Smart Meetings

Perhaps the most important meeting ever held in the state of Oregon was on November 24th, 1805, when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, having finally reached the cresting breaks of the Pacific Ocean, assembled their weary band of explorers together and debated on which side of the Columbia River to make their winter camp.

 

They chose the Oregon side, of course, and with that decision wrote this dynamic state into the history books, leaving Washington to write its own history much later. That meeting on the banks of the Columbia was a far cry from meetings in Oregon today—breaks consisted of using the woods as a bathroom or chewing on a piece of salted meat, and presentations were limited to drawing in the dirt with sticks.

 

Other things, however, have changed very little. Today meetings are set within the same stunning backdrops admired by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, like the Cascade mountain range, towering forests, dozens of winding rivers and the Pacific Ocean. And, had they the time, those early explorers would have enjoyed the same limitless outdoor activities that regularly thrill thousands of visiting attendees, like year-round skiing, world-class river rafting and rock climbing, plus hiking, fishing, mountain biking and wine tasting.

 

But it is only recently that Oregon’s abundant qualities have been given their much-due praise. Portland, a bridge-and-river-laced, eco-friendly, uber-trendy, ultra-friendly destination, is regularly cited as one of the best cities in the U.S. And the small town of Bend, in sunny central Oregon, is possibly the hippest and fastest-growing destination town in the West.

 

It’s not hard to understand why. Plenty of states and cities that experienced growth in the past did so without considerable planning and foresight; meanwhile, some towns in Oregon sat back and observed the consequences. Now, with modern technology and planning in its arsenal, these towns are growing smartly and responsibly, preserving the natural environment and building excellent public transportation.

 

Another major appeal to Oregon is its incredible diversity. Like Washington, the state’s population is largely concentrated in the western half. The main traffic corridor, Interstate 5, strings together the major cities in a straight line, from northernmost Portland to southernmost Ashland, including Salem, Eugene and Medford.

 

With a major airport in Portland, all of these cities can be reached within hours via the freeway, if not by smaller connecting flights. Running parallel a few hours west of I-5, the Pacific coastline is dotted with numerous quaint seaside towns that host a few small convention centers and exclusive meetings resorts. On the other side of I-5 rise the majestic Cascade mountains, including such landmarks as Mount Hood and Crater Lake National Park. Sunny Bend sits squat in the center of the state, looking out over the dry and relatively flat and unpopulated eastern half, which is mostly comprised of prairie and desert. Throughout Oregon lie dozens of major rivers and lakes, as well as miles upon miles of tall, thick forests.

 

Yet, while always an Eden of geographic diversity and natural beauty, the best thing about Oregon for planners is it can now boast the kind of city downtowns, hotels and convention centers to compete with best of them, as well as an abundance of premium resorts tucked into natural settings. With no state sales tax and some of the most affordable hotel rates in the West, Oregon is a great bargain, despite its surge in popularity. Everyone is talking about Oregon; it’s time to show your people why.

   

 Portland

Much like San Francisco, Portland is a town in love with its bridges. Oregon’s largest city, it looks out over Washington from the southern bank of the roaring Columbia River and is cut in half by the perpendicular Willamette. This peninsular effect forms the downtown, with beautiful riverfront parks, spectacular views and a walkable and concentrated city center of major hotels, restaurants, shopping and nightlife.

 

One of the most surprising things about the city, however, is how easy it is to leave it. “We have an urban growth boundary, and we can’t build outside it,” explains Michael Smith, vice president of sales for the Portland Oregon Visitors Association. “You can get out in 10 minutes.”

 

Before they are even aware of what has happened, groups will find themselves out from underneath skyscrapers and driving through the fields of Oregon’s famous pinot noir grapes for Napa-quality wine tasting or approaching the base of towering Mount Hood.

 

Much more lies within the city boundaries, however, and it is virtually brimming with unique meeting venues. In the hills to the west of downtown are a number of major attractions, all perfect destinations for off-site meetings and team-building activities. The International Rose Test Garden offers gorgeous landscaping with more than 500 varieties of roses. The neighboring Japanese Garden provides an equally lush environment of a very different style, and is an invigorating setting for smaller meetings, with views of the entire city. Also close by is the Oregon Zoo, which has a number of different meeting options.

 

It is difficult to escape the appeal of downtown. For a relatively small city, Portland is home to an unusual number of excellent restaurants, wine venues and more than 39 craft beer-brewing establishments. In fact, coming to Portland for the first time can be a bit of an overwhelming experience when you realize how much there is within the city and how much awaits you beyond.

  

Major Meeting Venues

Another big surprise for planners and attendees is the size and quality of Portland’s major meeting facility, the Oregon Convention Center. At nearly one million square feet, it is the largest convention center in the Pacific Northwest. Not only will planners find all their needs taken care of with more than 50 meeting rooms, 255,000 sq. ft. of contiguous exhibit space, full-service catering and 800 parking spaces, but they can show their green colors by utilizing a facility that is completely LEED-certified. One of its eco-friendly features is the impressive Rain Garden, an ornate central waterway that actually cleans pollutants from collected rainwater before emptying it out into the Willamette River. With Wi-Fi Internet throughout, an on-site FedEx/Kinko’s, $2 million in artwork and plenty of natural light, this is a refreshing and impressive facility for meetings both large and small.

 

Another remarkable feature of the convention center, and of the city as a whole, is accessibility. The center sits on the eastern side of the Willamette River, a mile or so from the majority of the primary downtown hotels. While this separation from accommodations may initially give pause to planners, the experience of using the city’s award-winning public rail system has drawn nearly universal praise. Janiece Sneegas, director of general assembly and conference services for the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, brought 5,600 attendees to Portland in June, and they stayed in a large number of hotels downtown. “Quite simply, the light rail made our conference a success,” she says. “It was fabulous, and we had virtually no complaints.” The light rail system, MAX, is also budget-friendly—it is free to the convention center and to all of downtown.

 

There were other reasons why Sneegas had such a powerful turnout (a third more than the previous year). While she chose the city because of the convention center’s eco-friendly and modern appeal, the free and easy MAX and the affordability of the area in general, her attendees were thrilled with the city itself. “They loved the friendliness of the city, they could see the mountains everyday and there were just a lot of interesting sights,” she says.

 

For meetings that do not require the convention center, planners can find all they need with dozens of hotels within the walkable downtown. The Hilton Portland & Executive Tower, with 782 guest rooms, offers almost 45,000 sq. ft. of meeting space in 20 different rooms. The classy and historic Benson Hotel features magnificent European ambience with 287 rooms and almost 14,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. Perfect for an executive retreat is the RiverPlace Hotel, with 84 guest rooms and several meeting rooms, like the 2,700-square-foot RiverPlace Ballroom.

 

Unique Meeting Venues

A small city full of big-city surprises, Portland is lucky to have one of the coolest museums on the West Coast, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. While packed with exhibits and plenty of space for private meetings and receptions, the crown jewel is the USS Blueback, a full-sized submarine that was used to film The Hunt for Red October. If you really want a memorable meeting, rent out the entire submarine and let them call you or your CEO “captain” for the day.

 

With space for up to 250 attendees, the beautifully ornate Portland Classical Chinese Garden is pure eye candy, with serpentine walkways and bridges, meticulous architecture and zen-quality tranquility. After public hours, the garden can be rented for private evening events.

 

For snow aficionados, The Resort at the Mountain is conveniently close to Mount Hood about an hour east of Portland. In addition to skiing, other activities at the 160-room resort include tennis, fly-fishing and 27 holes of golf. Your business needs will be well taken care of with 18,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.

 

Bend

Bend is a small town that is growing so rapidly and is so trendy that those who discover it are often torn between keeping it a secret and telling everyone they know.

 

Seated at the eastern base of the Cascade mountains, the town of about 75,000 has long been a gateway to the best in outdoor recreation of almost every form. Nearby Mount Bachelor provides excellent skiing and hiking and can host groups of up to 200. The powerful Deschutes River runs right through town, and offers premium whitewater rafting and fishing. For adventurous groups, nearby Smith Rock State Park offers some of the best rock climbing in the U.S., drawing thousands in just to watch the climbers with open mouths. While clearly an adventurist’s dream, Bend is also surprisingly a premier golfing haven, and was ranked by Golf magazine as a top golf destination.

 

Meeting Venues

Most planners have heard a little about Bend—if not a lot—as it has simply become a white-hot meeting destination, for its facilities as well as its fun. “It’s the whole environment; it’s just hot, hot, hot,” says Carole Astley, a former professional meeting planner who now works for Travel Oregon. “It is much more organized now, and it is sunny and nice all the time.”

 

The Riverhouse, a 220-guest room resort right on the banks of the Deschutes River, now has a year-old conference center with 30,000 sq. ft. of flexible meeting space, an executive boardroom and a business center.

 

About 15 miles south of Bend, the Four-Diamond Sunriver Resort has been wowing attendees for decades. While business begins with 44,600 sq. ft. of flexible meeting space, the resort is also an incentive destination, with award-winning golf courses, hiking trails, horseback riding and canoeing on 3,500 wooded acres.

 

It was this diversity of activities and its private setting that convinced Christina Devlin, a meeting planner for the Oregon-Columbia chapter of Associated General Contractors of America, to use it for this year’s annual convention. “We decided to loosen up the schedule this year; it’s usually pretty packed,” she says. “We set them free in the afternoons, and gave them time with their families and to socialize with other members. Many of them hosted BBQs, and they were able to do a lot of business without being in the ballroom.”

 

Eugene

Home to the University of Oregon, this energetic college town is brimming with the kind of light-hearted enthusiasm that accompanies young and idealistic college students.

 

With a bit of an alternative, bohemian feel, the city is the third-largest in the state, but is covered in natural landscaping and surrounded by hills, rivers and forest, and maintains a small-town, laid-back personality. Like all of Oregon, outdoor recreation is abundant, including excellent river rafting and mountain biking.

 

Meeting Venues

Meetings are well supported at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, which has several excellent meeting rooms and flexible spaces. Less than an hour outside of town, the McKenzie River Conference Center is home to the United States Basketball Academy, and can be a fun private destination, with a 9,000-square-foot meeting and resource center and accommodations for 250. There is also a conference room, a fitness center and several ropes courses for possible team-building exercises.

 

Ashland

Ashland, a small-town valley paradise near the border of California, is yet another Oregon outdoor jewel, surrounded by forested mountains, sweeping vineyards and nearby top-notch white-water rafting. The town itself is charming and friendly, and home to the world-renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the summer, a perfect group activity after a day of (hopefully) less-dramatic meetings. If your group is really into theater, arrange for one of many educational events or discussions with the members of the cast. The historic Ashland Springs Hotel downtown has 5,700 sq. ft. of meeting space and 70 guest rooms.

 

Unique Meeting Venues

New levels of team-building intimacy can be created at the nearby Oregon Caves National Monument, where groups can descend into the belly of a giant stone cave with only candlelight and their nerves to guide them. Outside, an old chateau is a perfect place to shake off the spider webs and try to convince others of your bear sighting.

 

Coastal Oregon

While a few larger venues dot the Oregon coast, like the 500-capacity Florence Event Center, the sweeping coastline primarily features boutique hotels and B&Bs that specialize in expert service and detail and are perfect for executive retreats and smaller corporate meetings. The massive Oregon Dunes, in the central part of the coast, is immensely popular for dune buggying and dune touring, and makes for exciting team-building and group activities. And Astoria, up where Lewis and Clark made their long winter camp at the mouth of the Columbia River, has several new meeting venues, such as The Red Building Loft and The Banker’s Suite. A good source for information on hotels and meeting space along the coast can be found with the Oregon Coast Visitors Association.

  

Salem

Less than an hour’s drive south of Portland International Airport sits Salem, the capitol of Oregon and its second-largest city. As a major government center, Salem has the facilities and hotels to host major meetings and events, but it also shares the same surrounding natural beauty as Oregon’s smaller towns; wine-tasting, river rafting and golfing options are also abundant. With more than 2,000 rooms and 450,000 sq. ft. of meeting space in the city, your best bet is to contact the Salem Convention and Visitors Association for the perfect match to your needs.

 

Meeting Venues

Most of the action in Salem takes place at the classy Salem Conference Center, with almost 30,000 sq. ft. of flexible space and 14 meeting rooms. Not only does it match Oregon’s eco-friendly personality by being a green convention center, but it is also conveniently connected to the upscale 193-room Phoenix Grand Hotel.

Another great option is found a little farther south, in the beautiful historic town of Albany. Attendees will love the quaint old downtown, and there are a number of diverse meeting space options, such as the 209,000-square-foot Linn County Fair & Expo Center, plus several beautifully restored theaters.

  

Medford

The largest city in southern Oregon, Medford successfully lures the sun overhead most days of the year, and is surrounded by a number of golf courses and wineries. It also has the awe-inspiring Crater Lake, a national park 90 minutes to the east that is the deepest lake in the U.S., and was formed by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama.

 

Medford is a friendly and relaxed city, perfect for small to midsize meetings, with more than 2,000 hotel rooms and meeting space that exceeds 110,000 sq. ft. For a complete listing of available meeting space in the city, as well as in outlying areas, visit the website of the Medford Visitors and Convention Bureau.

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Getting There

Oregon’s primary airport is Portland International Airport, with nonstop service to several dozen cities worldwide. Smaller shuttle services fly to airports in Medford, Salem, Eugene and Bend. Select nonstop service from major U.S. cities also exists in Bend and Medford.

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Not To Be Missed

• The Benson Hotel, in downtown Portland, just renovated its Mayflower Ballroom, one of the most beautiful meeting spaces in the state.

• The Nines, a 330-room Starwood Luxury Collection hotel, is slated to open in 2008 in downtown Portland.

• Springbrook, an 83-room resort and conference center on 450 acres in Newburg (wine country, 20 minutes south of Portland), is slated to open in early 2009.

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