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Attendees Praise Meetings Quest in Cabarrus County
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At its stop in North Carolina, the nation’s longest-running series of trade shows for meeting
planners featured sports figures, meetings-industry experts, experiential learning and fun
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“I truly enjoyed myself at this show,” said Chandra Johnson, a meeting planner for Atlanta-based SunTrust Bank. “The location was great and had much to offer. I made some wonderful contacts and came away with a lot of information that will be useful for me both professionally and personally.”

Hosted by the Cabarrus County Convention & Visitors Bureau and presented by Association News magazine, Meetings Quest in Cabarrus County got off to a roaring start with an opening celebration at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The event’s momentum continued the next day through a morning of educational sessions and a lively afternoon trade show at the Concord Convention Center.

“I am very pleased with the positive response from the wide variety of meeting planners and exhibitors at Meetings Quest,” said Cabarrus County CVB President and CEO Donna Carpenter. “Meetings Quest did an excellent job of highlighting Cabarrus County as a sought-after destination and incorporating its unique features into the programming.” Carpenter also quoted “racing legend” Ricky Bobby from “Talladega Nights,” which was filmed in Cabarrus County. “If you’re not first, you’re last,” Carpenter told the attendees in a reference to Meetings Quest’s tagline of “The first. The best.”

On September 9, attendees were welcomed to the Charlotte Motor Speedway by NASCAR driver and Cabarrus County resident David Ragan, who emphasized the importance of bringing people together for meetings and conventions. After hearing from Ragan, attendees got to experience the speedway firsthand as they look laps around the track in pace cars with professional drivers.

On September 10, Olympian Dan Jansen, who won a speedskating gold medal in 1994, delivered an inspirational keynote describing how he kept going for the gold despite personal and professional setbacks. In addition, two learning lab sessions facilitated by Steven Hacker, the former president of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events who now serves as “The Association Doctor” columnist for Association News, examined the hottest topics for meeting planners. In the first session, Jay Tokosch, co-founder of Core-apps, and Terence Donnelly, vice-president of sales for Experient, discussed how event technologies are changing meeting planning. In the second session, attorney John S. Foster, one of the nation’s preeminent experts on meetings-industry law, offered liability and risk management tips for meeting professionals. The day concluded with a busy trade show, an appointment based marketplace that allows exhibitors and planners to meet one-on-one.

Meetings Quest—the nation’s longest-running series of educational and networking events for association, corporate, government and religious meeting planners—was acquired last year by Los Angeles–based Schneider Publishing, publishers of SportsTravel and Association News magazines and organizers of the TEAMS Conference & Expo. The group travel markets served by Schneider Publishing generate 106 million hotel room nights annually. Meetings Quest was held earlier this year in Mesa, Arizona. Upcoming Meetings Quest shows will be held in Providence, Rhode Island; Oakland, California; and Bloomington, Minnesota. For further information or to register, visit MeetingsQuest.com or call toll-free 877-577-3700. To watch the Meetings Quest video overview, click here.
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Association News, SportsTravel and TEAMS are registered trademarks and Meetings Quest is a trademark of Schneider Publishing.