Sure, Judy Booth's question is self-serving, as well as rhetorical: "How does a city go from complete bankruptcy to a must-see destination?" It's also on-point.
Photo: Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau
She's sales and marketing director at the Detroit Marriott downtown, and is quoted in a Crain's Detroit Business roundup on large events booked here this year. "Meeting planners across the country are very curious about what's going on in Detroit," Booth tells Doug Henze
"There's a lot more positive national press and there's a lot more positive local press and that really helps us," said Booth. . . .
Engineers, civil rights leaders and science-minded teens will be among the thousands of visitors who converge on metro Detroit this year for conventions — yet another a sign of momentum in a resurgent downtown. . . .
"We're certainly seeing an uptick in interest in meetings of all sizes," said Dave Beachnau, senior vice president . . . for the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. "It's a byproduct of [how] the conversation about Detroit has certainly changed."
Crain's latest issue lists high-profile events at Cobo Center this month, next month and this summer:
- National Society of Black Engineers conference: 13,200 participants from March 27-30; first annual meeting in Detroit since 1995.
- FIRST Championship (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology): 50,000 visitor projected for nationmal youth robotics competitions April 24-27, held here for second straight year.
- NAACP: 110th national convention from July 20-24, aith 8,000 attendees; last convention here was in 2007. Cobo March 27-30.
Beachnau's bureau starts an online pitch to meeting planners by asking "Why Detroit?" and answering, in part:
Because mainstream is boring. Because it’s time to be the meeting industry's next disruptor. Because it’s the city people are talking about -- in a good way.
