The incident involved a village. In partnership with Visit Bellevue, planners of Lenovo Technology World 2024 are demonstrating the transformative power of partnerships.
Lenovo Tech World is an annual event for global technology companies, and with an event of this caliber going on, it’s a tall order for the organizers. After the 2023 Austin event, planners at Event Strategy Group (ESG) are setting their sights on the Pacific Northwest for the 2024 Smarter AI for All conference. They chose Bellevue, a tech-forward city east of Seattle.
Through their engaged and supportive relationship with Visit Bellevue and working closely with Destination Sales Manager Marty McCormack, ESG President Renee Scullin and Senior Event Manager Allison Swank made Lenovo Tech World 2024 a great success.
Bellevue selected to host Lenovo Technology World 2024
Meet attendee needs
Bellevue is a major tech hub in the Pacific Northwest, making it an immediate top choice. With a large number of attendees coming from Asia, the West Coast location provides unparalleled ease of travel, and its proximity to Seattle and the Seattle-Seattle-Tacoma Airport makes travel even more convenient.
As destination sales manager for Visit Bellevue, McCormack said Bellevue is indeed a very upscale “smart city” destination. As the home of many technology companies, it has become a top choice for hosting technology conferences.
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Strategies about size and scale
McCormack talked about the benefits of holding conferences in smaller cities, saying: “We are indeed a smaller first-tier city, but we still have a lot to offer, and when a team of Lenovo’s size comes to a conference, It’s easy to get around the world and they really took over the city while they were here.”
“It’s also a very walkable city. Even though our attendees come from a lot of different venues, we’re able to move around. We can run to the convention center, grab something, and then run back,” Scullin added.
The smaller size of cities also provides unique, more exclusive opportunities. “We were able to put branding on some of the flagpoles on the road leading to the convention center. We had the opportunity to purchase different destinations and evening event spaces that we might not have access to in larger cities,” Sculin said.
Scullin and Swank knew the number of attendees they expected; they had their own vision for the design and ideas about how general sessions and some exclusive evening events would work. With all of this in mind, they knew the Bellevue Convention Center, the Maidenbauer Center, and other event spaces throughout the city were working hard to meet those needs.
How partnering with CVB can help meet attendee needs
When planners work with the local CVB of a chosen destination, communication is crucial.
Scullin and Swank’s first goal is to create a memorable annual event. By understanding their plans, needs and vision, McCormack is able to transcend their options.
on the same page
“A lot of people who come to Tech World have been to Tech World before, so we want to show them something new,” Swank said. “We need to stand out, make our clients look their best and provide the most memorable experience, beyond a show or keynote, and Marty really helps us achieve that, especially for our evening events. Having Marty, he Knowing our team and what we were looking for, he was so patient with us as we exhausted every inch of Bellevue and surrounding areas and came up with some pretty crazy, out-of-the-ordinary ideas that really Very important and helpful.”
McCormack worked to gain a full understanding of their plans. He said: “If we get together and I just start talking about how valuable this event is, or look at other events, I don’t know what they want. I have to listen to what they are saying and try to understand what they want. I described what their attendees were and what was important to them, and they made it clear that this was an important event to them.”
His job, he said, is to listen to them. “It’s all about getting all the feedback, whether something is appropriate or not working well, and then letting it sink in,” he said. “Then, hopefully, being able to use the DMO knowledge to recommend certain locations or activities to see if we’re all on track moving forward.”
Think outside the box
One of the most important events at Lenovo Tech World is the evening event. “This event is for invited exclusive customers and partners from around the world. So, they are high-level attendees and we wanted to host this special evening event,” Sculin said. “We had AJR come to the show, and we spent a lot of time with Marty trying to find something in Bellevue because we didn’t want to take attendees out of Bellevue, and we were very concerned about coordinating transportation to Seattle.” Ultimately, though, they It was decided to hold the event at MoPop, the Museum of Pop Culture at Seattle Center.
“We were really concerned about the traffic, but it turned out to be fine. It was great. No one minded; even the most high-end attendees among the 1,000-plus people were more than willing to travel 25 minutes to Seattle for a cool event, a cool The venue and a great band,” she said.
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McCormack added that as a CVB representative, his first priority is to do everything in his power to make the event as successful as possible. “This is an exhaustive search and as a DMO I’m not going to push them into a less than appropriate location and risk the incident worsening. That doesn’t do anyone any good,” he said. “I mean, in Bellevue, they could have used the Maidenbauer Center, but they were already using the Maidenbauer Center (for all-conference), so we couldn’t really use it. They wanted something unique stuff, and MoPop is a really cool, unique space.”
CVB as advocate for planners
This ability of the CVB to act as an advocate becomes especially useful in last-minute “uh-oh” situations. Swank recalled that there was a bus at the event transporting attendees offsite, but they did not have permission to hold the event in the area. The situation came to light about 20 minutes before someone needed to be picked up. “We have Marty on our side, knocking on the city’s doors and saying, ‘Hey, this is legal.'” Having that kind of publicity is totally helpful. “
CVB’s local relationships can put planners many steps ahead of their own efforts. “It was really helpful for Marty to have those on-the-ground relationships because he was able to validate that we were serious about things and wanted it to work,” Scullin said.
When Scullin and Swank realized they couldn’t buy a hotel on their own, McCormack’s connections took some of the burden of managing contract negotiations and room sizes at multiple hotels. “I would say the help I offer,” McCormack said, “is calling local people at the hotel and getting to know them and saying, ‘They need more rooms, so what can we do to get to that number? ‘We’ll work with local contacts to find out what’s most important to their income.”
Scullin said that with the publicity provided by McCormack, “the contract negotiations were very easy and when we had some changes and we did grow and we needed more rooms, they were still willing to give us more rooms even at the end , which is really helpful.”
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Advantages of cooperation
McCormack said the most important thing from a CVB perspective is to be a partner with planners during the most difficult times.
“We’re trying to understand the program and hopefully get a good understanding of what they’re looking for. Hopefully we can make their job easier and get them in touch with the right people, which is probably one of the most challenging parts One,” he said.
Having a preferred CVB contact can save a planner a lot of time when it comes to getting in touch with the right person, rather than the planner going through two or three contacts before finding the right one. CVB representatives were also instrumental in promoting the groups because, according to testimony from CVB representatives, the group knew the planners were serious.
Swank said that in many cases, using CVB may be viewed as a complication or an unnecessary set of extra steps. However, this is not always the case, and most of the time, working with a CVB offers clear advantages. “Especially if it’s a complex plan like Tech World, it helps to have someone advocating for you who understands the full scope of your plan,” Swank said.
“(CVB) provides people who understand your event needs and help you with transportation and administrative needs. It’s like having a planner on your side who knows the city inside out and really wants to help you.”
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