw an ironic contrast between our cities and the convention we're hosting? I watched his take on Denver which seemed to attempt a similar message. Or is he just trying to find the most quirky, UNconventional facets of these cities?

Check it out and see what you think of his take on our cities. Is it accurate? Interesting? And from a visitor's point of view, is it useful at all? Would it make you want to come here?

--Marni Ginther
Assistant Editor

Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates Gets Name Change

Last Thursday, Aug. 21 Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates, a division of Minnesota-based The Travel Franchise Group announced its 500 nationwide locations will be renamed Travel Leaders. According to the press release, the rebranding is a result of Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates becoming "independent from Carlson, the international hotel, marketing, restaurant and travel company and Carlson Wagonlit Travel."
The press release also details four new initiatives including a new consumer Web site, new private shore excursions, a Certified Travel Specialist program giving customers a higher degree of trip planning expertise and personalized travel planner services.

--Marni Ginther
Assistant Editor
 

Just where the heck is the RNC taking place? My beef with national media coverage.

With the RNC held in St. Paul, yet many parties and famous faces staying and partying in Minneapolis as well, the national media has had some trouble keeping our two cities straight. Everyone from Katie Couric to our own Michele Bachmann has misspoke/printed about where the convention is actually held. Here is just one more article from MinnPost that highlights the problem:

Minnesota Nice is quickly shoved aside if you call St. Paul Minneapolis, multiple reporters are observing. Daily Herald correspondent Randy Mink recalls St. Paul's initial yelps of neglect: "St. Paul boosters were annoyed when in 2006 a New York Times headline declared "GOP Picks Minneapolis as '08 Site of Convention."

Katie Couric paints a similar picture in a recent Digg.com message. "Don't say Minneapolis, 'cause they get really mad about that in St. Paul — trust me, I heard from them," she says.

While I know I may just be proving the point, I have to say it: These mistakes are most often being made by reporters. Reporters. Their job is to get the facts straight every time. As a fellow journalist, if this was my mistake, instead of laughing it off as sibling rivarly and sore egos, I'd be printing a retraction and apologizing for my lack of skills. Seriously, how hard is it to get it right, or at least learn the local lingo of "Minneapolis-St. Paul" or "Twin Cities"?

Maybe I'll keep a tally during the coverage next week as to how many reporters and talking heads get it wrong. Or, do you think once they get here and we're finally on the national stage, they'll finally understand geography?

[UPDATE 8-27-08: Two days down for the DNC and so far, so good. Both Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw used St. Paul and Twin Cities in sentences when referring to next week's events. Hillary even mentioned the Twin Cities in her speech last night - though it was conveniently used to paint a picture of the sameness ("twins") of McCain and Bush. Hey, it's a start.]

--Amanda Fretheim Gates
Mangaing Editor

Ribbon Cutting: Westin Edina Galleria

The Westin Edina Galleria celebrated its grand opening this morning with a flag raising and ribbon cutting. The 225-room Starwood brand hotel is both a hotel and residence, with 82 luxury condos attached (opening in Oct of this year). As our State of the Industry event will be held in the hotel on February 3, 2009, we made sure to be on hand for a tour of the new Westin's meeting space and guest rooms.

The hotel features 9,100 square feet of event space with room for up to 350 guests. The hotel event services include meeting specialists, on-site catering, wireless Internet, a business office and more. The rooms are simple and chic, featuring state of the art technology and sophisticated decor. In addition to the Grand Ballroom, the Westin also has a Junior Ballroom, two meeting rooms and a board room. Our tour guide for this visit told us that each room is named for a notable Edina resident. We are excited to be hosting our event in this new property and look forward to seeing you there (make sure to participate in our survey to receive $10 off event registration fees).

The guest rooms at the Westin feature the brand's Heavenly bed and bath amenities and each room also includes a 37-inch plazma screen television. Rooms range from 865-3,140 square feet (the average is 1,750). The hotel features six luxury suites, each with a wet bar, living room, table for six and additional half bathroom.

On site you can also find the 24-hour WestinWORKOUT fitness center, an indoor heated pool, a McCormick & Schmick's restaurant and climate controlled walkway access to the Galleria shopping center.

--Ellie M. Bayrd
Associate Editor

Unusual Conferences From Pheasants to Pens

When I was but a wee intern here at Meetings (which was not long ago at all) I remember editing one of our calendars and coming across an interesting event. In a long list of marketing and association trade shows, I bumped into the National Pheasant Fest sponsored by an organization called Pheasants Forever, which was being held in our very own St. Paul RiverCentre. Since then I’ve had a little fascination with unusual events, conferences and trade shows, and it turns out I’m not the only one. About a month ago, Tim Bourquin at the Trade Show Startup blog pointed out that there really is a conference for everything after he’d heard about the International Scent Marketing Conference.

It got me thinking about what other seemingly wacky conferences and trade shows exist out there. Their names might induce a chuckle but if you think about it, for every type of industry, there could theoretically be a giant conference. Like Concrete Day in Belgium, the International Amber Fair in Poland and India’s Rubber Expo and Pen World. Yup, that’s four solid days in Mumbai of “the most comprehensive international trade show on writing instruments & allied products.”

I’m sure there are more interesting events out there, and if you check out biztradeshows.com you can search an international directory of shows. Photos taken from India Rubber Expo 2009.

-Marni Ginther
Assistant Editor

Microsoft Surface debuts at Five Sheraton Hotels

Last summer in our The Year 2027: Envision the Future cover story, we said this about Microsoft's latest innovation:

In 20 years, computer monitors, keyboards, and mice may be just as obsolete as manual typewriters are today. Computers may be a simple table with a hard plastic surface that responds to the movements of your fingers, recognizes devices that you place on it (such as digital cameras or phones), and downloads the information from those devices automatically. It’s already here.

Microsoft just introduced its version of surface computing. Infrared scanners, a modem, and a projector are installed under a plastic surface that acts as monitor and interactive device at the same time. It displays pictures, applications, or anything else a computer monitor can display, and your hand is the input device. If you want to make an image bigger, you poise your hand over it and spread your fingers. If you want to shuffle three pictures around, you can just like you would with hard copies on a table. Think “Minority Report,” the 2002 movie in which the hero shuffled bits of information on a vast translucent screen with his hands.

While the software giant has always been on the cusp of the latest and the greatest technology, who knew that in just one year, the Microsoft Surface would be up and running in hotels. Five Sheraton hotels - in Boston, Chicago, Seattle, New York and San Francisco - now have the hands-on computers in their lobbies. A few applications include: CityTips, a 360-degree satellite map to search for local restaurants, bars, activities, banks, etc.; Sounds of Sheraton, which lets guests create playlists from the hotel chain's exclusive offerings; and Sheraton Snapshots, a collection of photos of different Sheraton properties around the world.

--Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor

Official RNC Venues Still Waiting for Bookings

Finance and Commerce had a very interesting article yesterday about 45 Minneapolis-St. Paul venues that agreed to be “official” RNC venues almost a year ago, but have yet to see the bookings they expected. The article cites Mall of America, Solera, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Minnesota Centennial Showboat and the River Room restaurant at Macy's in downtown St. Paul as having signed contracts almost a year ago agreeing to hold space for RNC events from Aug. 30-Sept. 4. Now they have fewer events booked than they hoped for and in some cases, none booked at all.

Another interesting feature on the Finance and Commerce Web site is a map showing what venues are rented and who’s renting them. Check back for map updates.

Mall of America photo (right) and Minneapolis Institute of arts photo (left) courtesy of Meet Minneapolis.

--Marni Ginther
Assistant Editor

NY Times Does 36 Hours in Minneapolis-St. Paul

If you read the New York Times travel section you’re familiar with the snappy “36 Hours in (fill in the blank with random city)” features. I suppose the upcoming conventions in Denver and St. Paul were the reason for last week’s 36 Hours in Denver and this week’s 36 Hours in Minneapolis-St. Paul, but even without the convention, I like to think the Twin Cities deserve every word of the article.

The 12-item list of recommendations is fairly generic, (Chambers, Guthrie, the Walker) but a good starter kit for first-time Twin Cities visitors, complete with dining, lodging and entertainment suggestions. And since it’s written by our very own David Carr, (former editor of Twin Cities Reader) the article is grounded in a familiarity that only someone who’s lived here could have. (Not just any reporter flying in on assignment would discover quirky gems like the CC Club and Cedar Lake’s Hidden Beach.) The accompanying slide show offers some nice shots of the cities, like the one pictured here, by Ben Garvin for the New York Times.

—Assistant Editor
Marni Ginther

Under the Radar: the new aloft Minneapolis

Between the W opening two days ago in the Foshay tower and The Hotel Minneapolis opening about a week earlier in the Midland Bank building, the brand new aloft hotel in the Mill District has gotten a little lost in the shuffle. Opened on Aug. 8, aloft is part of the Starwood family and is being marketed as a budget kid sister to the W brand.  (“Budget” as in $169 a night versus the W’s $319.)

We got a tour this morning with Amy Phillips, director of sales and marketing and despite the price point difference, the W feel is still there. With sleek furniture and electric colors tastefully woven into the design it felt (for lack of a better word) Ikea-esque; stripped down to everything you need and nothing you don’t. The welcome desk includes self-service check in/out stations. Instead of a restaurant, there’s “re:fuel,” a cute 24-hour grab ‘n’ go nook (you can’t really call it a cafeteria) offering bagels, muffins, coffee, sandwiches, salads and the like. Instead of a swanky club there’s “w xyz,” a glowing, color-changing bar in the communal lobby area, which itself is called “re:mix.” The complimentary fitness center and modest indoor pool are dubbed “re:charge” and “splash,” respectively. (Noticing the W-like branding of the amenities?) While it doesn’t have the luxury feel of the W, it’s not supposed to. And it seems a heck of a lot more fun than other hotels in its price range. I’d stay there.

The hotel also has a decent sized conference room and a pre-function area and meeting room that can be divided in two or opened up to seat about 90 people in banquet rounds or fewer in a classroom setup.  Unfortunately some of the furniture in these spaces still hadn’t arrived and it was the same situation in the upstairs suite, so they seemed a little lackluster compared to the lobby and bar.

The aloft Minneapolis is only the first of a handful that began opening around the country in June, so it’s a pretty new brand and an interesting concept. Reminds me of when Target partnered with high-end names to bring good design to the masses. It worked for Target, so it will be interesting to see how the current and future aloft locations fare.

If anyone has already stayed at an aloft or plans to, we’d love to hear your take.

—Marni Ginther
Assistant Editor

Photos courtesy of aloft

Association Meetings Survey Says

The latest issue of Association Meetings magazine contains results from its Annual Meeting Attendance Study. Here are some of the interesting findings:

40 percent of respondents expected the attendance at their next annual meeting to increase
38 percent expected it to stay the same

For those who saw an increase in attendance in the past, 55 percent of respondents believed it had to do with choosing a more convenient or attractive location

Nearly half of respondents felt the recent economic downturn had a significant impact on attendance

Interested in giving your input on the current events of the local meetings industry? Take our survey, for planners or vendors, here.

--Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor