Facilities

Grand Rapids is consistently ranked as one of the best and fastest growing economies in the country. Downtown development is keeping pace with that growth. In this Grand Investment installment, we... Read More ›

Meeting planners, is the bottom line hanging over your head when you search for a destination? You might find more budget-friendly options by skipping the popular, first-tier locations and looking at... Read More ›

Meeting planners know that accessibility is a key component to successful conferences, meetings and events. In addition to being within a day's drive of the half of the U.S. population , Grand Rapids',... Read More ›

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Off-site meetings can be game-changers, and, if you get creative with the location, they can be combined with a lot of effective team building – or just plain fun. Ever been tomahawk bowling with your... Read More ›

Offsite conferences already shake up the routine and lend themselves to new ideas and discussion. But sometimes it's good to get attendees out of the hotel conference rooms and into your host city for... Read More ›

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If you haven’t flown into Grand Rapids, Michigan, in a while, you might think you landed in the wrong airport. Thanks to the completion of the first phase of a $45 million Gateway Transformation... Read More ›

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The Michigan association representing student councils, honor societies, and their advisors recently held the largest annual student leadership gathering in its history, something that would not have... Read More ›

Getting in and out Taxis are always waiting, ride share services like Uber, Lyft or SteadyFare are easily accessible, and The Rapid bus system provides an economical way to get from the airport to... Read More ›

Many destinations have “signature events.” If you go to Hawaii, chances are you’ll attend a luau. Headed to Orlando? An event at Disney is likely in your future. But what about Grand Rapids, Michigan?... Read More ›

In Michigan, people know parks are not just for summer. And nobody knows that more than the Michigan Recreation and Park Association, now known as mParks . When the organization recently met in Grand... Read More ›

Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan, are known for their strong agriculture business, including farm markets and farm experiences. In fact, even those in the agriculture industry gather here to... Read More ›

The Michigan Reading Association is a regular visitor to Grand Rapids for its annual conference where between 1,500 and 2,000 attendees from across the state gather to learn and share ideas on the... Read More ›

Each year, thousands of students and instructors gather in the DeVos Place convention center and DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids for the annual Michigan Music Conference . For many students, it... Read More ›

It would be very difficult to find fruits or vegetables growing outside during the winter months in Grand Rapids, Michigan. But every December, that is the main topic of conversation inside the DeVos... Read More ›

Over the years, we occasionally have taken the time to produce videos about the groups that choose Grand Rapids as their meeting destination. Sometimes it's a big "Thank you!" message, and sometimes... Read More ›

2.3 million. That's the number of passengers who passed through the gates of the Gerald R. Ford International Airport last year as they traveled to or from Grand Rapids, Michigan. While it's the... Read More ›

From a cavernous conference hall, to a plush ballroom, to a public museum, transforming a space to meet a target audience is a hurdle faced by all meeting and event planners. Today we chat with Jamie... Read More ›

When you're traveling by car to an unfamiliar place, how much do you rely on your phones mapping app and the turn-by-turn directions? Or maybe you use a GPS tool like Garmin or Magellan? Either way,... Read More ›

Right, so what can you do to ensure a smooth process? We asked some industry veterans for their most important tips. In addition to Beurkens, we spoke to Peter Mahar, director of convention operations... Read More ›

Technology needs connected to meetings and events are changing with each new innovation. (Remember when you had to wait for a paper survey to let a speaker know what you thought?) It's safe to say... Read More ›

The growing trend of shared workspace is creating a new option for meeting and event planners looking for ways to shake up the breakout session. Shared workspaces, or coworking spaces , are sites... Read More ›

Can your hometown compete with Las Vegas as a conference venue? For Configura , which has its North American headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, it certainly did. For the first five years of the... Read More ›

The new year is a great time to try something different. Instead of planning your next event at the tried and true convention centers or hotel meeting rooms, take a look at the colleges or... Read More ›

When Steve Cauble planned the 2013 annual meeting of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel , it included childcare and ministry programming for 500 children. "We not only had 22 rooms of... Read More ›

Floods, evacuations and chaos rarely leave people smiling, but a few weeks after Tammy Brown faced all three at her SkillsUSA Michigan state conference in Grand Rapids, she can't help but smile.... Read More ›

Event planner's quivers are full of facts. They know about filling seats, counting beds, and incorporating logo colors. They know which facilities have the most spacious conference rooms and which... Read More ›

It's hard not to like Captain Jack Sparrow, but on the whole, pirates are bad news. We know what they do on the high seas, but in the turbulent waters of the meeting planning industry, they siphon... Read More ›