{"id":99204,"date":"2020-11-01T23:59:52","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T07:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globaltrademag.com\/?p=99204"},"modified":"2020-11-09T07:05:52","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T15:05:52","slug":"2020s-best-convention-cites-and-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globaltrademag.com\/2020s-best-convention-cites-and-centers\/","title":{"rendered":"2020\u2019s BEST CONVENTION CITES AND CENTERS"},"content":{"rendered":"
Editor\u2019s Note:<\/em><\/strong> Travmar, which produces intelligence for event planners, is based in Minnesota, but the seeds for the company were planted in the Northeast.<\/em><\/p>\n John Horchner left Manhattan and the Hearst Corp. for Providence, Rhode Island, and his startup, The New England Meeting Planning Guide.<\/strong> Similar regional sourcebooks were created for meeting planners around the U.S., and Travmar was born.<\/p>\n In the mid-1990s, Travmar made its mark in the digital world with MeetingSource.com<\/strong><\/a>, the first meeting and convention website in the country. ResponseRewards.com<\/strong> and WeddingSource.com followed soon afterward. The company relocated to St. Paul, Minnesota.<\/strong><\/p>\n This year\u2014quite appropriately given the global you-know-what\u2014Travmar launched DigMeetings.com to help clients move to digital events using WordPress and Zoom teleconferencing<\/a>. But the company still kept a keen watch over brick-and-mortar conference and convention centers across the nation.<\/p>\n For Travmar\u2019s list of the \u201cTop 25 Convention Cities For 2020,\u201d walkability, affordability, safety, exciting tourism options and city assets were all considered.<\/p>\n Looking at the 166 cities ranked nationwide, judges noted that smaller, so-called \u201csecond-tier\u201d cities gained ground this year because of more attractive hotel rates, something they note that may linger due to COVID-19 concerns.<\/p>\n For example, affordable room rates and above-average scores in most other areas like safety propelled Pittsburgh<\/a>,\u00a0Pennsylvania; Boise<\/a>, Idaho;\u00a0and\u00a0Tampa<\/a>, Florida. Pittsburgh\u2019s city parks also helped it excel, as did St. Paul, Minnesota\u2019s,<\/a>\u00a0Madison,<\/a>\u00a0Wisconsin\u2019s and\u00a0Portland<\/a>, Oregon\u2019s, according to Travmar, whose top convention cities of 2020 follow.<\/p>\n