Baton Rouge and the Shreveport-Bossier City metro areas are two Southern meetings destinations that are particularly pleasing to the senses, as wonderful sights, scents and sounds surround delegates convening here.
While New Orleans might be top of mind when Louisiana enters a conversation, planners are increasingly keen to the similar offerings of its neighbors up the road, from fresh, local Cajun food, antebellum architecture and zydeco music to plenty of convention facilities and guest rooms at a more attractive rate.
Baton Rouge
Groups gathering in Baton Rouge are invited to become a part of the local celebration, according to Renee Areng, executive vice president, sales and marketing, of the Baton Rouge Area CVB (BRACVB). The "Red Stick" is home to Mardi Gras fun, Louisiana State University, plantation tours and a full calendar of events and festivals that planners are encouraged to wrap meetings around.
"We work with planners to make sure groups get a taste of our culture," she says, citing the literal taste of Baton Rouge’s delicious cuisine, including crawfish, rice and oysters, and with nine months of warm weather, plenty of seasonal fruits and veggies.
"Food is a big part of life here that we’re pleased to share with everyone," she says, explaining planners should incorporate it via gumbo cooking demonstrations at the Louisiana Culinary Institute or crawfish boils on- or off-site during an itinerary.
Centrally located in the region and therefore well poised for state association and regional meetings, Baton Rouge boasts the Baton Rouge River Center (BRRC) and six convention hotels to meet varied requirements, according to Areng.
In preparation for the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships in 2012, the BRRC is adding 22,000 square feet of pre-function space, including nine breakout rooms, to its existing eight breakout rooms. The project is scheduled for completion in fall 2011.
In other area news, the Hotel Indigo Baton Rouge Downtown is opening at the beginning of 2011 with 93 guest accommodations; the Pinnacle Casino Baton Rouge is on track to open on the river with 200 rooms and function space for up to 2,500 people by the end of 2011; and a Marriott Renaissance property with 254 rooms and 10,000 square feet of meeting space is scheduled to open in fall 2011 on Bluebonnet Drive, the shopping and medical corridor of community.
"And in the last two years we’ve added 2,500 rooms, mostly limited-service, but they help with citywide blocks," Areng says. "We are strategic in attracting groups that fit into the product we have, and in the end we hope that niche grows for us because we’re adding product to attract more groups to Baton Rouge."
Existing group-friendly properties in the area include the Sheraton Convention Center Hotel and the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center, which are near the BRRC, making it possible for groups of up to 1,500 people to comfortably convene downtown.
Beyond standby group facilities, Areng says off-site options for social gatherings during a meeting are endless.
"We like groups to meet off-site so they get a better feel of the Baton Rouge culture," she says, explaining that the BRACVB will help coordinate events at, among other venues, the Shaw Center for the Arts, Old Louisiana State Capital, Old Governor’s Mansion and Louisiana Art and Science Museum.
Located across the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge is West Baton Rouge, where planners will find more off-site venues, including the circa-1884 Poplar Grove Plantation and the West Baton Rouge Museum.
Groups meeting here will enjoy strolling around the Mississippi Riverfront Development’s pedestrian promenade, boasting views of the river and Baton Rouge.
The area’s main group facility is the West Baton Rouge Conference Center, which has function space for up to 800 people and on-site catering.
Shreveport-Bossier City
"Louisiana’s Other Side" is a term the Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau (SBCTB) uses to describe the area’s location in the state as well as its unique combination of Louisiana Cajun culture and East Texas cowboy heritage, according to Kim Brice, vice president of convention marketing at the Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau.
"This area has the necessary ingredients for a memorable group gathering," she says, citing excitement at the riverboat casinos, an array of festivals, mouthwatering cuisine, shopping opportunities and museums and other attractions. "We like to say our coffee is a little richer, our food is a little spicier, our tea is definitely sweeter, but it is our people that really set us apart from anywhere else a meeting planner will choose as a host site."
Brice says the SBCTB gets consistent feedback from planners regarding how helpful and friendly everyone is.
"They are also impressed with all of the facilities and services our ‘small’ market has to offer the meetings and convention market," she says.
The long list of meetings-equipped venues includes the Shreveport Convention Center, which Brice says is as fresh as it was when it opened in 2006, the Hilton Shreveport, Bossier Hotel and Suites, Holiday Inn Downtown Shreveport, the Lakehouse at Villaggio, the Courtyard by Marriott Shreveport-Bossier City/Louisiana Boardwalk, the Hampton Inn & Suites Shreveport/South and five riverboat casino properties: Sam’s Town Hotel and Casino, Eldorado Resort Casino, DiamondJacks Casino and Resort, Boomtown Casino and Hotel and Horseshoe Bossier City.
The twin cities of Shreveport and Bossier City, separated by the river but seamless in appearance and vibe, are sold as one community to planners, Brice says, adding meetings business has picked up and the area has bookings into 2011 and 2012.
"We aren’t the best-kept secret in the South anymore; the word is getting out," she says, explaining that the community’s position in the northwest pocket of Louisiana makes it accessible and extremely attractive for drive-in meetings from Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
"Even Memphis is only a six-hour drive away," Brice says. "We find a lot of groups like to use our area because they’re frustrated with delays and the extra charges to fly, so they’re getting in a car and driving here."
When they arrive, attendees find there’s no shortage of things to do in Shreveport-Bossier City, from taking in a performance with the Shreveport Opera or Shreveport Symphony to visiting the Meadows Museum, On Cloud Wine (a Shreveport winery) or Sci-Port: Louisiana’s Science Center, which doubles as a popular off-site venue along with the circa-1925 Strand Theatre.
Plus, Brice says area festivals welcome convention groups with open arms.
"Recently we hosted the first-ever Small Market Meetings Conference here in Shreveport-Bossier City, and on the night of the dine-around, we took the delegates and suppliers to the Red River Revel for something a little bit different than them just picking from a list of restaurants," Brice says. "This way they were able to experience the food, the music, the people—the real culture of the area. Everyone loved it."
Planners are also encouraged to rent Shreveport’s Festival Plaza for outdoor, covered events.
"Our climate is pretty fair throughout the fall, winter, spring and summer," Brice says, adding that many conventions that come to town want to add a Mardi Gras component to their agendas. "That can also be done any time of the year. Local krewe members are happy to perform for groups and/or the delegates can have a wonderful event at the local Mardi Gras Museum."
Carolyn Blackburn is a frequent contributor to Meetings South.
