The Reno-Sparks area got the equivalent
of a full month of extra hotel bookings
when local residents started making the
pitch for convention business.
The "Bring Your Meeting Home"
effort of the Reno-Sparks Convention and
Visitors Authority so far has brought five
meetings and 22,910 room-nights
that's one visitor staying one night to
the Reno-Sparks area.
Meetings representing another 13,576
room nights are "pretty close to definite,"
said Bob Brown, vice president for sales at
the convention and visitors authority.
The 22,910 worth of room-nights generated
by the program is roughly equivalent
to the number of rooms occupied in
the area during a typical month.
The program has been so successful,
Brown said, that its run has been extended
indefinitely. Originally, the authority
planned to wrap up the campaign at the
end of this year.
Here's how it works:
When it's time for a group to select the
site for its next meeting, local residents
who are members of a national or regional
organization make a pitch for the Reno
area, using materials including a video
starring television personality Sam Shad
provided by the RSCVA sales staff.
Essentially, the RSCVA crew acts as the
staff while the local resident acts as the
point person who has good connections.
"We knew that in our back yard there
are people who are involved in organizations
professional or otherwise who
would like to see their meetings come to
Reno," Brown said. "These are leads that
community members have brought to us."
As the visitors authority staff has made
its pitch around town, he said, about 180
people have stepped forward to make the
contract with their groups.
The five meetings booked as a result of
the campaign include meetings of:
* The National Association of Counties.
* A group of behavioral economists.
* H2O Resources.
* The American Planning Association
* The National Parks and Recreation
Association.
Those meetings are scheduled from
now through 2005, Brown said.
The campaign has been budgeted at
$47,000, he said.
