FEATURE/What Were the Fifteen Most Important Meetings Ever Held?

Feature Editors

FEATURE...

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE FEATURES)--Oct. 29, 2001

To mark its 15th anniversary on November 1, 2001, The Peabody Orlando, one of America's leading meetings and conventions hotels, has drafted a list of fifteen of the most important meetings which have ever taken place in the ancient or modern world. The management and staff of the 891-room, 57,000 sq. ft. convention/resort hotel, located on International Drive, know a thing or two about meetings.

Readers are invited to contact the hotel with their suggested list of fifteen of the world's most important meetings through the ages: Tel. [phone], 800-PEABODY, or e-mail: [e-mail].

1) BC. Noah held the first-ever meeting aboard ship and guaranteed

the survival of all species over the elements. The midnight buffet

aboard the Ark had to be a masterpiece of banquet menu design.

Thanks to Noah, the twice-daily March of The Peabody Orlando

Ducks continues to delight land-loving meetings and

conventions delegates.

2) 600 BC. "Lovers of wisdom," philosophers, met in Greece to discuss

the basic philosophical question: the meaning of "to be," the

concept of "is."

The meaning of successful meetings is well-defined at The Peabody

Orlando where memorable meetings and conventions, and artful

hospitality, guarantee the most elevated state of "being."

3) In 507 BC, Athens, Greece, the "big bang" of political philosophy

exploded: Democracy was born. A hillock named Pnyx, in the shadow

of the Acropolis, was the meeting site of world's first-ever

government for, and by, the people, the "demos." Kleisthenes

established a new system of government, a direct democracy, which

reflected the will of both the aristocrats, the aristos, and the

demos.

Everyday at The Peabody Orlando, democratic principles are seen at

work in the hotel's 57,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, at open

forums and discussions held by a broad spectrum of society.

4) Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII came to Rome to seek audience with

Julius Caesar and the powerful senators who ruled Rome. This

scene-stealing, femme fatale of the ancient world, knew how to

make an entrance, tumbling out of the roll of carpet in which she

had concealed herself, and landing at the feet of Caesar. She

turned hearts and heads, and maybe her ankles.

Today, Cleopatra's grand entrance might be rivaled by some others

who use red carpet to denote their royal status. But, in these

marble halls, she'd be given "royal red carpet treatment," an

honor reserved for VIPs, Very Important Poultry, The Peabody

Orlando Ducks.

5) 500 AD. King Arthur, ruler of Camelot, and his Knights of the

Round Table, met to determine the elements of chivalry, courtly

love and honor.

If King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table had had a

meeting facility as grand as the Round Table Board Room at The

Peabody Orlando, they might have defeated the Saxon hordes.

6) In 1215 AD, in a damp meadow southwest of London called Runnymede,

King John of England, reluctantly met with his barons who

compelled him to accept what is the most important document of

British constitutional history, Magna Carta, the great charter.

Magna Carta led to the guarantees of trial by jury and habeas

corpus, upon which jurisprudence of the U.S. is founded.

Various American legal associations, such as the American Bar 

Association, hold meetings at The Peabody Orlando, and Magna Carta

endures.

7) In 1275, Marco Polo, Venetian explorer, sailed to China where he

attended meetings at court with Chinese philosophers, inventors,

resulting in the discovery of wonders unknown to the Western

World, such as spaghetti, gun powder, the printing press, and

rainbow bridge construction.

Capriccio, at The Peabody Orlando, serves the type of foods Marco

Polo might well have brought back from China and are today enjoyed

as the aromatic cuisines of Northern Italy, specifically, the

Tuscan region.

8) 1492 AD. Christoper Columbus from Genoa, Italy, met with Queen

Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, along with high-ranking

Spanish courtiers, to present his plans for a pioneering

expedition across the ocean to find a new route to the East

Indies. He made the case for the great expedition, which resulted

in lots of loot for Spain, and a city named for him in Ohio. The

continent he discovered, alas, was named for the man who came

after him, Amerigo Vespucci.

The Peabody Orlando also has its regal accommodations: The Royal

Peabody Orlando Duck Palace houses some of the world's most famous

migratory explorers, The Peabody Orlando Ducks.

9) June 11, 1776. The Drafting of the Declaration of Independence.

John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston and Roger

Sherman, met in Philadelphia to discuss the content and language

of a document that would unite, inspire and enflame men and women

in America, and everywhere else, with a passion for freedom and

independence.

Important meetings and conventions take place daily at The Peabody

Orlando. Some of the nation's biggest corporations and

professional associations have made major decisions during their

deliberations at the hotel.

10) 1848. The first "Women's Rights" meeting was held at Seneca Falls,

N.Y., based on the 1840 Antislavery Convention held in London,

attended by, among others, Philadelphia Quaker Lucretia Mott and

Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Over 300 women attended and a "Declaration

of Sentiments," modeled on the Declaration of Independence was

signed.

The role of women at The Peabody Orlando, whether guests or

associates, is undisputed and revered. The contribution of women

to the success of the hotel is evident in all aspects of Peabody

Service Excellence(R) culture, and in the special care of, and

welcome for, women guests.

11) The Potsdam Conference, July 17 - August 2, 1945 in Berlin, was

the last of the "Big Three" meetings during World War II, convened

to discuss the demand for an "unconditional surrender" by Japan,

and to re-design the map of postwar Europe.

The Peabody Orlando has hosted some of the world's most powerful

political leaders: Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister, Jean

Chretien, Canadian Prime Minister, George Bush, George W. Bush,

and Bill Clinton, Presidents of the United States.

12) 1945. The first meeting of the United Nations was held in San

Francisco attended by the "Big Three" Allied Powers of WWII. The

charter was signed by 51 states and the rest is history.

Proud of its cultural and ethnic diversity, The Peabody Orlando

represents a "mini U.N." with hotel professionals from all over

the world providing the ultimate in guest services and flawless,

memorable meetings.

13) August 28, 1963. Civil Rights March on Washington, DC. 200,000

people from all over the country, from all walks of life, held a

mass meeting for civil rights. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.,

marched into history with what has become one of the world's most

inspiring and enobling speeches: "I have a dream that one day

this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its

creed...that all men are created equal."

The Peabody Orlando takes pride in exceeding the requirements of

Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, and subscribes

wholeheartedly to the spirit and meaning of the Rev. Martin Luther

King's proclamation.

14) In 1972, President Nixon turned his attention to the sleeping

giant, crouching tiger of the East and visited the People's

Republic of China, which had been locked in Communist isolation

since 1949.

At The Peabody Orlando, meetings and conventions are held against

a backdrop of quiet, smooth diplomacy, achieved by a professional

corps of meetings/catering specialists whose diplomatic/protocol

skills and meetings prowess are de rigueur.

15) An astronomical, "off-planet" meeting took place July 16, 1975,

and continues to this day. Those early "space station" pioneers

were Thomas Stafford, Deke Slayton and Vance Brand, the US

astronauts aboard Apollo 18, and Aleksei Leonov and Valery

Kubasov, the Russian cosmonauts aboard Soyuz 19. As they

meticulously inched towards each other and docked in space for the

first-time ever, they spearheaded an unprecedented era of

international accord, and the largest cooperative science program

in the history of the world leading to the International Space

Station.

The Peabody Orlando has reached stellar levels of service, with

Four-Star, Four-Diamond ratings for the hotel and Four-Star

ratings for its signature restaurant, Dux. Several of the meeting

rooms at The Peabody Orlando are named for various NASA flights:

Challenger, Columbia and Discovery. The famous "Mercury Seven"

frequently met at the hotel, and were keynote speakers at meetings

and conventions for the national and international science

community.

HAPPY FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY TO THE PEABODY ORLANDO.