Indiana meeting place update.

• Author: Keaton, Joanne
• Position: Includes related articles and on upcoming 1992 conventions - Meetings & Conventions

A survey of facilities around the state

Fun, informative, a place to make contacts, a chance to get away--conventions and meetings can be all these. They're also a widespread and growing business in Indiana.

Bob Swithers, the Indiana Department of Commerce's trade manager for marketing and tourism, says Indiana is "a new meeting location for people tired of old locations." But groups aren't coming here once for variety and then going somewhere else the next time, he says. "We get a lot of return business." Swithers believes a prime reason for Indiana's popularity with the convention industry stems from the cooperative effort put forth by hotels and the convention and visitors bureaus.

New, renovated and enlarged meetings facilities are appearing throughout the state. The newest is the Convention Center of Monroe County/Bloomington, a 40,000-plus-square-foot downtown facility which officially opened in late October.

The Radisson Hotel at Star Plaza in Merrillville is the second-largest meetings-and-conventions hotel in the state, according to General Manager Michael W. Williams. Some of the hotel's features are a new multipurpose 12,000-square-foot ballroom, facilities for staging varied activities from trade shows to black-tie events, and more than 30 rooms designed for disabled and hearing-impaired guests. Another attraction at the hotel is its 3,400-seat Star Plaza Theatre, which stages more than 200 shows a year. Some performers scheduled for the Merrillville property in 1992 include Tom Jones, Spyro Gyra, David Copperfield, and Peter, Paul and Mary.

"The Chicago Alternative" is the way Earl Adams, director of sales, bills Gary's Genesis Convention Center. There are a million people within 20 minutes of Gary, Adams notes, and the Indiana city can offer them a more economical convention and better hotel rates than its Illinois neighbor. For 10 years, his center hasn't had an active, direct sales effort or funds for that purpose, but things are changing, Adams says.

Genesis, with room for 8,000 people and 250 exhibit booths on the main floor, had good booking figures in 1991 for a facility that is just coming into its own. It hosted 11 major trade shows and between 300 and 400 smaller events. Groups planning something smaller than a convention or major meeting also can take advantage of Genesis. The center can serve banquets for 20 to 200.

Meeting organizers who want to get away from the high costs of Chicago also might consider Munster's Center for Visual and Performing Arts. The 2-year-old cultural institution and social center has meeting rooms, a theater seating 500, complete food service, an art gallery and free on-site parking. Just 30 minutes south of Chicago, the center is accessible from Interstate 80-94.

Porter County is a mostly rural area, but it's close to Chicago and Interstates 65, 80-90 and 94. Drawing cards to Porter County are the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and world-class fishing that's available from a fleet of charter boats in season March to November. The Porter County Expo Center in Valparaiso has 25,000 square feet of exhibit space, two banquet rooms with seating capacity of up to 325 and a main hall that can accommodate as many as 600. A number of events also are held in local hotel facilities, where guests may enjoy views of lakes and woods. Typically, Porter County gets corporate retreat business as well as local, regional and state association meetings.

Century Center in South Bend celebrates its 15th anniversary in 1992. With the recent relocation of the Discovery Hall Museum from the center to South Bend's Studebaker Museum, an additional 12,000 square feet have been made available. With the increase in floor space the center can go after bigger events, such as larger trade shows. All the suites are being redone, according to Director of Sales Sandy Lee. "The break-out rooms are going to be very elegant," she says.

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