Planning Tools

Meeting and event planners know that a successful conference needs more than educational seminars and good food. Maximizing the attendee experience means taking advantage of the unique advantages your host city has to offer – and when your host city is Grand Rapids, you’ll get plenty of help making that happen.

Our Grand Response® Convention Services team has developed a comprehensive suite of planning tools that will assist you in selecting venues and vendors, identifying tour possibilities and after-hours options, coordinating travel and more. Our aim is to make your job easier at every step of the planning process while sparking ideas about how to best “use” Grand Rapids.

Plan Something Distinctively Grand

In addition to the planning tools highlighted below, you may want to check out how you can prioritize sustainability by meeting in what Fast Company called America’s Greenest City.  Capitalize on our Beer City USA status to hold an event at a brewery within walking distance of our DeVos Place Convention Center. Showcase our abundant outdoor recreation opportunities with an event on a pedestrian bridge over our Grand River. Host your medical meeting or convention surrounded by some of the Midwest’s most advanced healthcare research, manufacturing and education facilities.

Plan a Meeting with Meaning

Looking to integrate a Corporate Social Responsibility element to your next event? We’ve connected groups with a variety of local community service initiatives. Meeting attendees have decorated sack lunch bags and assembled supper packs for Kids Food Basket, put together kid’s beds for Sleep in Heavenly Peace, organized personal care item drives for In the Image and the Women’s Resource Center, and much more. Let us know your area of interest and we’ll help you find just the right project for your group.

Plan to be Amazed

You’ll surely want to let your attendees know that our Gerald R. Ford International Airport, a 16-minute drive from our downtown convention neighborhood is one of North America’ best, cleanest, easiest and most enjoyable airports, and that there are 300+ restaurants, shops, cultural attractions and entertainment venues within a 10-minute walk of our downtown convention center.  Grand Rapids is America’s #1 City on the Rise (LinkedIn, 2025) and a Top 10 Best Town to Visit (CNN, 2024 ) – and it’s sure to wow your attendees.

Visit our Meeting Minds blog for more ideas and advice about meeting in Grand Rapids – and about making any event more successful.