Plan Your Meetings

Watch for:

• Renovations of the Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort at Kingston Plantation are complete. Improvements include a new, 12,500-sq. ft. conference center that connects to an additional 32,000 square feet of space, a 3,000-sq. ft. exterior courtyard, and a 5,000-sq. ft. seasonal tent that can be used for additional exhibit and event space.
• The Lakeside Conference Center at the Barefoot Resort opened June 2008 with more than 300 one-to-four-bedroom units, a 142-slip marina and 17,000 square feet of meeting space. The resort’s Marina Plaza and 4,000-sq. ft. Event Pavilion opened in the spring.
• Broadway at the Beach opened an IMAX Theater and The Pavilion Nostalgia Park this spring.
• The Market Common, a 100-acre shopping and dining center with urban trails, opened this spring on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base site.
• This summer, the world’s first Hard Rock Park opened. The 140-acre amusement park has concert venues, rides, games, retail and eateries and other music-themed attractions.
• Hard Rock Park is opened with music-themed roller coasters, rides and live entertainment venues.

Want to team-build?

Attendees can get in touch with their inner Harry Potter at MagiQuest, which outfits each person with a personal wand they use to complete magical quests. The NASCAR Speedpark has space for meetings and banquets, and can put together team-building races. Active options include kayaking, deep-sea fishing, water skiing and parasailing. Groups also can rent scooters or Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Want golf?

Golf is a must, especially since some of the most famous golf course designers (Robert Trent Jones, Arnold Palmer, Pete Dye, Tom Fazio) have left their mark here; executive courses, par 3s, golf clinics, clubs and practice ranges abound. Kingston Plantation, a resort complex with two convention hotels, has a golf academy and a par-72 championship course that’s gotten raves from Golf Magazine and Golf Digest. Most hotels have golf packages and guides to help you sort through the area’s 100 golf courses.

Want group activities?

BB&T Coastal Field, where the Atlanta Braves-affiliated Myrtle Beach Pelicans play, has a picnic area, a “beach” and luxury suites. More than 700 alligators and crocodiles, exotic snakes, lizards and other creepy-crawlies thrive at Alligator Adventure, where groups can walk through animal habitats and see live shows.

Want to do something different?

Capt. Dick’s interactive boat tour, led by a marine naturalist, teaches attendees about the creatures that live in Myrtle Beach’s saltwater marshes. Ghosts & Legends has daily, interactive ghost story shows; 1800s-style Lowcountry séances also are available. The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.) Preservation Station has educational programs, live shows and photo-ops with rare animals.

Want creative venues?

Broadway at the Beach and Barefoot Landing both have outdoor gathering areas, shops, group-friendly restaurants and attractions. Broadway at the Beach has Ripley’s Aquarium, where planners can arrange for strolling cocktail receptions. Other Broadway at the Beach venues include Hard Rock Café, Myrtle Waves Water Park and the Palace Theatre. The House of Blues at Barefoot Landing has several private rooms, including a concert hall; they are known for their Sunday gospel brunch, but can customize any kind of event by pairing menus with live entertainment. Other Barefoot Landing venues include Dick’s Last Resort and the Alabama Theatre.

Want evening entertainment?

“Good Vibrations” at The Carolina Opry is a 90-minute review featuring music from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. Alabama Theatre presents live music shows featuring the best of Broadway, country, bluegrass, pop, gospel and comedy. The Palace Theatre has tribute shows and “Le Grande Cirque,” a European-style show with more than 50 world-class acrobats, jugglers and performers from around the world. Other entertainment venues include Medieval Times, Legends in Concert, Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede, Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, House of Blues and Hard Rock Café.

Want to meet in a place with history?

Ocean Drive, near Cherry Grove in North Myrtle Beach, is the birthplace of the shag dance. Schedule dance workshops for attendees in one of the nightclubs, or book an event to coincide with the mighty migrations of shaggers that come every January, April and September. The Pavilion Nostalgia Park at Broadway at the Beach celebrates the legacy of the legendary, now closed, family amusement park with exhibits and artifacts, like its carousel and Germand Band organ.

Want to surround your group with culture?

Downtown Conway hosts First Saturday Art Walks spotlighting the local artists living and working in the historic district galleries and studios. Brookgreen Gardens is a 9,000-acre National Historic Landmark with an incredible collection of figurative sculpture and the only American Zoo and Aquarium Association-accredited zoo in coastal Carolina. The Franklin G. Burroughs and Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum is home to the Waccamaw Arts and Crafts Guild Collection and the Bishop Collection of Antique Maps and Prints.

Additional reporting on this destination supplied by Melanie Winderlich.