Event planner Christa Mekki, founder and senior planner at Magnetic Magnificent Events, was one of the first to experience the brand-new Kentucky International Convention Center (KICC).
Meetings Today reached out to Mekki for her take on the reimagined convention center.
Describe your meeting in Louisville.
We hosted an annual three-day training event in September 2018 for a nationwide sales team of nearly 900 independent agents from the insurance and network marketing industries. We spent two days completely at the new Kentucky International Convention Center (KICC).
Why did you select Louisville and the venue?
Following a very positive meeting with the Visit Louisville team at IMEX America in 2016, we researched the city and found it ideal for our attendees. Accessibility was key.
Louisville is driveable from one-third of U.S. states.
The KICC’s prime downtown location, right by the happening Fourth Street Live! entertainment district, provided easy access to fun and meals for our group.
Which specific venues, amenities and services did you utilize?
We held our main event in the KICC’s Main Concourse Ballroom. This is an especially bright and beautiful space. That’s true throughout the venue, including plenty of natural light in the common areas. This is not your yesteryear concrete wall convention center—far from it.
Our host hotels were the beautiful Embassy Suites Louisville Downtown, built in the update of a landmark 1907 department store building, and modern Marriott Downtown Louisville.
For our closing party, we used the Live Nation-run Mercury Ballroom.
How was your overall experience?
In a word, amazing.
Our attendees raved about the location, and Louisville is still their most talked about event. With the KICC under construction on our site visit, we took a risk in committing. Yet without the convention center, we would not have had the space for our program.
Everything worked out perfectly, though. The KICC team was great to work with. Everything was executed with ease and within our budget, which was another major plus for my client.
Would you book the KICC again?
Yes, for this group and for all my clients looking to go to Louisville.
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