There’s nothing quite like a great accolade to attract visitors to a city. National Geographic Traveler magazine has named New Orleans as one of the 21 “must-see” destinations in the world for 2014. The New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau even helps along the process of planning meetings in their city by offering suggested themes like “Big Ideas in the Big Easy,” “Get Jazzed in New Orleans” and “Get Down to Business, then Just Get Down.”
Kelley DeMarchi, senior marketing and events manager for the technology solutions company The CBORD Group, staged her company’s 33rd annual user group conference in New Orleans in October. She has had the city on her radar for a while.
“We chose New Orleans because after Hurricane Katrina we’ve been hearing a lot about the refresh of the city, and our attendees like to have fun. This is an educational conference, and it’s all about the professional development for our customers. New Orleans was always in the back of our minds, and we thought ‘Hey, let’s give it a try.’ ”
CBORD chose the Hyatt Regency New Orleans for its conference, which attracted approximately 625 attendees, including customers, vendors and staff. DeMarchi explains why they decided on this hotel. “We chose the Hyatt due to the newer technologies that they have. They have RFID key cards, and they have a high-speed elevator system, so you use your key to get on the elevator. There are no buttons inside of the elevator.”