Florida's sophisticated meetings center.

Orlando has become one of the premier meeting destinations in the world, with 1.1 million square feet of exhibit space at the state-of-the-art Orange County Convention Center and more than 1.7 million square feet of exhibit space in area hotels. Combine this with more than 88,000 hotel rooms, 3,700 restaurants, 80 attractions, and unlimited nighttime activities and it is easy to understand why so many meeting planners make Orlando their first choice.

In fact, so many planners have been satisfied with Orlando meetings that 76 percent of them indicated they would re-book Orlando for a meeting within the next three years. Two-thirds of the planners rated the city as an "excellent" site, and a stunning 95 percent have rated Orlando good or excellent.

And the best keeps getting better. Orlando continues to expand, offering meeting planners more options in accommodations, attractions, meeting facilities, and convention services.

Choose from a wide selection of facilities

Is a room with 50 chairs enough, or do you need 1.1 million square feet of floor space? Either way, Orlando can accommodate your needs.

The Orange County Convention Center offers 1.1 million square feet of contiguous exhibit space. The Bob Carr Center for Performing Arts has 2,500 seats. The Orlando Arena, home of the Orlando Magic, seats 17,500. The Expo Centre has 65,000 square feet for multipurpose use. The Tupperware Center, with 23,600 square feet of floor space, offers theater seating for nearly 2,000.

If you were to walk eight blocks from the convention center in any direction, you would pass 7,000 committable rooms. Within a 20-minute drive of the center, there are 20,000 rooms. And the numbers are growing daily.

If you prefer meeting space in an area hotel, Orlando can offer more than 40 facilities where the primary business is to serve the meetings and conventions industry. Some of the newest facilities include the Caribe Royale Resort Suites in Lake Buena Vista, featuring a new 50,000-square-foot convention center. This includes a 26,000-square-foot meeting room and 18 smaller rooms.

The Hotel Royal Plaza, one of the Downtown Disney Resort Area Hotels, has completed a $25 million renovation that added an additional 4,017 square feet in the ballroom.

The DoubleTree Resort Hotel & Conference Center, formerly the Inn at Maingate, is constructing a 25,000-square-foot conference center that can accommodate conferences up to 500 people. The construction is slated for completion in May 1999.

Area attractions always boost attendance

Announce that your next meeting will be in Orlando and you're guaranteed an increase in attendance. That's because Orlando is world-famous for its family activities - the perfect get-away for delegates before or after a meeting. It's also because Orlando offers some of the finest convention hotels in America.

The Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc., (Orlando CVB) realizes that attendance is critical and will help you promote your event. Promotional services include:

* Posters, postcards, stickers, and brochures

* Orlando merchandise like golf shirts, T-shirts, sweatshirts, pins, and bags

* Local media contacts for publicity

* Color slides

* Orlando logos on disk or slicks

* A four-minute video about Orlando in NTSC, PAL, and SEACAM formats

* B-roll footage about Orlando on BETA-SP or BETA-SP PAL

A well-trained staff

The nearly 300 uniformed convention assistants you'll find in Orlando are experienced, knowledgeable professionals who know when and how to lend a helping hand. All are trained to meet even the smallest request on the spot.

Whether you are using a typewriter, word processor, or a sophisticated registration software package, our personnel are trained to ensure efficient registration. Meeting planners have rated the Orlando CVB Convention Services an impressive 4.69 on a 5-point scale measured by our "Orlando CVB'S Meeting Planner Satisfaction Survey." In 1997 alone, the Orlando CVB provided more than 100,000 hours of registration and convention assistance. As a matter of fact, the Orlando CVB is so confident in the abilities of its on-site personnel that if you are not satisfied with them, you do not pay.