Some business trips are all business. Then there’s Portland, Maine. Put lobster rolls, cobblestone streets, and a working waterfront on the agenda, and your registration email will draw attendees like seagulls to the pier.
Portland packs plenty of meeting power into one refreshingly manageable and charming coastal city. Maine’s largest convention hotel, the renovated Holiday Inn Portland-By the Bay, joins versatile venues throughout Greater Portland. Downtown, hotels, meeting spaces, restaurants, breweries, and the waterfront are close enough that attendees spend less time getting around and more time networking together.
Then there’s what happens when everyone is off the clock.
Charter a schooner across Casco Bay. Go lobstering with the people who actually do it for a living. Head out to Portland Head Light for the obligatory (and entirely worth it) group photo. Make the trip to Freeport and shop at L.L. Bean. Or, claim a table outside and let fresh seafood, craft beer, and an evening in the Old Port handle the rest.
Factor in how easy it is to get to it all—Portland International Jetport is 3 miles from downtown, with nonstop service from major cities—and chances are really good that you and your attendees will make plans to stay a few more days.
That’s the advantage of meeting somewhere that’s at the top of most people’s lists to visit. Portland gives you the venues, accessibility, and support to pull off a great event wrapped up in the quintessential Maine experience that the folks you need to attend can’t resist.
While your meeting may be the reason they came, Portland will be why they sign up so quickly to brag about it to their peers. It’s the Portland, Maine, meeting effect. Try it for your next event.
Start planning at visitportland.com/meetings.
