The Southwest Showcase Most Exciting Meeting Destination Change award recognizes any city, bureau, organization, group or company that has made a significant change to a destination of interest to the event industry.
Eligible destinations include but are not limited to:
Hotels,
Resorts
A region
Counties
Cities
Areas within a city or county
An area clearly defined and previously recognized as such (i.e. a museum district featuring several similar institutions in close proximity, and including hotels or other venues for hosting meetings.)
Ineligible destinations include but are not limited to:
Individual attractions not of interest to meeting planners (i.e. waterparks)
Cruise ships
Individual museums, art galleries, theaters, etc.
Criteria:
- The destination must be nominated by a person or organization that is a member in good standing of at least one association affiliated with the meetings industry.
- Nominations will be judged upon the scope, utility, and value of the project.
- High value will be attributed for creativity and innovation.
Rules:
- Nominations must include photos (minimum of 5, maximum of 10). A video that is 2 minutes or less may also be submitted.
- The project submitted must currently be in use and have been largely completed sometime in 2017 or 2018.
- The destination change must be of interest and value to event planners.
- The final selection is based on merit.
How the entries will be evaluated.
The Southwest Showcase Leaders Council, composed of the President, President-Elect, and Immediate Past President of each organization, and the Southwest Showcase Steering Committee, composed of three members from each organization, will evaluate all entries. There is no requirement to be a member of MPI THCC or IAEE-CTC, the member of any event-related association is welcome and all will be considered equally.
Nominations
Nominations open Wednesday, August 1, 2018. Nominations must be submitted via a web form accessed from this page. The link for the form will become active on August 1. Projects may be nominated by anyone, and there is no fee to submit a nomination.
The destination award winner will be recognized at the 2019 Southwest Showcase Luncheon, receive recognition in the form of a graphic they can use on their website and elsewhere, acknowledgement on the IAEE and MPI websites for 6 months, and a press release announcing their win.
Timeline for the 2019 award will be:
- Applications open: August 1, 2018
- Application cutoff date: September 15, 2018
- Notify winner: Early December
- Award given: Southwest Showcase 2019