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Rhode Island goes all out to attract conventions and meetings.

Recently, the Radisson Airport Hotel in Warwick announced their “Meetings Inclusive” - an all-inclusive stay package to meet the needs of meeting planners, simplifying the process of preparing for business meetings. Their new package includes a complimentary website for informing meeting particpants, a guest room or suite, meeting rooms, high-speed internet, snacks at morning and afternoon, and a lunch prepared by Johnson & Wales chefs.

Help in planning meetings and conventions is not uncommon among Rhode Island hotels. Every hotel, , regardless of its size, has someone who is resonsible for coordinating group sales, and those hotels that have ballrooms and meetingrooms, their responsibilities expand to include banquets, conventions, meetings, weddings, parties, and whatever functions are likely to come their way.

Erin Degulis is the person to see when you're planning a convention or meeting anywhere in Providence or Warwick. She's the person at the Providence / Warwick Convention and Vistors Bureau who helps get bids from hotels, making sure that planners get the best prices for their guest rooms, meeting space, food and beverage functions, and A/V support. She provides introductions to a variety of local companies and services like airlines, transportation providers, speaker's bureaus, attractions, and special event planners, that have to be involved to make a successful event. She even coordinates site visits and arranges for promotional materials.

Of course Erin doesn't do this entirely on her own. In fact, she's only one of three managers, responsible for planning for visitors coming from New York and the East. Two other manager handle the Midatlantic and Western regions for national sales. Their convention services staff attends pre-convention planning meetings with organizations, both local and national, and offers their expertise and knowledge of Providence and the Rhode Island Convention Center and area businesses.

They provide color photos, camera-ready logos, and maps for planners' publications to help heighten interest and attract attendees. They can obtain welcome letters from or request appearances by the Mayor of Providence, Mayor of Warwick, and the Governor of Rhode Island. The CVB can even provide media contacts and assistance with press releases and press conferences for larger groups.

They're so successful at providing personal service and a committment to excellence, that the Providence Warwick CVB won Meetings & Conventions magazine's Gold Service Award and Pinnacle Award winner by the readers of Successful Meetings magazine.

In Newport and the rest of Adquidneck Island, the same role is filled by the Newport County Convention & Visitor's Bureau. They don't have Providence's Rhode Island Convention Center for basing the largest events, but Newport county still boasts of having 3,000 rooms and 90,000 square feet of meeting space -- even more when you consider the varous banquet rooms in Newport's restaurants.

The Blackstone Valley Tourism Council handles tourism, meetings, and conventions in Rhode Island's North Country. The BVTC has involved itself in developing the tourism infrastructure of the area in addition to attracting conventions, meetings, and conventions. They have assisted in the development of the Slater River Boat B&B, river cruises, train tours, and have even brought Chinese dragon boat racing to the Blackstone River.

Smaller towns rely on their local chambers of commerce to help coordinate things for meeting planners. There are both individual town chambers, like the one for East Greenwich, and chambers for areas, like the East Bay Chamber of Commerce. On top of that, almost every town has someone responsible for visitors and tourism who can help you plan your event.

Finally, there's a state office for visitors and tourism. A big one. The state recognizes the importance of tourism to the local economy. The travel and tourism industry is one of the nation's largest sources of employment. Approximately 7.8 million people are directly employed by the industry and another 11.5 million indirectly. According to the Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association, Rhode Island boasts more than 61,000 jobs in the travel, hospitality and related industries.

So if you're planning an event in Rhode Island, from a short sales meeting for a dozen people or a convention for 1000, there is someone here in Rhode Island ready to help you.

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