April Showers usually bring May Flowers. Here at Meetings Northwest, spring showers bring a flood of events. It has been a fun, crazy, and a bit chaotic few months at Meetings Northwest. Here is what we have been up to:
April 7th – Western Montana Chapter SCI Banquet
Autumn and Traci kicked it all off April 7th with the Western Montana Chapter SCI Annual Banquet. This is the major fundraiser for the Western Montana Chapter SCI that attracts over 200 attendees. It is a fun-filled night that includes entertainment, dinner, games, raffles plus a silent and live auction.
April 9-10th – International Roundup
Next, Amy attended the 2018 International Roundup in Kalispell, MT April 9th-11th as a vendor. International Roundup (IRU) is not your typical tradeshow. The IRU website describes it as “two days of intensive pre-scheduled business appointments with over 80 organizations from around the Real America region and nearly 50 international and domestic buyers from more than 10 countries. IRU conducts business negotiations that result in the generation of more than $130 million dollars in future travel to the four-state region of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.”
April 10th-15th – Orvis Guide Rendezvous & Down the Hatch Festivals
In the meantime, Kasey and Genevieve boarded a plane and headed out to Asheville, NC, April 10th-15th to help Orvis with the onsite logistics of the 2018 Orvis Guide Rendezvous (OGR) and Down the Hatch (DTH). Ashley wrote an amazing blog on last year’s events and we are excited it will be back in our hometown of Missoula in 2019.
April 15th-17th – Montana’s Governor’s Conference on Tourism and Recreation
Once Genevieve’s feet hit the ground back in Montana, she was off to attend and network at the Montana Governor’s Conference on Tourism and Recreation April 15-17th. The Governor’s Conference on Tourism and Recreation is the annual gathering of Montana’s tourism and recreation industry.
April 14th – Missoula Downtown Tour
With Genevieve learning and networking in Big Sky, Traci closing out the Western Montana Chapter SCI banquet details amongst other things, Amy, Ashley and Autumn braved the Montana weather and assisted an out-of-state destination planner in giving twenty-one chefs a tour of downtown Missoula. The tour started at the Carousel for Missoula, continued to Brennan’s wave, The Wilma, the Montgomery Distillery, and then came to a rest at the Tamarack Brewing for lunch. For more information on our destination planning, visit us and our new branch at MNW Destinations.
April 23rd-25th – ITS Heartland Annual Meeting
Next, Amy and Autumn went off to execute the ITS Heartland Annual Meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska. The ITS Heartland Annual Meeting attracts 200-250 attendees from the five-state Heartland region (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma) and beyond. It is an opportunity for the Intelligent Transportation Systems industry to share ideas, network, meet new colleagues, all while having a bit of fun. A fun MNW history fact: Meetings Northwest has been an admin support and event planner for the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) industry since 2000.
May 1st-3rd – 2018 Montana Storm Water Conference
Traci and Genevieve closed out this flood of events with the 2018 Montana Storm Water Conference May 1st-3rd in Bozeman, MT. The 200 plus attendees collaborated on storm water and water quality issues with local, regional and national colleagues. Attendees learned about storm water program planning and management, water quality planning and monitoring, and Best Management Practice case studies, with an emphasis on sustainability. Special training sessions, social events and the Whova App connected participants!
While we have paired up to attack our spring flood of events, each Meetings Northwest team member has played an important role behind the scenes months in advance to make sure each event ran smoothly and successfully on the ground.
What’s Next? Summer, I hope!
About the author:
Autumn Gilleard, was born and raised in Western Montana Autumn lives on a ranch with her husband, two daughters, and son. She enjoys spending time in the outdoors with her family 4-wheeling, fishing, rafting, and hiking. When not out on a adventure with her family, you can find her at the Missoula Taekwondo Center. Where she trains as a black belt and part of a competition team. (She is Worth the Fight……Hahahahah)
