Moncton sweet talks event planners
City staff takes unique approach to drumming up business
Published Thursday February 14th, 2008
Appeared on page A1
OTTAWA - Ondina Love loves Metro Moncton.
The executive director of Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists picked Moncton as the site of the association's 2007 national conference, and describes the experience as an exceptional success.
As executive director of CASLPA, she does preliminary site visits and negotiates contracts, but then the organization of each year's conference is done by local members of her association and a professional meeting manager.
"Usually I only get involved if there are problems. Every year, at conferences, there's always problems," she said. "In Moncton there were none. It was the first time ever that's happened. It was fantastic."
From the thrill of exploring caves in Albert County, to running and hiking the Riverfront Trail which she described as excellent, to "the best delegate bags ever" sponsored by the City of Moncton, to the fact staff at the Delta Beauséjour made special celiac food to meet the needs of one delegate, right down to special cookies for the woman's coffee breaks, Love described the whole experience as first rate.
"There were 500 of us. They were bursting at the seams, but they still handled it so well," she said.
Ondina Love didn't need convincing last night, but more than 400 other executive directors and meeting planners had to be wooed at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa, where the premier gathering of the meeting and conference industry was being held.
The City of Moncton, like every other Canadian city of significance, was there to entice all those who had never had the Moncton experience.
Competition for the conference, meeting, convention and trade show industry is tough. The City of Regina even brought actress Gabrielle Miller from Corner Gas to market their city. The Moncton delegation had to get creative to even capture delegates' attentions, let alone their hearts.
They did that precisely by appealing to people's hearts as well as their minds. Some great prizes helped too.
Pursuing a Valentine's Day theme, the city presented each delegate with a box of Ganong chocolates. Upon each of the boxes was a cheeky personal ad that featured Moncton looking for suitors, that is meeting and conference business.
"Exceptionally polite east-coaster with big city approach... looking to get serious with like-minded partner," the ad begins.
Kelly Cain, Moncton's director of tourism, addressed the amused delegates.
"This is the part of the evening where we are supposed to show you a video and highlight our 2,000 hotel rooms, our expanding conference space and our unique coastal excursions," she said. "But we are Moncton.and we tend to do things unconventionally."
With romance in the air this week, Cain told her audience Moncton wanted to get to know them and wanted them to get to know Moncton
"We wanted to court you just a little -- maybe even flirt with you shamelessly," she said.
Whether they found it romantic or not, three delegates at least got lucky. Thanks to active corporate partners, particularly the Delta Beauséjour, Crowne Plaza and Ramada Plaza Crystal Palace, who all had representatives onstage with Cain, the Moncton delegation was able to use the prospect of a bit of good old fashioned swag for those not easily swayed by sweet talk.
Prizes in a random draw included having renowned Delta chef Stefan Mueller fly in to prepare a dinner party for six at one meeting planner's home. Another was a trip for two to Moncton for a familiarization tour of what the area offers. Yet another prize was a musical weekend in Moncton, including a stay at the Ramada's Rock'n'Roll suite and tickets to a "big outdoor concert" this summer, though Cain demurred when it came time to kiss and tell the name of the headline act.
At press time last night, the nation's most influential meeting planners were still enjoying their night out on the town -- and nibbling on some great New Brunswick chocolates.
How much interest in Moncton as a conference destination will come about directly from this one event is one of those intangibles that will be hard to track.
Love at first sight can happen, but meeting planners are a cautious bunch who just might like to take things slow.
But one thing that was clear from looking around the Westin's ballroom last night. The city that was previously an unknown to most of the delegates now has a name and a face and showed a lot of personality.
As first dates go it was a good one. As blind dates go, it was like Ms. Love's conference, an exceptional success.
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Moncton welcomes concert spotlight
Ian Fowler says city is working to bring in big show this summer
By Eric Lewis
Times & Transcript Staff
Published Thursday February 14th, 2008
Appeared on page A1
Ian Fowler is convinced that Moncton has "without a shadow of a doubt" the best outdoor concert venue in Atlantic Canada.
Moncton's general manager for recreation, parks, tourism and culture works with promoters in trying bring bands to the city and, if various media reports from around the region this week turn out to be true, The Eagles will be the next group to land in the Hub City.
Reports from Halifax this week citing unnamed sources said the legendary band would be performing at Magnetic Hill on Aug. 2.
Fowler says as much as he would love the show to happen, "At this point, we don't have a signed deal for The Eagles or for any other show. But we're hoping in the near future we'll bring some deal to fruition so that there is music at Magnetic Hill this summer."
Whether this show happens or not, Fowler says the city is actively working with promoters in an effort to bring a big show to the city this summer.
Fowler says the city has plenty going for it in terms of selling the city and the Magnetic Hill venue to promoters.
"The first thing that's allowed us to get into the marketplace is our site," he says. "We're convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that we've got the best site in Atlantic Canada."
Fowler cites the city's central location within Atlantic Canada as a great selling point. With Quebec and the New England states nearby, it's an easy sell, he says.
Also, the site has been developed a little more each year since the Rolling Stones first rocked the hill in 2005. The Stones promoters partnered with the city on the concert site, leaving behind a stage pad that allows a very heavy concert stage to be placed on it.
Each year, the city has added more to the site including water and sewer access so that it becomes "closer to a turn-key operation" where a band can simply land with their gear, set up and rock out.
"The infrastructure that goes into doing these one-day outdoor shows is a lot of cost for the promoter," Fowler explains, "So by us having a power source, by us having fencing, by us having water, those types of things, we're able to minimize some of those one-time costs that a promoter has to look at."
This year, the city is looking at installing permanent buildings to house dressing rooms for the bands and administration trailers.
Another selling point for the city is the track record it has, having successfully brought tens of thousands of people in for the Rolling Stones in 2005, Brooks & Dunn and Alan Jackson in 2006 and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in 2007.
Other strengths Moncton has, he says, include a strong team including Fowler himself and Shane Porter who also works on bringing concerts to the area, and the support of local media and business who go all out to make the events a success.
Asked about the perception that Moncton has been blazing a concert trail while Halifax and Charlottetown are trying to keep up, Fowler said that up until a few years ago, the outdoor concert business hardly existed until the Rolling Stones put it back on the map three years ago in Moncton.
"No one ever expected the Rolling Stones would play Atlantic Canada," he says with a laugh. "But they came, they played Moncton, they were extremely successful. I think that turned a lot of heads in Atlantic Canada.
"Are we pioneers? Are we trailblazing? Yeah, I think we are," Fowler says, "Because we have a vision and we know where we want to go. We're just not trying to get into the market because someone else is getting into it."
The positive media support Fowler mentioned isn't something promoters can count on everywhere. Harold MacKay, promoter of both Country Rocks the Hill shows in Moncton and the upcoming one in Halifax on Aug. 30 of this year featuring Keith Urban and a slew of other acts, ran into a snag after the big show was announced just before Christmas last year.
A Halifax newspaper ran an editorial cartoon mocking the multi-platinum selling Urban.
At the time, MacKay decided to boycott the Halifax paper, and suggested in a press release that Halifax media could learn a thing or two from Moncton.
"Some media here (in Halifax) should study other cities like Moncton to see how positive media coverage works to everyone's behalf," MacKay wrote in the release.
Yesterday however, he noted that he had made up with the newspaper, but said that media in Moncton is indeed "extremely supportive of everything that you do (in Moncton)."
MacKay had positive things to say about his past dealings in Moncton. "Moncton just has a good feeling about it when you're trying to negotiate to bring talent to the city."
MacKay's only complaint about the city would be with accommodations, noting that he has noticed hotel rates in the city get put higher when a big event comes to town.
However, he notes that many people have told him it's not an issue specific to Moncton.
Planning for events in Halifax isn't as simple, he says. MacKay says the two concert sites in Halifax, Citadel Hill and the Halifax Commons, are harder to plan for and to produce the show because they are both right in the middle of the downtown area.
MacKay notes however that the benefits of running in downtown Halifax are that the entire downtown area gets an energetic atmosphere when a big event is going on.
He says past criticism of how Halifax has dealt with bringing concerts to the city seem to be over with.
"They were new to it, and the structure between Events Halifax and the city I guess was the concern. In the City of Moncton, there is no question, you make the connection with Ian Fowler and Ian puts things together with his staff and it makes negotiations very easy.
"I think Halifax has got that ironed out now."
MacKay says however that Moncton was the leader in the Atlantic Canadian concert world initially in "going after it in a big way by going after the Stones, which set the stage in a way for other shows to follow. There's no question, myself as a promoter, when I mentioned the Rolling Stones had been to Moncton, it makes for a big, big deal."
MacKay says having three cities in the concert market makes things better for him as a promoter because it allows him different options for different shows.
Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly said last night that the city is working now to try to bring a rock concert to the city this summer in addition to its upcoming Keith Urban show.
In response to the criticism of how Halifax has handled concerts in the past, Kelly says, "Right now we're the only one with a signed contract (for a concert). Moncton doesn't, Charlottetown doesn't. We do for Keith Urban. That's one down, and we're looking at number two.
"To say that (Moncton is) the trailblazers, I would have to disagree. But to say that they are very much interested in bringing concerts as we are, absolutely. And they do it very well."
Kelly says there is no reason there should be any "dissing" between the cities as "what is good for Moncton is good for Halifax, and what is good for Halifax is good for Moncton." He said the same for Charlottetown, noting that the entire region should be happy when any of its cities lands a big event.
"I see no negativity to this whatsoever."
Kelly believes the Halifax Commons is a venue second-to-none with its central downtown location with easy access to hotels, bars and restaurants in the area.
"If Moncton is able to secure (The Eagles), I congratulate them and wish them well, and we'll continue to work on our projects as well."
Wayne Long, events development officer with the city of Charlottetown, said yesterday that the Island city is also looking at various concerts for the summer. He said major selling points for the Charlottetown Drive Park are that it is a big venue with plenty of infrastructure that is already a part of the site. The site held an Aerosmith concert last summer and hosted the Black Eyed Peas in 2006.
He admitted the one drawback that has garnered complaints is that the site is quite flat, making it difficult for some to see. He says the municipality is considering other potential sites in and around the city.
He says Charlottetown isn't trying to compete with anyone in the concert world on the East Coast.
"I want to be clear at the end of the day, we look to do events that are good for our city and remain open-minded."
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Dieppe wins Bloom award
times & transcript staff
Published Thursday February 14th, 2008
Appeared on page A3
Surprise and delight were expressed during Dieppe's council meeting this week as local Communities in Bloom chairman Bob Crossman presented the city with an award after Metro Moncton scored tops in its category in the national WinterLights Celebrations symposium.
Metro Moncton, which was recognized for enhancing the quality of life, took top honours in the 50,000-plus population category.
WinterLights is the winter edition of the popular Communities in Bloom program. During the month of December, trained volunteer judges evaluated the participating communities on the program's five criteria: visual presentation, festive season celebrations, winter pleasures, goodwill programs and tourism and promotion.
"This is quite a credit to the citizens of Dieppe," Mayor Achille Maillet said.
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Dieppe rezoning proposal meets no objections
Published Thursday February 14th, 2008
Appeared on page A4
A public hearing on the topic of a rezoning for the north side of Melanson Road, near du Moulin Street, heard no objections from the public during Monday's Dieppe City Council meeting.
A company called Tridev plans a mixed-residential development for that area, just west of Dieppe Boulevard.
Dieppe City Council, during their meeting, gave the first of three necessary readings to the rezoning application with the condition that the developer has to make sure that there will be no more runoff of surface water than exists now on the properties they are developing in that neighbourhood.
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