Book. Plan. Build.

Planning Made Easy
We want to make planning your next Orlando meeting easy. That’s why suggest a quick trip to OrlandoMeeting.com. For veteran planners, there’s powerful destination search options and a seamless RFP feature. For those newer to event planning, there’s a glossary of standard industry terms as well as a “Meetings 101” section to help you get started. And useful for all planners is the array of attendance building tools, like downloadable meeting checklists and destination videos. See how easy planning your next Orlando event can be by visiting OrlandoMeeting.com today.

Save Time with CVB Services
Orlando provides time-saving tools, special services, as well as the expertise of our knowledgeable staff, to make your next meeting a success. Effective favorites include registration staffing, discounted attraction tickets for groups and free help establishing a corporate social responsibility program. Another popular offering is the Orlando Magicard® for meeting attendees, which offers a variety of significant savings on dining, attractions and shopping.

Build Attendance and Connect
The Orlando CVB offers a comprehensive family of marketing services to build attendance and welcome attendees. Reach and engage your participants with our innovative social media programs, free delegate Web sites, telemarketing initiatives, signage, banners, SIC code lists, as well as print collateral and electronic communications. We also have an expanded library of destination videos that are all-but guaranteed to get attendees excited about meeting in Orlando. Contact the Destination Meeting Services Department at 407-354-5579 to help drive creative minds to your meeting and inspire them to be productive in Orlando.

Orlando Dining Districts Evolve

Orlando has evolved into a true culinary hot spot, with sophisticated tastes for even the most food-savvy attendee. While we’re home to exclusive national restaurant brands — such as The Capital Grille, Morton’s The Steakhouse and Ruth’s Chris Steak House — we also serve up an extensive menu of regional and international fare that can only be found here. Attendees will rave about Le Coq au Vin, Norman’s or Vines Grille & Wine Bar, all unique to Orlando.

No matter where your participants are meeting in Orlando, they have to eat. May we suggest any one of the numerous districts that offer unique dining experiences for attendees? There’s an abundance of dining districts waiting for attendees to discover, no matter where the meeting is located in Orlando. You may be familiar with some of these areas; others may be new. But all are guaranteed to provide meals that impress.

Attractions Area
Incorporating the Walt Disney World® Resort, SeaWorld® Orlando and Universal Orlando® Resort, as well as numerous other attractions, this area includes some of the destination’s most well-known restaurants and eateries. And many hotels with notable dining too.

Convention Center
Located on the south end of International Drive near the Orange County Convention Center, this corridor includes dozens of restaurants that cater to meeting attendees. Pointe Orlando, a nearby dining and entertainment complex, is an ideal location for large groups.

Downtown Orlando
Downtown Orlando and its adjacent neighborhoods offers a broad spectrum of culinary experiences, from casual bistros to fine dining establishments. The area includes the “ViMi District” with more than a dozen Vietnamese restaurants.

Lake Mary/Heathrow
Located approximately 45 minutes north of the Orange County Convention Center, Lake Mary/Heathrow is a charming suburb and high-tech business corridor. The area includes numerous dining options and is also the corporate headquarters of Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

Sand Lake Road/Restaurant Row
Known to locals and savvy visitors as “Restaurant Row,” this mile-long stretch of Sand Lake Road includes more than two dozen casual and upscale dining options. Located just a few miles from the Orange County Convention Center, the area is a popular mealtime destination for business travelers and meeting attendees.

Winter Park
This suburb of Orlando serves some of the region’s most sophisticated fare on Park Avenue, a quaint dining and shopping district lined with oak trees and brick streets. Numerous cafés, bistros and restaurants provide the perfect location to motivate the team or close an important business deal.

Orlando CVB Named ‘Partner of the Year’ by HelmsBriscoe

The Orlando CVB Convention Sales and Destination Meeting Services teams recently received the prestigious “CVB Partner of the Year 2009” award from HelmsBriscoe. The award was presented to Tammi Runzler, senior vice president of convention sales and services, during the organization’s annual conference which was held in Las Vegas at the ARIA Resort & Casino on January 20-22, 2010. The Orlando team was thrilled to receive this recognition from HelmsBiscoe, whose agents voted for the CVB which gave them the greatest support during 2009.

New Faces, Promotions for Orlando Meetings & Conventions Team

Long-time Marriott sales director Ken Barnett has joined the Orlando CVB as director, corporate accounts development. In this role, Barnett will work with new and existing corporate meeting professionals for the Orlando and Orange County region. Barnett was previously director of national accounts with World Center Marriott Hotel and Resort in Orlando where he was responsible for northeast corporate and association accounts since 1998.

Ronda Schoeneberg joined the Orlando CVB Convention Sales citywide team as a senior national account executive, focusing on the mid-Atlantic region. Schoeneberg worked previously as part of our in-house department, and most recently was with the Gaylord Palms Hotel & Convention Center in Kissimmee.

Tina Jones was promoted to meetings and conventions marketing executive. She will work with meeting professionals to help build attendance at their Orlando-based events, as well as provide individualized marketing support. Jones has been with the Orlando CVB for more than five years in progressively responsible convention sales positions.

METROPOLL Planner Survey Ranks Orlando as Top Site

The recently completed METROPOLL XIII survey ranked Orlando as the top overall convention site, placing first among corporate planners and second among association meeting professionals. The survey also found that more planners intend to hold a meeting in Orlando than any other North American location during the next three years.

The bi-annual study, which has been conducted by Gerard Murphy & Associates since 1983, polls a large sample of industry professionals makers to determine how major meeting destinations are selected, as well as the perceptions or reputations of each. The survey covered 40 cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Among the additional rankings for Orlando:

- Ranked first for 15 of the 21 convention center attributes

- Ranked first for holding a major meeting during the past three years

- Ranked second as an international convention site

- Ranked second for excellent hotel meeting facilities
- Ranked second as an overall vacation destination

Aerial view of the Orange County Convention Center which ranked first for
15 of the 21 convention center attributes in the METROPOLL survey.

Orlando Earns Top Spot on Travel Trends Survey

After seven years at the number two slot, Orlando was recently ranked as the top domestic destination being booked, according to the annual Travel Leaders Survey. More than 500 leaders, owners, managers and industry experts were polled throughout the United States regarding travel trends during the final weeks of 2009. Las Vegas previously held the top ranking from 2003 though 2009.

"Orlando landing at number one shows the remarkable resiliency strength in family-oriented destinations," stated Roger E. Block, CTC, president of Travel Leaders Franchise Group, which includes locations from coast to coast. "Overall bookings are starting to trend higher, optimism is definitely on the rise, and a significant number of leisure travelers are taking advantage of current hotel prices and 'trading up' to more luxurious accommodations — which are all good signs as we head into 2010."

Find out more regarding the 2010 Travel Leaders Survey, including how H1N1 rarely influences travel-making decisions and optimism in the upcoming year.

Agreement Reached on Uniform Luxury-Car Service Rates

An agreement was recently reached between the Orange County Convention Center, surrounding hotels and transportation companies regarding uniform rates for luxury-car service. Details of the deal, approved by providers such as Mears Transportation and Star Transportation Management, include charging $10 for passenger trips from the convention center and hotels north to Sand Lake Road, south to the Beachline, west to Interstate 4 and east to the Shingle Creek resort.

Star Wars Celebrates in Orlando

On December 3, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Reed Exhibitions' PopGroup announced it was holding the 2010 Star Wars Celebration V event on August 12-15 in Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center, a first for the destination. The event is expected to attract more than 35,000 attendees for experiences including cast and crew appearances, fan-run events, costumes, music, live entertainment, screenings, autographs, collectibles, panels and sneak peaks into the future of Star Wars.

Attendance for the Star Wars Celebration has fluctuated between 12,000-29,000 visitors since its inception in 1999, and it generally rotates to a new destination each time it is held. These official Star Wars "parties" have become mega events, attracting tens of thousands of loyal and devoted fans and families. To date, there have been four Star Wars Celebrations in America, as well as a Star Wars Celebration Europe (2007) and Star Wars Celebration Japan (2008). Star Wars Celebration V will be the first Star Wars Celebration produced jointly with Reed Exhibitions’ PopGroup, which is responsible for the successful New York Comic Con, the new Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) and more.