Plan Your Meetings

Want outdoor events?

The Denver Botanic Gardens is one of the top-ranked botanical gardens in the United States with a 23-acre downtown campus, a 750-acre wildlife and plant refuge in Littleton, an alpine trail and interpretive site on the Mount Evans Scenic Byway, and a five-acre formal garden downtown (Centennial Gardens). For events that rock, Red Rocks Amphitheatre is a 9,000-seat natural outdoor arena and picnic area carved into the mountainside that hosts major concerts and has a spectacular view of the city. The Denver Museum of Nature & Science has several event facilities including a 5,000-sq. ft. rooftop terrace with a telescope for viewing the night sky.

Want artful venues?

Famous actors, including Douglas Fairbanks, Sarah Bernhardt, Grace Kelly and Vincent Price, have performed at Denver’s oldest theater, the 115-year-old Center for American Theatre at Old Elitch Gardens. Denver has several art districts, including Cherry Creek North Fine Arts District, the Golden Triangle Museum District, Downtown/LoDo, the 37th and Navajo Arts District, the River North Art District, the Tennyson Street Cultural District, the Art District on Santa Fe and the Broadway/S.E. Corridor. Consider creating a progressive event or art tour through several of them. The Denver Performing Arts Center is one of the largest in the world, with facility rentals available in some venues, including the recently opened Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Other facilities include the Denver Art Museum’s Daniel Libeskind-designed Hamilton Building, and the Museum of Contemporary Art’s David Adjaye-designed building.

Want unusual transportation?

EagleRider Rentals & Tours offers guided Harley-Davidson motorcycle tours, as well as bike, watercraft, dirt bike and snowmobile rentals. Grand Adventures gives snowmobile tours during winter months. Private groups can reserve train cars and enjoy catered events aboard the Ski Train, which departs Denver’s Union Station year-round, traveling 56 miles through the Flatirons, South Boulder Canyon and alpine wilderness to the Winter Park Resort, which also has conference space.

Want Western-themed programs?

Local guest ranches have conference facilities in addition to guest rodeos, chuckwagon meals and trail rides; the Colorado Dude & Guest Ranch Association holds members to strict standards of cleanliness, hospitality, facility operation and honest representation of services. The Black American West Museum celebrates the story of African-American cowboys. Arrange for a helicopter or shuttle to transport VIPs from downtown Denver to The Fort in Morrison, a replica of the first community west of the Mississippi with Native American music, courtyard function space and tours of 1840s-era Native American and settlers’ artifacts.

Want group dining?

Texas de Brazil Churrascaria is a colorful steak house where meats, salad and sushi are served tableside by costumed Brazilian gauchos, or cowboys. The Buckhorn Exchange, Denver’s oldest restaurant, is an eccentric steak house serving exotic meats such as elk, quail, alligator tail and rattlesnake; thousands of animal heads line the walls of the main dining room. Private dining is available in a covered and climate-controlled rooftop garden with entertainment provided by cowboy poets and folk singers. Dave & Buster’s has executive meeting rooms hidden among its billiard and arcade rooms as well as multiple bars and a fine-dining restaurant. Wynkoop Brewing Company, Colorado’s oldest brewpub, has banquet facilities for up to 800 people and a comedy theater. Mizuna can create four- and five-course custom menus for private events; Chef Frank Bonanno is considered one of the best in town. Mobil Four-Star winner Restaurant Kevin Taylor is another celebrity chef-run restaurant with private dining facilities. Fine dining also is available at Rioja, one of the city’s most celebrated restaurants.

Want to make attendees feel like VIPs?

Denver’s a great walking city and downtown hotels put attendees close to museums, shopping, restaurants and sporting venues. The Warwick Denver Hotel has a year-round heated rooftop pool and 10,000 square feet of space, including two ballrooms (one for 200 and one for 150 guests) and 11 meeting rooms. Many rooms have private balconies overlooking the city.

Want presidential accommodations?

The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa has hosted every United States president since Teddy Roosevelt, with the exception of Calvin Coolidge. In fact, the Brown Palace Club, located on the second floor, was the campaign headquarters for Dwight D. Eisenhower prior to his election as president. (The Eisenhower suite even has a dent in the fireplace from a wayward golf ball the president hit while practicing in his room.) More than a century old, the 241-room property is the only Mobil Four Star and AAA Four Diamond hotel in Denver. It also ranked among Travel + Leisure’s 500 World’s Best Hotels for 2010. Amenities include 13,000 square feet of meeting space and an A/V department that assists with Webcasting and video conferencing setups.

Want sporty venues?

Elway’s, named for NFL Hall of Fame Inductee and former Denver Bronco quarterback John Elway, serves hand-cut steaks, fresh seafood and fine wines in Cherry Creek; a second location is in the Ritz-Carlton, Denver. Denver’s high-tech sports arenas were built with meetings and events in mind; use a private suite for a cocktail reception, hold a banquet overlooking the field, or end a tradeshow by treating attendees to VIP stadium seating.

Want to team-build?

With versatile meeting space for large corporate groups or small gatherings, Dave & Buster’s is the perfect place to kick back or kick butt. Engage your group in one of several team-building activities or let them loose to explore on their own. You also have the option of renting out the entire place — up to 70,000 square feet, depending on location. The Inverness Golf Club can create golf tournaments followed by receptions or banquets. Impulse Management uses improv comedy skills to create and facilitate customized corporate workshops on such topics as dealing with change, improving communication, reducing stress, building collaborative work teams and spurring creativity. Denver Adventures creates customized trips for groups ranging from skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing during winter months to warm-weather hiking, biking and packages incorporating outdoor meetings. Adventures Out West offers whitewater rafting, mountain biking, hot air balloon and customized jeep tours.

Want spousal programs?

Tour the Colorado Front Range Wine Trail, or visit the BookCliff Vineyard, which has a tasting room inside the Belvedere Belgian Chocolate shop. Denver History Tours focuses on Denver’s mountain towns, haunted houses, and mining and cowboy past as well as shopping and bar hopping. The Denver Performing Arts Complex offers 90-minute tours of the complex’s public art, behind-the-scenes action and architecture. LoDo Historical Walking Tours explore the city’s evolution from a gold-rush town to “Paris on the Platte.”

Want to meet in a place with history?

The Museo de las Américas focuses on the art, history and culture of Latinos in the Americas from ancient times to present day. The Byers-Evans House Museum is a landmark home built in 1883 within walking distance of the Colorado Convention Center and Civic Center Park. The Colorado Historical Society rents historic sites such as the Grant-Humphreys Mansion, the Bloom Gardens in Trinidad and the Colorado History Museum to groups for private functions.

Want to create a private party that sizzles?

For meetings that rock, consider the Hard Rock Café Denver. The restaurant has a living museum of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia and atmospheric meeting and event space for up to 750 people. Nightclubs in the SoCo district, such as The Church, Vinyl and The Living Room, are available for private functions. Rise nightclub in LoDo is a South Beach-style nightclub with four dance floors and a 5,000-sq. ft. patio lounge.

Want kids’ programs?

Denver is one of the few cities with a downtown theme park. Elitch Gardens (formerly Six Flags Elitch Gardens) is close to hotels and the convention center; has more than 50 rides, shows and attractions; and is open from mid-May to Labor Day. The Denver Art Museum offers art-making and educational programs. The Denver Firefighters Museum creates private parties where they can try on firefighting gear, slide down poles and climb up on a child-sized fire engine (its historic 1909 Hall is available for adult banquets and receptions, too). The Byers-Evans House has an Afternoon into the Past program combining role-playing, costumes and hands-on activities with tours of the home. The Butterfly Pavilion & Insect Center has 1,600 butterflies, beautiful gardens and hands-on educational exhibits. Tiny Town is a kid-sized Western village with an authentic steam locomotive giving rides to adults and kids.