Plan Your Meetings

Want attendees to take center stage?

All the world’s a stage in Toronto with its multi-cultural performances and theaters. Have a black-tie night at the opera or ballet with a reception at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in its main lobby for 1,000 persons. Take the spotlight at the Berkeley Street Theatre, which has two venues (Upstairs and Downstairs), two lobbies, and a rehearsal hall. Laugh at jokes over a rib-tickling dinner at The Second City, whose Toronto alumni include Mike Myers, the late John Candy, and Eugene Levy. At the modern Princess of Wales Theatre, get autographs from the cast during a post-production dessert party in the Princess Lounge for 200 guests. Have drinks and hors d’ oeuvres for 300 individuals at the Yale Simpson Lounge in the 1907 beaux-arts Royal Alexandra which is the oldest, continuously operated legitimate theater in North America. Stay for the play at Stagewest with 224 all-suites in its hotel and the 600-capacity Stage West Theatre with a buffet before the show. As an entertainment complex, it also has a ballroom, 15 conference rooms, and two boardrooms.

Want to get artistic with attendees?

Painting the town gets colorful in Toronto at its art museums. The world cultures galleries at the Royal Ontario Museum display Chinese vases, First Peoples beaded hide tunics, Japanese tea ceremony objects, ingots from ancient Cypress, earthenware from the Middle East, and armor from Europe. On the rooftop, have paella or Pappardelle pasta at its C5 Restaurant. Explore the ivory, antlers, and bone at Museum of Inuit Art, which has 300 items from the Arctic region. Even the steel, fir, and glass building for the Art Gallery of Toronto is a masterpiece by native Toronto architect Frank Gehry, along with its contents of 73,000 pieces including works by the Group of Seven from Canada. Take drawing lessons or make a craft around the treasures. If the slipper fits, it’s likely on display at the Bata Shoe Museum among the 1,000 pairs from ancient to modern civilization. Fashion’s afoot on tours (minimum of 10 persons) of the galleries, which has one of the largest assemblages of sandals, boots and other shoes in the world. Pottery and porcelain over the last 11,000 years are on view at the Gardiner Museum, which has an Open Clay Studio for experimenting in making ceramic tile. The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) specializes in themes around the evolving human condition. Take a walk through with a group guide (30 or fewer persons).

Want to lounge by the lake?

With so much shoreline, Lake Ontario feels like an ocean beside Toronto. Bask in the view at the Atlantis Pavilions over oysters on the half shell (for 500 persons) in the Metropolitan Ballroom with its 30-foot floor-to-ceiling windows. Ride the glass elevator to the Lookout Level for a party with mussels and smoked salmon (for 600 invitees) at Horizons at the CN Tower or a lobster (for 400) at the revolving 360 Restaurant. Take harbor at the nautical-themed Pier 4 Storehouse Restaurant, where groups (up to 250 people) can dine on Stuffed Storehouse Sole on the waterfront. Spear an Atlantic halibut on the patio at the Pure Spirits Oyster House & Grill in a former distillery.

Want to have a house party?

Live it up at the mansions in Toronto, where the rich and famous once dwelled in splendor. Have a feast (for 1,000 to 1,200 guests) beneath the oak beams of the Great Hall at the towering Casa Loma. As industrialist, financier, and military officer, Sir Henry Pellatt built the Gothic, Norman and Romanesque castle, with its hidden passages and fortresses in 1914 for his Lady Mary. Who wouldn’t want to meet in a Designer’s Showhouse? The Estates of Sunnybrook have 17 break-out rooms (for six to 150 attendees) many of which overlook its tended gardens or wild ravines. At the McLean House, the prominent Toronto-based interior decorators gave the Georgian-style residence a makeover. It’s complete with a conservatory, library and bay-view area. The Vaughan Estate has two ballrooms (for 175 persons each) and the Academy of Medicine room. The Estates of Sunnybrook can arrange team-building, leadership, communication and strategic planning workshops. Party in the recreated print shop (12 individuals at a time, up to 75) at Mackenzie House, where Toronto’s first mayor William Lyon Mackenzie also had an office as a newspaper editor. Four generations of the wealthy Austin family lived at what’s now the Spadina Museum Historic House & Gardens. On the palatial 1866 grounds, have a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party for adults (40 to 100) with Queen’s tarts and a round of croquet.

Want to have a garden variety of activities?

Blooming where attendees are planted at meetings for a few days in Toronto can be done effortlessly. Rain or shine, take a guided tour (up to 15 individuals) of the Toronto Music Garden near the Harbourfront Centre. It sprang forth in 1999 from the imagination of renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma, landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy and other architects. Seven sections take in movements from Bach’s Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello around a flowing river Prelude to a grove Sarabande around an arc of evergreens and a Minuet pavilion for orchestra ensembles or dance groups. Give two green thumbs up to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which is Canada’s largest with more than 2,700 acres and 250,000 irises and 3,000 rose bushes, between Toronto and Niagara Falls in the city of Hamilton, Ontario. Stay for quiche and salad after a guided walking tour. Toronto Botanical Garden has its roots in horticultural education at its 12 themed areas. Learn about soil, pruning, making beds, floral arts and crafts, healing plants, and organic vegetables during workshops over a boxed lunch.

Want to see wine (and dine) country?

Swirl, sniff and sip at tastings at many of the 50 wineries around Niagara-on-the-Lake, which is less than a two-hour drive from Toronto. As a “grape escape,” the Hillebrand Winery has blending sessions, talks with experts on collecting the right vintages, kitchen receptions with the chef, ice wine pairings and cellar dinners. Match drinks with food in the Studio (up to 30 guests) around art, Winemaker’s Lookout (for 32 persons) by the fireplace, or The Vineyard Pavilion (up to 125 invited) near the fields. Make a splash in the pan at Strewn Winery, which has one of Canada’s only winery cooking schools. Take an appetizers and wine seminar (up to 50 participants), where one group makes the hors d’ oeuvres while the other group chooses the drinks before a reception. During the Niagara Food and Wine Experience, visitors can even “meet the cooper” or “design their own wine label” over lunch. Have a progressive dinner (up to 48 guests) at the Jackson Triggs Vintners’ Niagara Estate, where one course of food is served in locations throughout the 47,000-square-foot facility. For a little night music, reserve their 500-seat open-air amphitheatre along with having wine, cheese, bread, and olives around the Vineyard Grille.