What's New in Nashville. With Nashville CVB Chief Deana Ivey.
A year after taking the reins of Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp (NCVC), 27-year NCVC vet Deana Ivey shares her in-depth Music City expertise and what’s new in the destination.
With a new NFL stadium and dreams of hosting a Super Bowl, in addition to phenomenal hotel and event venue growth in the last few years, Music City is hotter than a plate of Nashville Hot Chicken.
[Related: How to Tap the Top Nashville Honky-Tonks for Group Events]
Discover what the NCVC has been up to since the retirement of former bureau chief and industry icon Butch Spyridon retired, as well as what it's like to live in the "Capital of Country Music," where you just may bump shopping carts with a low-key celebrity when out on a grocery run.
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Transcript:
Editors note: The following transcription was facilitated by AI program Otter.ai and proofed by our editors. Although it is very accurate, there inevitably will be some mistakes, so please consider that when reading. Thank you.
Tyler Davidson
Welcome to this meetings today Podcast. I'm Tyler Davidson, Vice President and Chief Content Director for Meetings Today. And I'm happy to be joined by Deana Ivey who took over for the Nashville Convention and Visitor's Corporation. Thanks for joining us, Deana.
Deana Ivey
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Tyler Davidson
First of all, I mean, you know, always big shoes to fill with Butch retiring. How's he doing? And, and then, you know, what, what's he up to these days? Is he out fishing all the time?
Deana Ivey
He is out fishing all the time. He actually lives in Mississippi on the coast. So yeah, I talked to him. He's, he's great at, you know, bouncing, bouncing ideas off of and we stay in touch. Yeah, fairly often. So it's, he's good. He's doing really well.
I think he left the city in good shape for years. So that's good news. Right. He did. You know, it's been a year now actually, today, yesterday, really, since I took over. Yeah. So it's been it's been quite a year. And you know, it's a good transition, because I worked with him side by side for 26 years. Wow. So we did a lot of fun things together a lot of good things together and it made for a really smooth transition.
Tyler Davidson
How about you tell me about your background and then in the hospitality and DMO industry, I mean, you've been there for for more than 25 years. How did you get into this industry and, you know, maybe just kind of fill us in on some of your background.
Deana Ivey
Yeah, I'd love to tell you I've been here since you know, I was born, but a little bit older than that. No, I started in actually East Tennessee around the Smoky Mountains. And I was at University of Tennessee in graduate school and got my first job with the Chamber of Commerce in Pigeon Forge, and then I was there a few years, also worked in a hotel, doing hotel sales and special events and marketing and then moved to Gatlinburg just up the road and ended up I was there. Several years, I think I was, I was there eight or nine years and started in communications and marketing. And little by little took on more and more.
And by the end, I was the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, which is the organization that did all tourism marketing for that area. And you know, at that time, they had about 13 million visitors a year. So it was really great experience. And then Butch recruited me to come to Nashville, and I told him I would come for two years. And now it's been going on 27 years soon.,
Tyler Davidson
Well, I think you've stuck there. Yes. Are you from Tennessee originally?
Deana Ivey
No, actually, I'm from Kentucky, just up the road. So I grew up coming to Nashville. All the time, half my family lived here. So I was always down here spend a lot of summers most summers here did my first internship at Opryland theme park as a matter of fact, in the marketing department.
Tyler Davidson
Interesting. And what you know what are so, you know, you've been there for a long time. And you've I'm sure you know, the city inside and out? What are some of the kind of surprising things that about the city that that always seem to surprise you?
Deana Ivey
You know, I don't know if it surprises me as much as it surprises other people that come in because people never really know exactly what to expect if they haven't been here. And they're always so pleasantly surprised at the creative community that Nashville is the diversity that's here. And I'm not just in the people, but in the music.
A lot of people think it's just country music. And that's not true. No country--it's great; it's capital of country. But it's also so many other kinds of fantastic music.
And the I think one of the very best things, the most special things about Nashville is it's the largest songwriting community in the world. And when you hear the songwriters that wrote the songs and hear their stories, and we do something special here called writers in the round, and they are telling their stories, you know, and then they go to the next person, the next person and do like three or four rounds, but when they tell their stories, it's incredible.
And it's never what you think the songs about necessarily, or why the song was written. And people love it. They absolutely love it. And it's I've never seen anything like that. They're always like, that was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Yeah,
Tyler Davidson
We did a Meetings Today LIVE! program there--must be about a year ago--but we actually did a songwriters in the round for a CSR program and it was it was amazing. It was maybe the most popular thing we've ever done. And they wrote songs about planning meetings and events. And all four of them were people that you may not know their names, but you probably heard some of their songs because they write for some of the biggest stars of the day, right?
Deana Ivey
Absolutely. And actually, it's one of the best jobs in the world. Because you can go out and, you know, not be noticed or recognize, and you can live a life, you can live a normal life, you don't have to tour, but you do pretty well from writing hit songs, right?
Tyler Davidson
And then you go to check the mailbox..
Deana Ivey
... for mailbox money. I haven't figured that one out yet.
Tyler Davidson
So you bet you've been there for a full year today. What were your objectives taking the position, and where are you at with them? And what's sort of your perspective for what you want to accomplish in the future?
Deana Ivey
Yeah, I mean, the most important thing to me and to the board and to Butch was to keep the momentum going and have a smooth transition and continue the great work that this team has done and not miss a beat, and we've done that. We've been able to keep things moving in such a great direction and, you know, keeping the gold standard of what a DMO is and should be. And I mean that's really important to us.
We want to always provide excellence in our work. You know, some of the priorities I have are we were just approved last year to build a new domed football stadium. Right? So the big priority is filling it now with events and large conventions, you know, outside of the Titans playing football. So, we're working on a lot of those things and have several bids out for some big events that hopefully we'll find out about before long and be able to close on those.
Now, another big priority is more international airlift. International is important to us as a visitor demographic, but we don't have the lift to support it. And we need the lift to get the demand, and we need the demand to get the lift. So, working through all that in some key markets. So, hopefully, we'll have some announcements before long to several several priorities, you know, of course, always selling and looking more business, right?
Tyler Davidson
And tell me about the football stadium. Are there any details concerning private event spaces revealed yet? I mean, no one just builds a sports stadium anymore. It's always with ancillary events in mind. And of course, the biggest event could be maybe a Super Bowl bid. I don't know where you guys are at with that. But I know that was a big thing with Butch, too.
Deana Ivey
Yeah, a couple things. The stadium is going to be incredible. I mean, the renderings that I've seen, and they have a big model over it, what they're calling the Titans House, it's like their sales office where you can go and pick out your tickets, your seats and everything. And it is gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.
And the event space meeting space is going to be first class. I mean, when you see some of these club levels and the things that they're offering, it's incredible. So, we're super excited about that. And then as far as a Super Bowl, we've been in discussions with the NFL, and they know we want one I know we're interested. And when we're ready to host one, as soon as we get up and running--you know, they want you running and being open and everything, with all the construction and everything out of the way for a couple of years. So, after that we're ready to host ...
Tyler Davidson
And the NFL loves to show off the new stadiums. And you know, Nashville is a draw. Without even football, people are coming there for the music and the nightlife. So, I'm sure you're--I wouldn't say you're a shoo in, but I would put my money on you guys.
Deana Ivey
Thank you. Well, we we had such a great experience working with the NFL on the draft in 2019, and really changed the game for how the draft is presented. And they will tell you that we added some elements that they continue [to offer] now when they go to other destinations. So, it was a great experience for both of us. And we feel like that relationship will really help us to secure a Super Bowl.
Tyler Davidson
Right. And, you know, Nashville has really been the "it" destination for the last five years or longer. I mean, just there's so much hotel development going on there. It's just hot, hot, hot. Is that pace cooling down? And, I guess it's your job to sell those hotel rooms; do you anticipate the demand to keep up with the supply coming in?
Deana Ivey
Yeah, you know, we've had so much supply over the last 10 years, really. And our demand has been incredible. I mean, it's increased like 62% over the last decade. So, that trajectory has been amazing. And yes, it's our job to keep that going. And that's why, you know, we're working on some of these priorities of the new things and what makes it different. And what gives people another reason to come back. And so far, we're able to absorb the supply.
We have a lot of supply still in the pipeline, we have about 12,000 rooms in the pipeline. They won't all come to fruition, but there's 2,000 under construction right now. So plenty of places to stay, and plenty of room to have more meetings and more visitors. But you know, the good thing is we have some exciting things and reasons for people to come back.
Tyler Davidson
Any kind of highlights or big things people can expect in the next couple of years.
Deana Ivey
Yeah, one is Nashville Yards, which is such a great complex and it's on the west side of downtown. So, it's not, you know, quite like right in the middle of Broadway. It's a few blocks up the street. But it's going to be an incredible area. It's where the Grand Hyatt is and Union Station Hotel and there'll be another really nice hotel going up there. Big music venue there, a lot of shopping and dining. So, that's something we're really looking forward to. And then of course the East Bank is is where the new Titans stadium will be, and that will be developed into an entire neighborhood. And it's right along the river. It'll have restaurants and retail over there. And three hotels; it's going to be super nice kind of bookend downtown. So, it gives you good options.
Tyler Davidson
Excellent. Yeah, looking forward to that. I'm sure it's like Las Vegas. And in a certain way that's like, I always seem to end up in Nashville, because it's so growing in popularity with meetings and events recently. And so then you mentioned this earlier, and I guess it's something you always need to talk about, is that Nashville is known globally isas the capital of country music, which is great, and just world renown. And the musicianship is amazing. But what other things are gathering steam in the city that vid might attract visitors?
Deana Ivey
Yeah, you know, it's, it's such a cool, fun city, and it's not just about the music, but it is about the music because it's about all kinds of music. And not just country. We are fortunate to have almost every kind of music that you're looking for.
But then we also have some incredible chef-driven restaurants that have popped up over the last 7, 10 years, and been named like restaurant of the year for, you know, all of the states or, or all of North America--just some really, really good places to eat. Some great shopping in the city has exploded, honestly, it has.
And if you haven't been here, even in the last year or two, you will see a difference. We will drive around the corner and go, 'Whoa, where did that come from?' You know, that just popped up--some incredible new experience for our visitors.
Tyler Davidson
And you know, as a lot of people I'm sure know, the sort of top highlights of Nashville as far as tourism and attractions. But what are a couple of other things meeting planners should try to check out that are maybe not on their radars.
Deana Ivey
One that I would say you should definitely check out is--it's been here a couple of years now, but it still seems so new--is the National Museum of African American Music. It is an incredible museum right on Broadway, right by the honky-tonks. And they did such a nice job with it. The history that you can find there. I mean, it's it's just really special. And people when they go in there, they're like, I had no idea that this was here or that this was in Nashville. And they love it. They absolutely love it.
Tyler Davidson
Yeah, we actually used that museum for part of our program and had a speaker in their theater, which was just really beautiful. And just a fascinating museum.
Deana Ivey
Yeah, it is. It is.
Tyler Davidson
So, you've spent a lot of time in East Tennessee, Pigeon Forge...You must have run into Dolly Parton somewhere along the line. Is she as nice as she seems?
Deana Ivey
Several times. Several times. Yeah, she's so nice. And she's done a lot for us here in Nashville and the state of Tennessee. She is the sweetest person, very genuine. Just so easy to work with.
Tyler Davidson
What's it like just being a citizen in Nashville out going to the grocery store? Do you see country stars and other music stars and entertainers just as part of daily life, sometimes.
Deana Ivey
You do, and the thing about Nashville is everybody here knows you don't bother them. And that's why they like living here. You know, you might go to a coffee shop and run into Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman and people are just going about their business. Or Tim McGraw in the Green Hills Kroger. I mean, you just never know you're gonna run into but we know you leave him alone.
Tyler Davidson
Yeah. Yeah. I think Hollywood can kind of be like that, too, a little bit, in it's such an industry town. Definitely.
Well, thank you for joining us. Any anything you'd like to add for meeting planners out there listening to this?
Deana Ivey
I appreciate all the business that all the planners have brought to us over the years. We could not have the success that we've had, without, the business that we've been able get, from the trust that our planners have had in us, and we just welcome them all back and want to do more business together.
Tyler Davidson
Well, thank you Deana, for joining us.
Deana Ivey
Thank you appreciate it.
Tyler Davidson
And that was Deana Ivey, president and CEO--for one year now, to the date. I think that's fortuitous timing here for the National Convention and Visitors Corporation.
And I'm Tyler Davidson, Vice President and Chief Content Director for Meetings Today. Thank you for joining us for this Meetings Today Podcast. If you're interested in other podcasts we do with meetings industry thought leaders, just head on over to MeetingsToday.com and check out our podcast section, where you'll find a wealth of material from folks who are really doing their best to keep our industry humming along. So, thanks for joining us today. And no matter what you're up to with the rest of it, go out and make it a great one. Thank you, Deana.
