New Projects Raise Up Indianapolis’ Image

INDIANAPOLIS—One way to get more conventions booked in a city is to offer everything a tradeshow manager possibly could dream of needing all in one place and make it affordable.

That’s exactly what Indianapolis’ game plan is with the more than $3 billion investment that the city has in the works, which not only includes a new airport and football stadium that opened in November, but also a convention center expansion and several hotels coming online in the future.

“We’ll be going from 32nd place to 16th place in size for our convention center,” said Chris Gahl, senior media relations manager of the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Assn. “It will go from 400,000 net square feet to 749,000 net sq. ft., so that’s a pretty big jump.”

Another piece of the puzzle to lure more business to the city is four new hotels that all will be connected to the Indiana Convention Center, including a 1,000-room JW Marriott-branded anchor hotel, which is scheduled to open February 2011, the same time as the center’s expansion.

It’s one thing to have plenty to offer, but it’s a whole different story getting the word out about it.

Indianapolis might not be on the top of tradeshow managers minds when they’re looking to book a new destination, but Don Welsh, ICVA’s president and CEO, said his bureau is in the midst of trying to change that perception with its “Raising the Game” campaign.

Gahl pointed out the city is a mecca for sports, with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and new Lucas Oil Stadium, home to the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, in its backyard, as well as the headquarters for the NCAA, USA Gymnastics and USA Track and Field.

“In the 1970s, city officials said, 'Let’s use a sports strategy and use it to develop downtown,’” he added.

A few decades and a lot of development later, Gahl said an advertising agency came up with the “Raising the Game” slogan.

“We have used sports as an attraction and a catalyst to grow our convention industry,” he added. “We use major events ... to bring in meeting planners. The strategy is to have them see the city come alive during the events, and the idea is, if we can do this, we can probably do your meeting.”

Case in point was the recent Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, the No. 2 NASCAR race in the United States behind the Daytona 500, to which the ICVA invited a handful of tradeshow managers.

Dale Crabtree, director of convention, awards, recognition and events management division for the Natl. FFA Organization, and Jim Armbruster, the FFA’s team leader for the awards and recognition team, both accepted invitations to the event and took in the race in a VIP suite at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Natl. FFA Convention is the city’s largest event, with 55,000 attendees, and Crabtree said he’s definitely looking forward to more space and rooms for the group.

“We use the convention center, the Conseco Fieldhouse, Lucas Oil Stadium, eight hotels, the Indiana State Fairgrounds and three offsite venues,” he added. “(The added hotel rooms in particular) are really important to us. We use 38 hotels, so it will put more of us downtown.”

The 390,000 extra net square feet of exhibit space also is crucial, Crabtree said. “We will be able to grow the show,” he added. “We’ll be extremely happy when it’s ready. “

The FFA’s fortunes and its ability to expand is directly tied to Indianapolis’ fortunes as well. “We’ve done some market research, and (our event) has a $40 million impact on the city,” Armbruster said.

Welsh knows all too well the stakes are high for Indianapolis to attract even more business. “There was a perception that you can’t take a big convention to Indy, ... but now we can go out to bigger groups,” he added.

The city already has snagged several new events – the American Library Assn. Annual Conference & Exhibition in 2021, the American Assn. of Diabetes Educators Annual Meeting & Exhibition in August 2012 and the Educause Annual Conference in October 2015.

Even so, some shows still aren’t ready to take the leap of faith.

Debbie Antrim, who also attended the NASCAR race and is director of tradeshows for the Indianapolis-based Custom Electronic Design Installation Assn., said her show, CEDIA Expo, hasn’t been back to the city since 2005.

The show currently spans 750,000 net sq. ft., and, even with the Indianapolis CC’s expansion, Antrim added, “It still would be tight.”

That doesn’t mean the city is completely off Antrim’s list, though. “We would consider coming back to Indy,” she added. “We love Indianapolis. It was purely a size issue.”