Tuesday Talk: Outlook for meetings and events in Atlanta looks bright in 2020

Tuesday Talk rounds up the latest Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) news you might have missed and also points forward to upcoming events on our campus.

Atlanta has moved into the Top 10 cities in North America for meetings and events for 2020, according to projections compiled by CWT M&E, the meetings and events division of digital travel management company Carlson Wagonlit Travel.

While metro Atlanta has a plethora of meeting and event spaces and venues, it’s not a stretch to infer that the GWCCA’s downtown campus, featuring 22-acre Centennial Olympic Park, state-of-the-art Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the 3.9-million-square-feet-and-growing Georgia World Congress Center, contributed to Atlanta rising to No. 4 on CWT’s list, trailing only Chicago, San Francisco, and New York.

To wit, the GWCCA campus is hosting the NCAA Men’s Final Four and ancillary activities in 2020 and has no less than 30 conventions, tradeshows, meetings, expos and sports and entertainment events with projected attendance of 10,000-plus on the books so far for next year.

According to a press release, “the ranking is based on proprietary and industry data contained in CWT’s 2020 Meetings & Events Future Trends report” which was published today (Sept. 10).

RISE UP!

Announced Monday (Sept. 9), unConventional is a finalist for the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Georgia Chapter’s Phoenix Awards in the blog category. The results will be revealed at the chapter’s 2019 Awards Celebration on Nov. 6 at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. The GWCCA is also a finalist for its LinkedIn strategy.

THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS

Featuring more than 200 speakers, 50-plus exhibitors and an expected 2,500 attendees, the inaugural Smart City Expo-Atlanta kicks off Wednesday (Sept. 11) at the Georgia World Congress Center and runs through Friday (Sept. 13). This is the only stateside version of the event that is held annually in Barcelona, Spain, which focuses on civic solutions and innovations. The list of big-time speakers is voluminous, but includes Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, actor/rapper/entrepreneur Tip “T.I.” Harris, and Derek Schiller, President and CEO of the Atlanta Braves. Also, a pair of the GWCCA’s very own will participate in the expo’s panel discussions: Corporate Social Responsibility Manager Tim Trefzer and Sr. Director of Campus Operations Jeff Oden.

Designed to promote fitness and health among metro-Atlanta companies, the Kaiser Permanente Corporate Run Walk Roll returns to the GWCCA campus on Wednesday (Sept. 11). The 5K course begins at Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd., loops around downtown and finishes on Northside Drive in front of the GWCC’s Building C. Start time is 7 p.m.

Trap N Paint Party, featuring an evening of cocktails, artistic expression, music and birthday celebrations, is set for Friday (Sept. 13) in the GWCC’s Exhibit Hall A3. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the event starts at 8. For tickets and more information, click here.

In search of the top spot in the MLS standings, the Atlanta United are back on the Mercedes-Benz Stadium (MBS) pitch Saturday for a match against division foe Columbus Crew SC. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

It’s a quick overnight flip for the venue as the Atlanta Falcons make their regular-season home debut Sunday at MBS against the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s a night game (8:20 p.m. kickoff), featured on the nationally-televised NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.”