Making connections: the importance of the advanced conference center.

• Author: Short, John D.
• Position: ADVICE MEETINGS

A KEY WORD APPEARS in promotions furthering Indiana's role in the life sciences and other technical fields: connections.

Although technology has radically changed the way businesses and their people communicate, the role of face-to-face meetings in creating connections is still valid--and it highlights the importance of facilities created and staffed to implement meetings. Conference centers were a late 20th century development to increase the effectiveness of meetings by engineering their environment, training specialized staff, and utilizing emerging communication technology. As we move into a new century, the conference center industry has kept pace with advances in what it can offer and the needs of those who meet.

The International Association of Conference Centers (IACC) is at the helm in assuring conference centers meet the demands of today's and tomorrow's face-to-face meetings. Established in the early 1980s, this consortium of conference center leadership imposes rigorous criteria in design and operation to serve the academic, corporate, public policy, and leisure and tourism markets. These standards provide for creating an environment that is distraction-free and encourages collaborative thinking, strategic planning, and focused training for attendees. This environment is created with ergonomic furniture, state of the art technology, creative food presentation and focused service-oriented staff.

Tom Cappucci, general manager of University Place Conference Center and Hotel on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), serves as IACC'S president elect for North America. He states that the criteria set by IACC reflects advances in sound-deadening building...