September Pulse


Welcome...to the September issue of Pulse, the official newsletter of the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau. Please see the stories below highlighting Bureau initiatives, events and other relevant information for Wake County's hospitality community. If you have questions, or would like to be included in the October edition of PULSE, please contact Ryan Smith at rsmith@visitRaleigh.com RCC Opening A little rain from Tropical Storm Hanna didn’t stop the Raleigh Convention Center from opening its doors to thousands of Greater Raleigh’s residents and visitors during Raleigh Wide Open 3. To celebrate the opening of the 500,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art center, the Bureau’s Convention Sales and Communications departments invited meeting planners and journalists to experience what makes the Greater Raleigh area a premiere meeting destination. Journalists from TradeShow Week, Convention South, Meetings South, Meetings & Conventions and NC Magazine spent the weekend in the Raleigh area visiting the Raleigh Convention Center, Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, NC Museum of Art among other sites. Convention Sales hosted more than 300 meeting planners from groups including Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Society, Experient, Omega Psi Phi, Animazement and Lott Cary. Annual Luncheon More than 650 hospitality partners experienced a “Brand New Day” during the Bureau’s Annual Luncheon, the first “official” event to be held at the Raleigh Convention Center. Breaking tradition of having a keynote speaker, the Bureau showcased achievements from the past year including the launch of the organization's new brand and website, as well as previewing upcoming marketing campaigns and programs like the Red Carpet Welcome Program. The Bureau handed out four annual awards to leaders in Wake County tourism. Mitchell Silver, Planning Director for the City of Raleigh Department of Planning and Urban Design Center was awarded the John B. Ross Award, while Chancellor James Oblinger accepted the Thad Eure Jr. award for NC State University. The Issac Hunter Award, which recognizes excellence in customer service, was given to Terry Philips of the Irregardless Café, Judy Guerrero of the RBC Center and Rodney Winston from Country Inn & Suites RDU. Samuel Santiago took home the Horizon Award, an award recognizing future leaders in the tourism industry. Town Hall Meeting Door hangers, welcome signage, customizable e-mails and access to the official Convention Calendar are just some of the tools the Bureau’s Convention Services department rolled out during a Town Hall Meeting at the Raleigh Marriott City Center. The event, attended by 150 restaurant, hotel, attraction and transportation partners, was held to educate all partners on how they can showcase their businesses to the thousands of convention attendees expected in downtown Raleigh. Learn More. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Five travel journalists and 21 meeting planners will be rocking in Greater Raleigh during the visitRaleigh.com Benefit Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, September 19-20 at Cary’s Koka Booth Amphitheatre. Throughout the weekend, the group will experience why the area is consistently praised as a premiere entertainment destination with trips to BugFest and SparkCon, a lesson in BBQ 101 at The Pit, evenings on Glenwood South and more. Legendary artists performing during the two-day concert series include Jack Bruce of Cream, Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, Dave Mason of Traffic many other special guests. Learn more about the concert. Raleigh Rocks Sales teams from the Bureau, Raleigh Convention Center, Sheraton Raleigh, Raleigh Marriott City Center, Embassy Suites Raleigh - Durham/Research Triangle and The Umstead Hotel and Spa rocked the tradeshow floor at ASAE in San Diego, August 15-18. The theme of the booth was “Raleigh Rocks” and gave planners the ability to earn the title of Top Rocker and a trip for two to the visitRaleigh.com Benefit Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during match-ups of Guitar Hero. Rock with the Legends Winner Los Angeles-based musician Pete Hopkins has been selected the visitRaleigh.com National Band Search winner. More than 792 bands entered the Rock with the Legends contest on OurStage.com with the hopes of winning the chance to open the visitRaleigh.com Benefit Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with a 15-minute set. Hopkins has been a featured artist on VH-1’s “Rock Across America” and was a Top 10 finalist on NBC's "Star of Tommorrow." Hopkins was named a favorite by OurStage.com music fans, and a panel of music industry experts, musicians and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and John Entwistle Foundation executive staff and board members chose Hopkins as the winner. To hear the winning entry click here. Home Town Hero Do you know someone who has been instrumental in attracting meetings and conventions to the area? Has he or she worked with the Bureau to book the meeting in Wake County? If so, nominate him/her for the Bureau’s Home Town Hero award. The award, designed to acknowledge outstanding individuals who recognize that our area would be a perfect fit for a meeting or convention, will be given monthly with a plaque, and winners will receive special recognition at the Bureau’s Annual Luncheon in September. Each nominee must be a citizen of Wake County, cannot be the “official” planner for the organization and the meeting must provide at least 100 rooms per night. To nominate your Home Town Hero, contact Jana Rae Oliver at jroliver@visitRaleigh.com. Destination Video Roll out the red carpet – the Bureau’s official destination video is here! The destination video, which runs almost three minutes, was produced by OddFellows Marketing and Design along with Trailblazer Studios and highlights things to see and do in the area, as well as meeting facilities, hotels and the area’s world-class sporting facilities. The destination video will be used for online leisure promotion, at tradeshows and at meetings and conventions for attendance building. To see the video, click here. Soccer Season The Bureau is excited to announce a major partnership with the Capital Area Soccer League (CASL) that will bring more than 1,000 youth soccer teams to the area during the visitRaleigh.com National Soccer Series presented by the Chelsea Football Club. The series will consist of four tournaments during November and December 2008, and dates will be announced for the 2009 and 2010 tournaments. Combined, the four tournaments will bring approximately 1,000 teams from throughout the United States to the Raleigh area over a one-month period. Those teams will utilize an estimated 33,800 hotel room-nights and generate more than $7.4 million in direct visitor spending. The four events will bring approximately 29,000 visitors to the area. CVB101 Marketing Update Join the Bureau's Sales, Marketing and Communications teams as they give advice and tips on how to effectively work to promote your property. Topics will include: marketing and programs for tradeshows, hot dates, websites and packaging, public relations - what the media is really looking for and Greater Raleigh as a premier destination for sporting groups. This quarterly marketing update will be held Thursday, October 16, at the RBC Center; 10:30am - 12pm for hotels and 1:30pm-3:00pm for attractions. For more information contact Charissa Todd at ctodd@visitRaleigh.com Customer Service The next training class for the Community Hospitality Partnership will take place October 6 at 1:00 pm at the Mill Creek Campus of Wake Tech Community College. The program, a partnership between the Bureau, Wake Tech Community College, the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, sets the goal of distinguishing Greater Raleigh as a leader in providing exceptional customer service; ultimately becoming a benchmark for other leisure and meeting destinations. The three-hour course, geared toward front line and management level employees in hotels, restaurants, attractions and transportation companies, will provide best practices in what defines outstanding service, how to work as part of a team, resolving challenges and making a positive impression on your customers. To register contact Julie Brakenbury at jbrakenbury@visitRaleigh.com or register online. Side Notes Brent Jayes, CMP, and Meg Economy, have launched Raleigh On Cue (ROC), a full-service Destination Management Company primed to play a key role supporting conventions and meetings throughout the region. Offering a non-traditional approach and flair for turning the ordinary into extraordinary, ROC helps corporations, associations and individuals maximize the impact of their events program. www.raleighoncue.com Chatham Hill Winery has relocated to 3800 Gateway Blvd, Morrisville. With an atmosphere of a wine bar with a retail component, Chatham Hill’s Tasting Room and Winemakers Barrel Room can also be transformed into an upscale, one-of-a-kind corporate and private event venue hosting evening gatherings and winemaker’s dinners. www.chathamhillwine.com The Raleigh City Museum presents The [R]evolution of Media, the history of radio, newspaper and television in Raleigh. Admission to the exhibit is free. www.raleighcitymuseum.org The Raleigh-Cary area is No. 2 on America’s “Best Performing Cities” list. The ranking by The Milken Institute and Greenstreet Real Estate Partners lists metropolitan areas that are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth. Media Coverage The Raleigh area and the opening of the new Raleigh Convention Center have garnered tremendous media exposure in local and national publications. Successful Meetings featured the opening of the new center on its September cover, while numerous other meeting publications, including Tradeshow Week, featured its opening in online and print editions. Everyday with Rachel Ray highlighted The Pit as one of her “10 Must Eats” for BBQ in the country, and Signature Magazine featured 18 Seaboard and Poole’s Diner in “The Guide to Gourmet.” To see additional coverage click here. Dates to remember: Sept. 18: SparkCon. Venues throughout downtown Raleigh; admission varies; www.SparkCon.com Sept. 19: 27th Annual Greek Festival 2008. Exposition Center; $0-$3; (919) 821-7400 Sept. 19: Briarpatch. Theatre in the Park (at Pullen Park); $15-$26; (919) 831-6058 Sept. 19: The visitRaleigh.com Benefit Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Koka Booth Amphitheatre; $50-$250; (919) 834-4000 Sept. 20: BugFest. North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences; FREE; (919) 733-7450 Sept. 20: From Field to Food– A Harvest Celebration. Historic Yates Mill County Park; FREE; (919) 856-6675 Sept. 23: 8th Annual SAS Golf Championship. Prestonwood Country Club; $20-$40; (919) 531-4643 Sept. 26: O.A.R. (…of a revolution). Koka Booth Amphitheatre; $29.50; (919) 462-2025 Sept. 26: The Opera Company of NC Presents I Pagliacci. AJ Fletcher Opera Theater at Progress Center for the Performing Arts; $21-$76; (919) 834-4000 Sept. 27: Southern Ideal Home Show– Fall Edition. NC State Fairgrounds; $0-$9; (919) 821-7400 Sept. 27: Triangle Uncorked. Koka Booth Amphitheatre; $0-$85; (919) 834-4000 Sept. 30: Lucinda Williams. Memorial Auditorium at Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts; $30-$35; (919) 834-4000 Oct. 1: A Shopping SPREE! Raleigh Convention Center; $10; (919) 787-1103 Oct. 3: Michael Buble. RBC Center; $49-$79; (919) 834-4000 Oct. 3: North Carolina Symphony: Spanish Reflections Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. Meymandi Concert Hall at Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts; $37-$53; (919) 831-6060 Oct. 4: NCSU vs. Boston College. Carter Finley Stadium (NC State); FREE; (919) 513-1362 Oct. 4: Triangle Jazz Festival. Koka Booth Amphitheatre; $15-$45; (919) 834-4000
www.visitRaleigh.com \| visit@visitRaleigh.com \| Toll-free: 1.800.849.8499 \| Direct: 919.834.5900

Welcome...to the September issue of Pulse, the official newsletter of the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau. Please see the stories below highlighting Bureau initiatives, events and other relevant information for Wake County's hospitality community. If you have questions, or would like to be included in the October edition of PULSE,
please contact Ryan Smith at rsmith@visitRaleigh.com

RCC Opening
A little rain from Tropical Storm Hanna didn’t stop the Raleigh Convention Center from opening its doors to thousands of Greater Raleigh’s residents and visitors during Raleigh Wide Open 3. To celebrate the opening of the 500,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art center, the Bureau’s Convention Sales and Communications departments invited meeting planners and journalists to experience what makes the Greater Raleigh area a premiere meeting destination. Journalists from TradeShow Week, Convention South, Meetings South, Meetings & Conventions and NC Magazine spent the weekend in the Raleigh area visiting the Raleigh Convention Center, Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, NC Museum of Art among other sites. Convention Sales hosted more than 300 meeting planners from groups including Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Society, Experient, Omega Psi Phi, Animazement and Lott Cary.

Annual Luncheon
More than 650 hospitality partners experienced a “Brand New Day” during the Bureau’s Annual Luncheon, the first “official” event to be held at the Raleigh Convention Center. Breaking tradition of having a keynote speaker, the Bureau showcased achievements from the past year including the launch of the organization's new brand and website, as well as previewing upcoming marketing campaigns and programs like the Red Carpet Welcome Program. The Bureau handed out four annual awards to leaders in Wake County tourism. Mitchell Silver, Planning Director for the City of Raleigh Department of Planning and Urban Design Center was awarded the John B. Ross Award, while Chancellor James Oblinger accepted the Thad Eure Jr. award for NC State University. The Issac Hunter Award, which recognizes excellence in customer service, was given to Terry Philips of the Irregardless Café, Judy Guerrero of the RBC Center and Rodney Winston from Country Inn & Suites RDU. Samuel Santiago took home the Horizon Award, an award recognizing future leaders in the tourism industry.

Town Hall Meeting
Door hangers, welcome signage, customizable e-mails and access to the official Convention Calendar are just some of the tools the Bureau’s Convention Services department rolled out during a Town Hall Meeting at the Raleigh Marriott City Center. The event, attended by 150 restaurant, hotel, attraction and transportation partners, was held to educate all partners on how they can showcase their businesses to the thousands of convention attendees expected in downtown Raleigh. Learn More.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Five travel journalists and 21 meeting planners will be rocking in Greater Raleigh during the visitRaleigh.com Benefit Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, September 19-20 at Cary’s Koka Booth Amphitheatre. Throughout the weekend, the group will experience why the area is consistently praised as a premiere entertainment destination with trips to BugFest and SparkCon, a lesson in BBQ 101 at The Pit, evenings on Glenwood South and more. Legendary artists performing during the two-day concert series include Jack Bruce of Cream, Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, Dave Mason of Traffic many other special guests. Learn more about the concert.

Raleigh Rocks
Sales teams from the Bureau, Raleigh Convention Center, Sheraton Raleigh, Raleigh Marriott City Center, Embassy Suites Raleigh - Durham/Research Triangle and The Umstead Hotel and Spa rocked the tradeshow floor at ASAE in San Diego, August 15-18. The theme of the booth was “Raleigh Rocks” and gave planners the ability to earn the title of Top Rocker and a trip for two to the visitRaleigh.com Benefit Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during match-ups of Guitar Hero.

Rock with the Legends Winner
Los Angeles-based musician Pete Hopkins has been selected the visitRaleigh.com National Band Search winner. More than 792 bands entered the Rock with the Legends contest on OurStage.com with the hopes of winning the chance to open the visitRaleigh.com Benefit Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with a 15-minute set. Hopkins has been a featured artist on VH-1’s “Rock Across America” and was a Top 10 finalist on NBC's "Star of Tommorrow." Hopkins was named a favorite by OurStage.com music fans, and a panel of music industry experts, musicians and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and John Entwistle Foundation executive staff and board members chose Hopkins as the winner. To hear the winning entry click here.

Home Town Hero
Do you know someone who has been instrumental in attracting meetings and conventions to the area? Has he or she worked with the Bureau to book the meeting in Wake County? If so, nominate him/her for the Bureau’s Home Town Hero award. The award, designed to acknowledge outstanding individuals who recognize that our area would be a perfect fit for a meeting or convention, will be given monthly with a plaque, and winners will receive special recognition at the Bureau’s Annual Luncheon in September. Each nominee must be a citizen of Wake County, cannot be the “official” planner for the organization and the meeting must provide at least 100 rooms per night. To nominate your Home Town Hero, contact Jana Rae Oliver at jroliver@visitRaleigh.com.

Destination Video
Roll out the red carpet – the Bureau’s official destination video is here! The destination video, which runs almost three minutes, was produced by OddFellows Marketing and Design along with Trailblazer Studios and highlights things to see and do in the area, as well as meeting facilities, hotels and the area’s world-class sporting facilities. The destination video will be used for online leisure promotion, at tradeshows and at meetings and conventions for attendance building. To see the video, click here.

Soccer Season
The Bureau is excited to announce a major partnership with the Capital Area Soccer League (CASL) that will bring more than 1,000 youth soccer teams to the area during the visitRaleigh.com National Soccer Series presented by the Chelsea Football Club. The series will consist of four tournaments during November and December 2008, and dates will be announced for the 2009 and 2010 tournaments.

Combined, the four tournaments will bring approximately 1,000 teams from throughout the United States to the Raleigh area over a one-month period. Those teams will utilize an estimated 33,800 hotel room-nights and generate more than $7.4 million in direct visitor spending. The four events will bring approximately 29,000 visitors to the area.

CVB101 Marketing Update
Join the Bureau's Sales, Marketing and Communications teams as they give advice and tips on how to effectively work to promote your property. Topics will include: marketing and programs for tradeshows, hot dates, websites and packaging, public relations - what the media is really looking for and Greater Raleigh as a premier destination for sporting groups. This quarterly marketing update will be held Thursday, October 16, at the RBC Center; 10:30am - 12pm for hotels and 1:30pm-3:00pm for attractions. For more information contact Charissa Todd at ctodd@visitRaleigh.com

Customer Service
The next training class for the Community Hospitality Partnership will take place October 6 at 1:00 pm at the Mill Creek Campus of Wake Tech Community College. The program, a partnership between the Bureau, Wake Tech Community College, the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, sets the goal of distinguishing Greater Raleigh as a leader in providing exceptional customer service; ultimately becoming a benchmark for other leisure and meeting destinations.

The three-hour course, geared toward front line and management level employees in hotels, restaurants, attractions and transportation companies, will provide best practices in what defines outstanding service, how to work as part of a team, resolving challenges and making a positive impression on your customers. To register contact Julie Brakenbury at jbrakenbury@visitRaleigh.com or register online.

Side Notes
Brent Jayes, CMP, and Meg Economy, have launched Raleigh On Cue (ROC), a full-service Destination Management Company primed to play a key role supporting conventions and meetings throughout the region. Offering a non-traditional approach and flair for turning the ordinary into extraordinary, ROC helps corporations, associations and individuals maximize the impact of their events program.
www.raleighoncue.com

Chatham Hill Winery has relocated to 3800 Gateway Blvd, Morrisville. With an atmosphere of a wine bar with a retail component, Chatham Hill’s Tasting Room and Winemakers Barrel Room can also be transformed into an upscale, one-of-a-kind corporate and private event venue hosting evening gatherings and winemaker’s dinners. www.chathamhillwine.com

The Raleigh City Museum presents The [R]evolution of Media, the history of radio, newspaper and television in Raleigh. Admission to the exhibit is free. www.raleighcitymuseum.org

The Raleigh-Cary area is No. 2 on America’s “Best Performing Cities” list. The ranking by The Milken Institute and Greenstreet Real Estate Partners lists metropolitan areas that are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth.

Media Coverage
The Raleigh area and the opening of the new Raleigh Convention Center have garnered tremendous media exposure in local and national publications. Successful Meetings featured the opening of the new center on its September cover, while numerous other meeting publications, including Tradeshow Week, featured its opening in online and print editions. Everyday with Rachel Ray highlighted The Pit as one of her “10 Must Eats” for BBQ in the country, and Signature Magazine featured 18 Seaboard and Poole’s Diner in “The Guide to Gourmet.” To see additional coverage click here.

Dates to remember:
Sept. 18: SparkCon. Venues throughout downtown Raleigh; admission varies; www.SparkCon.com

Sept. 19: 27th Annual Greek Festival 2008. Exposition Center; $0-$3; (919) 821-7400

Sept. 19: Briarpatch. Theatre in the Park (at Pullen Park); $15-$26; (919) 831-6058

Sept. 19: The visitRaleigh.com Benefit Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Koka Booth Amphitheatre; $50-$250; (919) 834-4000

Sept. 20: BugFest. North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences; FREE; (919) 733-7450

Sept. 20: From Field to Food– A Harvest Celebration. Historic Yates Mill County Park; FREE; (919) 856-6675

Sept. 23: 8th Annual SAS Golf Championship. Prestonwood Country Club; $20-$40; (919) 531-4643

Sept. 26: O.A.R. (…of a revolution). Koka Booth Amphitheatre; $29.50; (919) 462-2025

Sept. 26: The Opera Company of NC Presents I Pagliacci. AJ Fletcher Opera Theater at Progress Center for the Performing Arts; $21-$76; (919) 834-4000

Sept. 27: Southern Ideal Home Show– Fall Edition. NC State Fairgrounds; $0-$9; (919) 821-7400

Sept. 27: Triangle Uncorked. Koka Booth Amphitheatre; $0-$85; (919) 834-4000

Sept. 30: Lucinda Williams. Memorial Auditorium at Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts; $30-$35; (919) 834-4000

Oct. 1: A Shopping SPREE! Raleigh Convention Center; $10; (919) 787-1103

Oct. 3: Michael Buble. RBC Center; $49-$79; (919) 834-4000

Oct. 3: North Carolina Symphony: Spanish Reflections Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. Meymandi Concert Hall at Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts; $37-$53; (919) 831-6060

Oct. 4: NCSU vs. Boston College. Carter Finley Stadium (NC State); FREE; (919) 513-1362

Oct. 4: Triangle Jazz Festival. Koka Booth Amphitheatre; $15-$45; (919) 834-4000

www.visitRaleigh.com | visit@visitRaleigh.com | Toll-free: 1.800.849.8499 | Direct: 919.834.5900