Saint Paul Rivercentre Convention And Visitors Authority

Marketing serves to elevate awareness of Saint Paul as A premier Convention and leisure destination through effective public relations and comprehensive advertising/marketing efforts. The department coordinates advertising, promotions, publications, website, social media, and public and media relations programs for all departments. Marketing accomplished the following in 2022: ran A digital campaign in q3 to welcome Visitors back to Saint Paul, resulting in over 1.8 million impressions, A 47% increase in visitor guide requests and A 42% increase in new users to visitsaintpaul.com. Distributed 3 consumer marketing emails and grew subscriber list by 6%. Launched A new website at visitsaintpaul.com. Maintained visit Saint pauls website, social media and insider's blog. Yoy website traffic increased 21%. Worked with brand agency to refine and formalize visit Saint Paul brand guidelines to be released in 2023.produced A new visitor guide for distribution in 2023.

Membership is responsible for providing member value to partner businesses by facilitating connections with Visitors to Saint Paul for meetings, events and leisure travel, in addition to providing industry-wide networking and events. Membership accomplished the following in 2022: planned 12 member events serving 611 attendees, including bi-monthly myvsp meetings, google business profile training, 4 national travel & tourism week events and A city bus tour. Partner dues were resumed after being suspended in 2020 and flexible billing in 2021. Membership was over 214 (an increase of more than 33% from 2021). Introduced website advertising for partners through destination signals. Strategic marketing efforts for member inclusion in marketing materials such as blog content, website, e-mail marketing social media communications, and more. Launched the local lover vip pass in q4 connecting local businesses with Visitors through A savings passport, and onboarded 402 users.

Rivercentre welcomed the following annual conventions in 2022: marrch chemical health conference, mn transportation conference, and image trend connect conference. Rivercentre continued to host annual meetings, conferences and tradeshows including: Minnesota dental star of the north meeting, allen d. leman swine conference, education Minnesota - Minnesota educator academy, northstar fashion exhibitors, northwest shoe travelers buying market, leading age Minnesota institute & expo, continuing legal education family law institute and employment law institute, naca st Paul, mn petroleum marketers association Convention & tradeshow, vizient's captis conference, clifton larsen allen's leap conference, faces & voices of recovery conference, and the national veterinary scholars symposium. In addition, many banquets, galas and benefits hosted their events in Rivercentre including: sanneh foundation gala4goals, 50th anniversary us hockey hall of fame induction celebration, 125th anniversary of gillette children's specialty healthcare, friends of the st Paul public library opus & olives gala, Saint Paul police foundation blue nite gala, federated challenge supporting big brothers big sisters, noche de colores, crescent cove home plate gala, high school soccer tournament banquets, Minnesota state high school volleyball, soccer, hockey, lacrosse, and gymnastics banquet, hunt electric holiday party, and winter carnival coronation. We also enjoyed working with our annual public events: land o' lakes kennel club dog show, saintly city cat show, twin cities bridal show, let's play hockey expo, donnie smith bike show & swap meet, Minnesota bridal & wedding expo, modest premium automotive showcase, twin cities in motion health & fitness expo, american craft made, show me reptile show, hmong new year, and the Saint Paul ice fishing and winter sports show. In addition, we hosted Minnesota roller derby practices, five months of Minnesota covid-19 saliva testing, and ten different dance competitions, and twelve uscis and us district court naturalization ceremonies.

The Convention and sport sales department works with national and local meeting and event planners to bring their events to the Saint Paul rivercentre/xcel energy center and hotel community. The goal of the department is to bring new dollars into the local business community which is measured by economic impact. Some examples of clients we worked with in 2022 are the Minnesota dental association, allen d. lehman, leading age and the nchc collegiate hockey tournament which are annual pieces of business that have returned after covid. In addition, we hosted several new groups such as the latvian song & dance festival and national co+op grocers.