Corporate outings: keep it close.

It's one thing to book your group at a great facility. But once the PowerPoint presentations are done and the last name tag is crumpled up and shot like a basketball at the trash can in the corner, you have a few hundred meeting attendees who've just spent all day listening to the virtues of team building and paradigm shifts.

In other words, they're going to need to unwind.

As meeting planners adjust to the economic times, after-hours activities for attendees that are unique, entertaining and, better yet, close by are increasingly desirable.

"If you can keep a group within walking distance of the hotel for the entire stay, it's a home run," said Todd Scholl of The Peabody Little Rock. "The Clinton Library really put us on the map as a world-class attraction, and it and the Statehouse Convention Center really bookend our convention district. Planners want to keep their groups confined. That's a tool we use every single time."

Arkansas offers a host of after-hours options for convention and meeting-goers, many of them within walking distance or a short ride of the state's meeting facilities.

"Most of the time, social interaction among attendees is just as important as the business meeting," said Keri Dool of Meeting Professionals International, a Dallas-based professional-membership organization for meeting planners.

"After sitting in a meeting room all day, a nice change of scenery is always good. One concept that I really like is when a 'team' will go to an off-site location like a theme park or baseball game, and they utilize the group facilities to have a business meeting. Then after the meeting, they enjoy the fun activities at the venue with their teammates."

Dool recommends activities that are on-site or within a 15-minute bus or car ride. Fortunately for meeting planners trying to book in Arkansas, the state has several cities that can deliver.

Little Rock's River Market District and downtown Markham corridor continue to blossom into a vibrant community filled with attractions. Meeting-goers staying downtown are within a walk or River Rail trolley ride of the Clinton Presidential Library & Museum, Heifer Village, concerts and sporting events at Verizon Arena, minor league baseball at Dickey-Stephens Park, museums and galleries, as well as numerous shops, restaurants and bars. The Big Dam Bridge that spans the Arkansas River has become an increasingly popular site for hosting functions.

Hot Springs offers easy access to Central Avenue and Bathhouse Row and numerous restaurants, galleries and shops. The renowned Garvan Woodland Gardens is a short drive from downtown. And, of course, Hot Springs can offer a national park and excellent thoroughbred racing each spring at Oaklawn Park.

In northwest Arkansas, corporate outings entail the many great area golf courses, shopping excursions, minor league baseball games at Springdale's Arvest Ballpark, the Pea Ridge Civil War battlefield and numerous museums. Historic Eureka Springs, internationally renowned for its quirkiness, is nestled in the Ozarks just a short drive from each of northwest Arkansas' population centers.

In addition, there's the University of Arkansas and all things Razorback.

"We'll soon be planning special functions at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art upon its grand opening," said Shannon McCaig of the Rogers-Lowell Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Fort Smith boasts its own attractions, all within walking distance or a short drive from downtown. The Fort Smith National Historic Site, numerous historic museums, Cherokee and Choctaw casinos just over the river in Oklahoma, the Belle Grove Historic District and Fort Chaffee should provide meeting-goers with plenty of extracurricular options.

"We've found that while most Arkansans are nominally familiar with Fort Smith, many are still surprised at the diversity of things to do here, both for family and business travelers' entertainment," said Christy Marks of the Fort Smith Convention & Visitors Bureau.

"Although Fort Smith is a tourist destination, it is not one with which Arkansans are overly familiar. We view this as a positive, because it allows us to introduce our national historic site, museums, live music venues, architectural tours, wineries, restaurants and nearby casinos to entire new populations with each convention. Meeting planners love this, because it allows them to offer something fresh to attendees, particularly those already familiar with central and northwest Arkansas' more well-known offerings."

Pine Bluff offers the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame, the Gov. Mike Huckabee Delta Rivers Nature Center, the Arts & Science Center of Southeast Arkansas and numerous historic homes.

Scholl, an Iowa native who came to Little Rock from Indianapolis, said the people of Arkansas were its greatest selling point.

"Our key in attracting groups is just to get them here," he said. "Little Rock has a small-town feel on a bigger scale. When planners visit, they get a very authentic feeling of welcome, open arms and trust from the people they encounter. It's infectious. That, to me, is the greatest selling point we have: the people."

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