NCAA games help city court convention planners

When it comes to persuading convention planners to book their events in Indianapolis, local tourism officials sometimes just leave it to the experts: their existing, longstanding customers.

Take, for example, the Fire Department Instructors Conference, which has called Indianapolis home for its annual convention for nearly 25 years.

During a meet-and-greet lunch Saturday at Harry & Izzy’s downtown with Visit Indy and InterVarsity—a religious group that plans to choose Monday between Indianapolis and Orlando for conventions in 2022 and 2025—the fire department conference’s vice president of operations, Allison Foster, talked freely and extensively about how the city’s layout benefits large conventions, as does its still-growing concentration of downtown hotel rooms.

An Indianapolis Business Journal reporter was at the table as Visit Indy officials pitched InterVarsity over shrimp cocktails, crab cakes and steaks. Also seated at the table were Foster; InterVarsity director of operations Matt Rust; Visit Indy president Leonard Hoops and senior vice president of sales Daren Kingi; and Hoops’ son, Cannon.

But Visit Indy never went hard after Rust to commit. Instead, they opted to stand back as Foster shared her experience of hosting an annual event in the city—with hopes her words could go a long way in convincing the faith-based group to sign on for 2022 or 2025, or both, in Indianapolis.

Rust is one of 40 meeting planners from across the country Visit Indy is bringing to the city through next week to showcase Indianapolis during the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Rust later attended the Oral Roberts-Arkansas Sweet 16 game Saturday evening with Hoops, other Visit Indy staff, and a few other meeting planners.

During Saturday’s lunch, Foster shared how more than 35,000 people typically attend the firefighter convention each year, and how the city’s planned convention center expansion—including a new 800-room Signia by Hilton hotel—has kept Indianapolis at the fore of the convention’s decision-making.

The firefighter convention will be in Indianapolis in August and is expected to draw about 25,000 people, less than in previous years due to the pandemic.

“A city that can hold so many people downtown,” is a bonus, Foster told Rust, adding that it’s been easy to build relationships with city officials over the years to ensure appropriate infrastructure is in place.

Throughout the two-hour lunch, Rust asked a variety of questions and made observations about the city, seeking answers he could take to InterVarsity’s decision committee Monday morning.

Rust asked about how hotel bookings worked, the city’s safety, how conventions are dealing with the pandemic, and what’s around the corner on the event calendar.

Each question seemed to diverge to its own 10-minute conversation, with the three parties—Visit Indy, the firefighters’ organization and InterVarsity—each contributing equally.

“We’ll manage contracts for any hotel that you want—including ones out of the county,” Visit Indy’s Hoops responded on the booking question. “We prefer the ones that are in the county because we get hotel tax.”

But before Hoops went down the rabbit hole of hotel taxes, Kingi jumped in with a laugh.

“Oh, that’s a whole ‘nother story,” he said. Then Foster discussed how her convention’s hotels are managed—by the same vendor as InterVarsity’s.

Rust told the table he was impressed with the downtown corridor, particularly its walkability compared to other metropolitan cities. InterVarsity’s Urbana Christian youth conference typically draws 15,000 to 18,000 per year, and is held every three years—usually in St. Louis.

He said he could imagine Urbana’s participants taking to downtown and common spaces in area hotels and spots along main thoroughfares  in ways much like people have flocked to Indianapolis throughout the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

“When I see this, I see community—people are longing to be together,” he said, sharing that the Urbana conference that had been scheduled for later this year was pushed to 2022 because the organization didn’t see a feasible way to carry out a virtual event.

“We went through pretty good discernment process and said that, in order for us to mobilize this generation to God’s global mission—which is our mission—we need to be in person,” he said. “One of the valuable things for doing site visits, as a potential client, is in going to different locations you start seeing how spaces [translate] from one city to another.”

But it wasn’t all business, and certainly not a “hard sell” on Visit Indy’s part. The conversation ran the gamut from job experience, to the basketball tournament, to cars, to road trip plans, and even—somehow—the Santa Cruz University mascot (the banana slug).

Industry sources told IBJ a hard sell is typically only used earlier on in the process, to highlight specific amenities and offerings a city has. But site visits are more about building a rapport and highlighting a city for those who have expressed interest.

Site visits also typically only occur when a city is in serious contention for an event, experts have said.

“We know seeing is believing, so our ability to have execs on the ground experiencing Indy in person is an investment towards retaining and booking future convention business,” Chris Gahl, vice president of Visit Indy, told IBJ.

After lunch, Rust departed with plans of reconnecting with the Visit Indy team at Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the game later on Saturday night. But for Hoops, there was still an earlier game to attend.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW GALLERY

Hoops and other tourism officials hosted the firefighters’ organization and several others in their suite for the Loyola Chicago-Oregon State game at the Fieldhouse to tip off the Sweet 16.

Three Chicago-based groups were among the guests, including the American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and the American Association of Endodontists—both of which are considering Indianapolis for future conventions—and the American Dental Association, which has committed to hold its 2026 event in Indianapolis.

Like at Harry & Izzy’s, the Visit Indy team never pursued a hard sell, but instead had a more casual approach, allowing the guests to enjoy the game and ask questions as needed. And most of those in the suite were attuned to the action on the court, occasionally making conversation with one another and Visit Indy staff at timeouts and during halftime.

A couple of other visitors dropped in. Andy Mallon, executive director of the Capital Improvement Board stopped by, bearing extensive tournament swag. And Pacers Sports & Entertainment president Rick Fuson popped in to say hello.

Mel Raines, the Pacers’ executive vice president of corporate communications, community engagement, and facility operations, joined Fuson, donning a Loyola scarf and handing out pins celebrating Sister Jean.

Hoops told IBJ that watching basketball games in Visit Indy’s suite has a strong influence on potential clients because they accentuate a planner’s experience of the city.

“If you can get them to town … Indy is definitely a ‘look to book’ or, you know, you have to see it to book it.,” he said. “Without question, this is the kind of event that can move the needle with [potential customers] to go, ‘I do want to book Indy.’”

Hoops said although Loyola’s loss to Oregon State might dampened the spirits of the Chicago-based groups for a bit, he still had a good feeling about the pitches made Saturday.

“Obviously we had mostly Loyola customers in the suite today and they were disappointed but you can also see … just the overall positive feelings they had about being in the city right now,” he said. “In all, it just it feels like a good day. You know, after 27 years (in the tourism business), you feel the good days and you feel not so good (days). This is definitely a good day.”