Plan Your Meetings

Tips and things we like

Nighttime hikes, savings certificates and soul food.

Tips

For groups looking to make the most of collaborative sessions, the TradeWinds Island Resorts on St. Petersburg Beach, Fla., and Collaborative Labs at St. Petersburg College have teamed up to offer a new meetings amenity. Called the Labs, the one-day program assists groups in brainstorming, creative business planning, strategy formation and business development sessions by providing professionally trained facilitators and high-tech amenities such as hand-held voting devices, digital video recorders, electronic whiteboards and tablet PCs. For more information on the Labs, visit epicenterinfo.com/collaborative.

Meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., between now and the New Year? Download or order the savings certificate booklet, “$1,000 Worth of the Palm Beaches for Free,” from the Palm Beach County CVB Web site at palmbeachfl.com/visitors/brochures. The savings certificates are good through Dec. 31, 2006, and you can order multiple copies for attendees for the price of postage.

The Orlando Preferred Visitor Magicard is available to attendees at area hotels and the Orange County Convention Center, or can be shipped directly to planners to personalize the Magicard brochure with company logos or specific meeting information. Each card provides discounts for up to six people at 67 different outlets, including restaurants, golf clubs, ground transportation and attractions. For more information, visit the meeting planner section of orlandoconvention.com.

Things we like

Stories keep popping up all over about hikers shedding their shoes or walking trails at night to get closer to nature. The Red Top Mountain State Park in Cartersville, Ga., gives guided nighttime hikes that won’t make planner’s blood pressure rise (i.e., flashlights are welcome). “Party with the ’Possums Night Hikes” begin nightly at 8:30 p.m. For more information, call 770-975-4226.

Shed new light on the past by taking attendees on the Fort Morgan Candlelight Tour in Gulf Shores, Ala. Fort staff, dressed in period clothing, conduct these hour-long tours of the 172-year-old fort’s haunted history. For more information, visit gulfshores.com.

Looking for authentic soul food while meeting in Atlanta? Louise’s (404-817-9513) caters events of up to 600 people with menus filled with Southern specialties such as pineapple cake, oxtail with homemade gravy and fried chicken. If you’d like to serve up down-home flavor with an upscale twist, Dunwoody’s 1420 Room (1420room.com) lays out a great gritini buffet, where guests season grits-filled martini glasses with everything from cheddar cheese to sautéed shrimp.