‘Months of Plans Up in Flames’


Picture this: You’re flying into Las Vegas for the first conference you’ve ever organized, which is scheduled to start in two days. As your plane descends over the Strip, flames are billowing into the sky from atop the hotel you’ve booked for the conference. As soon as you land, you turn on your cell phone and get a call from a colleague who’s already on the ground, watching CNN: Yes, the Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino, the site of your meeting, is on fire …

That was the situation Jan. 25 for Victoria Palmer, executive director of the Natl. Redesign Institute, which held its first conference in Las Vegas Jan. 27-30. Just before leaving town, at the end of what had to be one of the most stressful meeting launches in history, Palmer recapped the experience in a conversation with TSW Las Vegas Editor Heidi Genoist.

Question: How are you holding up?
Answer: Oh my goodness (laughs). Well, pretty good now.

Q: What went through your mind when you realized what was going on?
A: You hit town and your months of plans are going up in flames – it’s unbelievable. We not only had no place to stay, but we had no place for our meet-and-greet, no conference rooms, no catering for people coming in and our presenters were scheduled to stay there.

Q: What was the first thing you did?
A: Call the Monte Carlo.

Q: What did they say?
A: They bent over backwards to accommodate us, which was no easy feat, because of the 40 attendees we had coming in from all over. We were all, for the most part, staying at the Monte Carlo. We were all together as a group.

Q: Where did you go?
A: We (organizers) came in a couple days early and stayed at Mandalay Bay (Resort & Casino) the first night. Then they moved us to the Signature (a luxury condo-hotel at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino). The Monte Carlo worked very hard to secure rooms for the guests coming in. That was really our first consideration to have resolved. I didn’t want to see our group end up all over town.
Read on...

NATPE Turns to a Fresh Face

Monte Carlo Fire Displaces Scores of Groups

Market’s Fourth Building to Have Event Space, Gifts

TSW Las Vegas is edited by Heidi Genoist, senior editor of Tradeshow Week. She can be reached at
(702) 366-1517, or by email at hgenoist@reedbusiness.com.

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