St. louis is a great city for conventions. We have that huge convention center that not enough organizations use, and we, of course, have fun stuff to do. I think we take it for granted living here.

I would love to see more conferences and conventions come here. Good money.

Don’t kid yourself, STL is a pit.

“Come to STL, because you’re allowed to go everywhere else you’d rather go”

In the current economic and political environment, going to either Vegas or Orland is not PC. My own company changed it’s user’s conference from Orlando to Texas due to such a perception. Orlando maybe cheaper in terms of lodging and airfare, but the perception is that a trip to Orlando is a boondoggle.

iM sO aNgRy, I’m ShAkInG!

Only Obama would criticize conventions in Vegas, then order Chicago pizza from a St. Louis restaurant, then go to Vegas for campaign money handouts. When are people going to stand up to this moron and tell him to mind his own business?

The St. Louis Metro area is a great place for conventions, vacations, and staycation. As owners of The BEALL MANSION Greater St. Louis Bed and Breakfast in Alton, Illinois we agree that Sin City’s loss is the St. Louis area’s gain.

If the folks who attend conferences were interested in the type of attractions that St. Louis has to offer (most for free) they would do a much better job of being the “community leaders” that they claim to be.

Examples are the Arch — especially the museum at the base of it — the Old Courthouse, the Missouri Botanical Gardens, the Art Museum, and the Science Center. And simnply walking through the vast areas of abandoned industrial sites and rail lines along the north St. Louis waterfront should give people some idea of the potential for future industrial development close to blighted residential areas that is being pissed away by antiquated laws that discourage employers from hiring low-skilled workers (especially, minimum wage laws, “closed shop” union laws, and the tax on employment imposed by the Social Security system).

Not sure about you Ted, but when I get the opportunity to visit a city for a convention…I’m not going to browse their art galleries. First of all, they are in a convention during the day so the museaums are closed when they are released into the wild.
Conventioneers are looking for….Restaraunts, Bars and other entertainment venues to spend their time away from their families until they need to go back to their convention.
The convention center is nice…and luckily…with a hike, you can get to the landing by foot from there.

I think St. Louis suffers from its own inferiority complex in so many ways. The city has many great attractions, but its conservative nature means we’re afraid to spend sufficient money on marketing our area, and unlike much smaller but progressive areas like Austin, they also beat their own drums and get the word about their area spread for free via the media.

If we can’t even be proud of ourselves…all I ever hear are people from here complaining about St. Louis, even to people from out of the area, so we’re helping make sure we will be considered a place nobody should want to go.

If we ever wake up and realize that we have a great area, and spread the word via the media and through a decent ad budget, we’ll become a growing area with new jobs and new residents, due to the positive image we’ll receive. We’re like someone who spent a fortune to throw a party (think of our zoo-museum district tax, which is outstanding) but thought that nobody would be impressed with the party, so we decided to not waste money on printing and mailing invitations. Then when few show up, we say “see, nobody wants to come!” When will we wake up?

We should tap some of the advertising geniouses at A-B, or those they let go, and figure out how to best market us as a great place. But don’t puke out the conservative “we’re just like everyone else but we’re cheap” angle in our marketing campaign: emphasize the uniqueness of St. Louis: the award winning museums including the unique City Museum, forest park, botanical garden, the arch, the brewery tour, and how about our amazing rivers?!? We’re the best place to see the Mississippi because we’re the largest metro area along the portion where the river is most impressive. One can see the Mississippi in two completely diffferent faces here: the channel right by the arch, and alternately the “real Mississippi” with its wetlands, birds and wildlife, a scenic byway and towering bluss, plus the nation’s busiest dam, and also the Missouri River confluence up near Alton. Being cheap is important, especially during these times, but it should be marketed as a bonus on top of our great attractions! Besides, most people who travel regularly have already been to San Francisco, Orlando, DC, Vegas, etc. multiple times. But most travelers haven’t yet made it to St. Louis.

oops, I meant to say “towering BLUFFS” Sorry for the typo.