THEN We'll Be Cool!

My wife and I used to play a little game called "And THEN we'll be cool!", the joke being that any one thing would be enough to make a game changing difference.  Truth of the matter is that when things happen or change, it is usually due to a series of things.

I bring this up because of a recent meeting I was involved in with the Charlotte Region Visitors Association, (CRVA).  We were talking about the successful effort to secure the Democratic National Convention in 2012.  Tim Newman pointed out 5 main reasons that had a significant contribution to this success:

1. A Headquarters Hotel within 5 minutes of the Convention Center
2. A workforce flexible enough to handle ad hoc needs
3. Destination Activities
4. Urban Appeal
5. Convenient Infrastructure

No one of these reasons by itself would have been enough to convince the DNC that Charlotte was the right place, but having them all in addition to many other amenities, tipped the scale in our direction.  An off-shoot of this convention is that the CRVA is now getting calls from convention planners who had always considered Charlotte to be unable to be a host city in the past. 

Becasue of the nature of the convention business, the CRVA has an 8 year plan, and they are currently running 108% ahead of that plan.  All this will translate into Tax Revenue for the county and city governments. 

Another benefit of holding this convention will be the WorldWide attention that will be paid to our city.  The cost of going out to purchase this type of exposure would be significantly greater and not have the same impact as this convention will.

Hats off to all that made this effort a success.