| |
Fall 2008
The Knoxville Tourism & Sports Corporation Sales Team
Pictured right are Linda Milan, Meg Caldwell, Tracy O'Connor & Laney Shorter.
Coming Soon: Knoxville's Fall Football Fam!
The Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation will host a Fall Football Familiarization (FAM) Tour November 6-9, 2008. The FAM will give meeting planners an opportunity to tour Knoxville and experience all that the city has to offer.
Planners from across the country will experience Knoxville’s beauty first-hand, along with the tradition of University of Tennessee football. The weekend will begin with an opening reception on Thursday, Nov. 6 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and conclude with a “Recovery Breakfast” on Sunday, Nov. 9 at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame (WBHOF). FAM attendees will tour city sites, downtown properties and the Knoxville Convention Center.
The highlight of the Fall Football FAM is the University of Tennessee football game. Attendees will participate in a “railgate" tailgate on the Three Rivers Rambler Train, and then attend the University of Tennessee homecoming football game against the University of Wyoming.
This FAM is sure to be memorable and will leave you wanting more - so don't miss out! Email thall@knoxville.org for more information.
The Knoxville Convention Center “Goes Green!”
The Knoxville Convention Center is now “Going Green” on the inside and out!
Inside the center, here’s what the staff has done to make the building more environment-friendly:
- Installed energy-efficient boiler-restroom paper products made from recycled paper
-
- Installed automated paper towel & foam soap dispensers which reduce waste
-
- More live plants added to the interior of the facility
-
- Working with vendors to supply the center with green chemicals for cleaning
-
- Changing to use more biodegradable products in the food and beverage department
-
- Retrofitting lighting to use more energy efficient bulbs
-
- Installing a “Plumb-it” system to kitchen drains to reduce grease trap build-up
Outside the center, the staff has:
- Improved outdoor landscaping by planting more perennials which have a lower water requirement compared to annuals.
-
- Installed energy efficient window tinting to reduce cooling needs.
Additionally:
- Recycle bins are located throughout the center for guest and employee use.
-
- Recycling program includes aluminum and steel cans, glass, plastic and mixed paper.
-
- In 2007, 18,342 lbs. (since opening in 2003, 94,579 lbs) of un-served food were donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank.
Click here for more information on the Knoxville Convention Center.
Showing Knoxville off in Detroit
Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation (KTSC) representative Laney Shorter and Rebecca Williams representing the Knoxville Convention Center traveled to Detroit for the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives (CESSE) tradeshow to showcase Knoxville. Shorter and Williams hosted a dinner at the Whitney Restaurant with eight new clients from five different organizations (pictured above). The dinner was a productive yet fun way to spend the evening sharing the must-sees of Knoxville with clients.
Shorter and Williams also attended a black tie gala at the event where they continued to network and talk with convention attendees about Knoxville. A booth featuring information on the city of Knoxville, Knoxville attractions, hotels, venues and restaurants was on display throughout the weeklong conference.
CESSE is an organization comprised of CEOs and mid-senior level staff members in scientific or engineering societies that offers an open forum for exchange of information and problem solving in today’s world.
VM Goldschmidt is coming to Knoxville!
The Geochemical Society has agreed to bring The Goldschmidt Conference to Knoxville June 13-18, 2010. More than 2,000 people will gather in the Knoxville Convention Center for this premiere international conference on geochemistry, which is defined as the science dealing with the chemical changes in and the composition of the earth’s crust. The conference is owned jointly by the Geochemical Society and the European Association for Geochemistry and organized by Ted Labotka and Hap McSween (both of University of Tennessee) and Dave Coel (Oak Ridge National Laboratory). Visit
http://www.goldschmidt2010.org for more info.
Knoxville in the News
Knoxville has been all over the media in the past few months! In the June/July issue of Black Meetings & Tourism Magazine, Knoxville was named one of 26 “Visitor Friendly Cities.” Additionally, Knoxville won Gold in the “Big City” category in BlueRidge Country Magazine’s “Best of the Blue Ridge 2008” competition (cover is pictured right). In the August 24 issue of The Tennessean, Knoxville’s 2008 Chrysler Jeep Boomsday Festival was featured in an article titled,
“Knoxville Boomsday Festival celebrates Labor Day with a bang,” revealing details about the festival to the entire state of Tennessee! See below for the “Event Recap” of the Boomsday Festival.
BlueRidge Country Magazine's "Urban Eats" was yet another impressive article about Knoxville, featuring McEwan’s Kitchen in Four Points by Sheraton Knoxville Cumberland House Hotel and many, many downtown restaurants in the Sept./Oct. issue.
Finally, SportsTravel, Sports Destination Management and Association News magazines all listed KTSC on their articles/listings of Destination Marketing Association International accredited organizations.
Travels & Site Visits
During the months of July, August and September of this year, the KTSC sales team traveled to:
· Mobile, AL for the International Conference of Police Chaplains conference
· McDonough, GA for a American Amateur Baseball Congress meeting
· Detroit, MI for the CESSE tradeshow
· San Diego, CA for the ASAE tradeshow
· Nashville, TN for the American Quilter’s Society International Quilt Expo
· Washington, DC for Affordable Meetings tradeshow
· Tucson, AZ for the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) Sales Academy sales training workshop
Additionally, the following organizations visited with the KTSC staff this spring and toured Knoxville: Proyecto Libertad, EcoQuest International, American Institute of Architects/TN Chapter, National Fishing Lure Collectors Association, Southeastern Hospital Health and Fitness Alliance, International Bull Riding Championships, Consolidated Baptist District Women’s Auxiliary, American Quilter’s Society and
Mary Kay.
Event Recap: Boomsday Festival
The 2008 Chrysler Jeep Boomsday Festival witnessed a record number of attendees, drawing approximately 405,000 people to downtown Knoxville. The Chrysler Jeep Boomsday Festival is the nation’s largest Labor Day weekend fireworks display, also featuring games, inflatables and food.
Newer attractions included the Southern Shores “Salute to the Troops” and the Master Craft/American Boat Center’s Rail Jam Demos, where downtown’s Neyland Drive was transformed into a 200-foot long waterway where professional wakeboarders attempted jumps and turns for the spectators’ enjoyment.
At 9:30 p.m. the fireworks display began with signature pieces like a “waterfall” off the downtown Henley St. Bridge and the “smoke on the water” display. An original accompanying soundtrack was provided by Star 102.1 FM.
New Senior Director of Sales: Meg Caldwell
The Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation is pleased to announce the hiring of Meg Caldwell as its new senior director of sales. A 1998 graduate of the University of South Alabama University, Caldwell has worked in the hospitality industry since 1999. Caldwell comes to Knoxville from Mobile, Ala. where she served as the national sales manager for the city’s convention and visitor’s bureau. Her responsibilities included prospecting, marketing and securing convention and sports bookings.
Caldwell and her husband Bryan have a two-year-old son Braeden. In her free time, Caldwell enjoys running, cooking, traveling, riding motorcycles, hiking and spending time with her family.
|
|
October 16, 2008
In This Issue
Pass it on
If you know someone who may be interested in receiving this newsletter, you can easily forward up to five copies at once.
|
