VISIT OKC’S BOLD NEW BOOTH DRAWS CROWDS AT EVENT PLANNING CONFERENCE
Shaun Yates, Visit OKC’s new Vice President of Convention Sales and Services, said the event provided lots of educational and networking opportunities which can be very strategic for the Visit OKC team. “Shows like this allow us to cast a wide net where we can meet and greet many planners and other specific clients in one location,” Yates said. One avenue Visit OKC used to meet that specific objective was investing in an impressive new booth that would draw people to its unique space. The booth’s focal point – which reaches 15 feet high – is an image of the Oklahoma City skyline that includes the iconic Skydance Bridge over Interstate 40. “The booth is a moniker of the ‘Modern Frontier’ and is fantastic for OKC in the sense of the old meeting the new. It has very clean colors, and it’s eye-catching. Plus, it draws your attention,” Yates said. An exhibit booth’s design is typically not the lone factor that will draw people’s attention. A gimmick or some type of giveaway is oftentimes part of the mix. Visit OKC’s booth was no exception. “To bring as many clients over to our booth, we sourced a vendor in San Diego to create these cute little bracelets for men and women that would be soldered onto their arms,” Yates said. The promotion clearly worked as more than 400 people waited in line at the Visit OKC booth to snatch up one of these popular, sought-after bracelets. “Not everyone standing in line for one of those bracelets had business with Oklahoma City but, because of the long lines, we had an opportunity for one-on-one time with every planner and hotelier who was in line to get a bracelet,” said Yates. Yates said out of the nearly 380 people that officially visited Oklahoma City’s booth, the Visit OKC team captured 15 leads, with even more on the horizon. Visit OKC hosted 110 site visits in all of 2023 with planners who had never visited OKC. That represents a 51% increase from 2022 when 73 planners made site visits to the city. Already, Oklahoma City has secured multiple citywide groups using the Oklahoma City Convention Center over the next three years, including everything from corporations to industry associations to tradeshows.
Visit Oklahoma City’s recent presence at a premier conference may lead to a surge in the number of national conventions held in Oklahoma City. The team from Visit OKC, a division of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, attended Convening Leaders 2024 in San Diego, a conference organized by the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA). The purpose was to connect with event planners and attract more conventions to Oklahoma City. Visit OKC staff exposed our community’s assets to thousands of other professionals within the business events industry, including hoteliers and destination marketing organizations, among others.
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