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Features

Greater Dayton Hospitality Community Wins Bid To Host WGI Through 2014

The Dayton/Montgomery County Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) is pleased to announce that the Greater Dayton area hospitality community has successfully won the bid to host the Winter Guard International Sport of the Arts (WGI) World Championships through 2014. In addition, WGI has committed to keeping their world headquarters in Dayton/Montgomery County through 2014.

The Dayton/Montgomery County CVB in conjunction with representatives from Montgomery County Economic Development, area event facilities, and the Greene County CVB presented an enticing proposal to the WGI Board to stay in the Greater Dayton Area through 2014. The Dayton/Montgomery County CVB has been advised that WGI has elected to stay in the Greater Dayton area through 2014.

"This is excellent news for the Greater Dayton area hotels/motels and restaurants, the event facilities--U.D. Arena, the Dayton Convention Center, the Trent Arena, Nutter Center---and the community as a whole" states Jacquelyn Y. Powell, President/CEO of the Dayton/Montgomery County CVB. "Each April the WGI Color Guard and Percussion World Championship events collectively bring nearly 40,000 spectators as well as nearly 12,000 participant/performers (over both weekends--roughly 25,000 for Color Guard and approximately 15,000 for Percussion) to our community generating a significant positive economic impact. Youth from as far away as Japan have competed."

"Montgomery County is extremely pleased and proud that the Greater Dayton area has won the bid to host the WGI headquarters and the prestigious WGI World Championships through 2014. We value the positive nature of these youth competitions, the positive exposure of our community to thousands of out-of-town visitors, and the positive economic impact these events have on our County and the region" states Montgomery County Commissioner Judy Dodge

WGI Sport of the Arts, a not-for-profit youth organization, leads winter guard and indoor percussion activities. It is called the Sport of the Arts because it brings music to life through performance in a competitive format. The mission of WGI Sport of the Arts is to foster positive experiences for all who participate, by promoting education, creativity and freedom of expression through the unification of pageantry and the performing arts. The 2008 World Championships will mark the 22nd year out of 31 years of competition that the event has been hosted in Dayton.

CVB Honors 7 Community Ambassador Award Winners

Seven outstanding meeting planners/individuals were honored at the Dayton/Montgomery County Convention & Visitors Bureau's 16th Annual Community Ambassador Awards Breakfast held at The Mandalay Banquet Center. "It was a privilege to recognize these individuals at our Awards Breakfast and present each winner with a leather flight jacket from Dayton, the Birthplace of Aviation, as a token of our appreciation for the positive economic impact their events have on our community" stated Jacquelyn Y. Powell, President/CEO of the Dayton/Montgomery County Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Emcees for the event were Jacquelyn Y. Powell and Dale Huffman, columnist for the Dayton Daily News. Guest speakers included Montgomery County Commissioners Dodge, Foley and Lieberman, Dayton City Commissioner Dean Lovelace, a Representative Hines from U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown's office, and CVB Board Chair Debbie Watts.

The annual Awards Breakfast gives the Dayton/Montgomery County Convention & Visitors Bureau and the community an opportunity to publicly say "thank you" to some of the many meeting planners who select Dayton/Montgomery County over other cities as the site for their convention or special event. Nearly 125 winners have been honored by the Bureau since the Award's inception in 1992. "We invite the entire community to join us as we recognize these Ambassadors. The variety of groups the Ambassadors represent demonstrates all that our area has to offer as a site for conventions, sports tournaments, group meetings and special events," adds Powell.

The 2007 winners were:

• Matt Anderson, Ohio District Council of the Assemblies of God--Youth Department, Fine Arts Festival
• Chris Cree, National Scrabble Association Players Championship
• Wendee Debusk, National Warbird Operator Conference
• Jeffrey Elmore, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Ohio District Conference
• Jeff Hills, Cincinnati Flames Baseball Tournament
• Susan Monnin, Monster's Making It Count National Speaker Training
• Thomas Ritchie, Ohio, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Convention

The Dayton/Montgomery County Convention & Visitors Bureau would like to thank the following event and special sponsors: AAA Miami Valley; Benefits Network Insurance Agency Inc.; CODE Credit Union, Country Inn & Suites, Dayton Airport Hotel, Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, Dayton Convention Center, Dayton Marriott, Domino's Pizza, General Motors Moraine Assembly; Holiday Inn Dayton Mall, Holiday Inn Dayton North, Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Dayton South, Merrill Lynch the O'Neal, Gagel, Davis, McGlone Group, Mike-sell's Potato Chip Company, National Aviation Heritage Area; Red Roof Inns, TourneyCentral; and Thomas Graphics.

Dayton Convention Center Renovations Completed

The Dayton Convention Center has completed a $2.5 million renovation project. The remodeling which focused primarily on the exterior of the building has provided a bright, clean, attractive state-of-the-art look appropriate for the variety of conventions, meetings, and events the 150,000 square foot facility hosts each year. A large and colorful digital display sign located at the corner of Fifth and Main Streets provides scrolling announcements of upcoming events and activities. Another significant difference is the stainless steel structure in the front of the building. According to the architect E Lynn App, "The main entry is punctuated by a new multi-layer cone-shaped form. This element is composed of pre-finished perforated metal and stainless steel fabric mesh. This feature will change in appearance depending on available light."

The Dayton Convention Center offers 77,000 square feet of uninterrupted exhibit space capable of hosting 300 10x10' exhibit booths, 22 meeting rooms and a 672-seat full stage theatre. The Convention Center is connected by a skywalk to the 283 room Crowne Plaza Hotel and the City of Dayton Transportation Center covered parking garage. Aramark, an international company based in Philadelphia specializing in catering services for public assembly facilities, is the exclusive caterer in the Dayton Convention Center.

The CVB equally works to market the Dayton Convention Center and all Dayton/Montgomery County facilities and venues as preferred sites for conventions, meetings, events and sports tournaments. For assistance with your next meeting or event in Dayton/Montgomery County contact the Dayton/Montgomery County Convention & Visitors Bureau at 937-226-8211.

President's Corner

The Dayton/Montgomery County Convention & Visitors Bureau is aggressively focused on marketing Montgomery County as a premiere site for conventions, meetings, reunions, group tours, business and leisure travel, and sporting events. Our goal is to bring visitors and outside dollars into the community thereby enhancing the overall vitality of our local economy and in turn our quality of life here in Montgomery County. A considerable amount of our time and resources are spent pursuing sporting event business because it generates significant hotel room usage and brings large numbers of people into the community. Dayton/Montgomery County has had notable success with and an excellent track record hosting large soccer tournaments. Each Memorial Day weekend we host the adidas Warrior Soccer Classic Tournament, and each Labor Day weekend we host the Mead CUSA Cup Tournament. Each of these youth soccer tournaments bring over 20,000 people into the community.

Recently the Dayton/Montgomery County Convention & Visitors Bureau (D/MCCVB) in partnership with the Greene County Convention &Visitors Bureau (GCCVB), Jim Martella, Executive Director of Ohio South Youth Soccer Association (OSYSA), and Kate Huffman, President of OSYSA and Miami Valley Youth Soccer Association (MVYSA) made a formal bid presentation in Lexington, Kentucky to the USYS National Organization detailing the advantages of holding the June 2010 USYS Midwest Regional Championships in the Greater Dayton Area. And, I am excited to report that the Greater Dayton region was selected as the host site for the June 2010 tournament.

The USYS Midwest Regional Championships encompass 14 youth soccer state associations. The 2010 tournament will bring nearly 10,000 people to the area and generate an estimated economic impact of $3,750,000. Approximately 212 teams ranging in age from 13 to 19 for both boys' and girls' divisions will compete in the 2010 tournament. The event was last in our region in 1998.

According to Kate Huffman, "It was easy to present the Greater Dayton area as the prime location for the 2010 US Youth Soccer Midwest Regional Championships. Our area has outstanding soccer fields and the necessary resources to host a tournament of this caliber."

Jim Martella, stated that "our primary competition was Appleton, Wisconsin, and the Dayton group felt confident that Greater Dayton was the preferred tournament site. The beautiful John Ankeney Soccer Complex has 20 fields and is a perfect consolidated host site for this tournament. Tournament competitors will find that the hotels and motels in the region are an excellent match for their needs and within an easy drive to the soccer fields."

As President/CEO of the Dayton/Montgomery County Convention & Visitors Bureau I can say that it is a real honor to have won this competitive bid to host this prestigious soccer tournament.

Jacquelyn Y. Powell

Fast Facts/News

• CONGRATULATIONS to The Sleep Inn and Suites, Centerville! This property was awarded with Choice Hotels' Platinum Award for Excellence at its fall meeting held in Indianapolis. The award is presented to the top two Choice hotels in the country. Criteria for the award include management effectiveness, operations, guest services, housekeeping, cleanliness and guest satisfaction surveys. Since this award the property just recently changed flags to a Country Inn & Suites.
• CONGRATULATIONS to the Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites, Dayton Centerville! The hotel has been presented with InterContinental Hotels Group's2007 Torchbearer Award at the 2007 IHG Americas Investors and Leadership Conference recently held in Dallas. The Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites Dayton Centerville is one of 69 properties selected form IHG's system of more than 3,800 hotels for achieving the highest levels of excellence in all aspects of operation from quality to customer satisfaction.
• Dayton Marriott has won an Ohio award and is up for a national award--call Marriott for specifics.

On The Road

Here's a sampling of where Bureau staff has recently been and is headed in our ongoing attempt to bring business to Dayton/Montgomery County:

January
Professional Conference Managers Association	Seattle, Washington
Travel Events and Management in Sports	Louisville, KY
February
Religious Conference Managemetn Association	Orlando, Florida
Destination Management Association International Destination Showcase National	Washington D.C.

Help Us Welcome These Groups!

Following are some of the larger meetings and conventions coming to Dayton/Montgomery County during the next few months:

Contact the Dayton/Montgomery County Convention & Visitors Bureau today to learn how the CVB can save you time and money by providing complimentary assistance to bring your next social or business group's event to Dayton, The Birthplace of Aviation!