What makes your city a top meeting/convention destination?
In conjunction with our major award-winning meeting facility, the Rochester Riverside Convention Center (RRCC), VisitRochester seeks to offer a seamless experience to meeting planners. Several years ago, we undertook a "virtual merger" of the sales departments of both organizations. The convention sales management staff members who were, and remain, bureau employees were relocated to the convention center and a new position, director of community wide convention marketing, was created. Tracy Armstrong, who holds this position, was formerly director of sales for the center exclusively. Now a joint employee of VisitRochester and RRCC, she directs our combined sales staff's work with planners - to match their needs to our facilities - wherever they best fit in the Greater Rochester area.

This approach, teamed with a convenient accommodations package that features two hotels connected to the center and an additional one adjacent, has produced excellent results for the community. Offering a variety of price points, our hotel package can be tailored to specific meeting planner needs. As our community is home to 11 institutions of higher education, a flourishing high-tech and research sector (including cutting-edge medical and optics research, alternate fuels research, and a diversity of agricultural and wine industries), these are the meeting segments we target. These specialty areas, along with significant state association and religious meetings, form the backbone of our convention and meetings business.

The size of our community is also an advantage. Meeting planners know that when they book business here, they will receive dedicated attention and not just blend in with many other groups.
Tell us about a meeting you're thrilled to have just signed on or a recent meeting you're very pleased with.
We were pleased to recently rebook the annual meeting for The Optical Society of America for 2008, 2010, and 2012. The Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission, a significant religious meeting, has confirmed its 2008 booking as well.
How have destination marketing organizations (DMOs) evolved over the past 10 years, and how do you see the role of bureaus evolving in the future? Having served as president of the Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau and vice president of the Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau before coming to Rochester 10 years ago, I have witnessed significant changes in the role and activities of bureaus. We've become much more customer centric. The expectation level of customer service has risen to a new high, demanding that we produce not only all that we promise, but more. On the local governance scene, bureaus have become much more transparent in their activities and are expected to be able to demonstrate an effective return on investment to their funding sources. Our organization recently became accredited by DMAI; it is a designation of which we are extremely proud. Accreditation allows our bureau to creditably outline our role in overall economic development for the community. We're fond of reminding our sister economic development agencies that no one will build a factory here, choose to relocate for a job here, or decide to send a child to an institution of higher learning here - without first coming here as a visitor.
What is it about working in this industry that grabs you?
The bureau has a vital role to play in introducing the community to all the above-mentioned audiences, and many others, as we seek visitation for all types of reasons. I think this is the aspect of the job that I find most intriguing, as the future economic health of the entire community, not just the hospitality industry, is tied directly to activities undertaken by the bureau.