Event planner Barb Beurkens of Gordon Food Service spoke with Experience Grand Rapids about what she likes in a venue.
As events manager for Gordon
Food Service http://www.gfs.com/en in
Grand Rapids, Barb Beurkens holds eight private trade shows a year each
attracting up to 10,000 foodservice professionals. The company’s market area
spans 30 states primarily east of the Mississippi – from Michigan down to
Florida.
A 31-year veteran in the industry, she knows what she likes,
and she likes Michigan.
“The Midwestern hospitality and Midwestern work ethic make
Michigan meetings so much easier from a meeting planner’s perspective,” Beurkens
said. “It’s like night and day. The concept of service is very different here.
I think it’s head and shoulders above other places where we’ve done events.”
Beurkens is fortunate enough to hold two trade shows in
Michigan, one at the Suburban Collection
Showcase http://suburbancollectionshowplace.com/
in Novi and the other in her own backyard, DeVos
Place http://devosplace.org/ in Grand
Rapids. She finds excellent service at both venues, but she admits to being prejudiced
toward her hometown.
“I really can tell you with all honesty that I wish I could
take the Grand Rapids building and their staff with us and plunk them down all
over the country,” Beurkens said. “It is truly a beautiful facility that is
orchestrated by a team of professionals second to none.”
The people she works with in Grand Rapids are “very service
minded,” she said. “They’re absolutely thrilled to help and their attitude
almost always is: The answer is yes; now what is the question?”
The city also has a lot to offer when trying to meet the
growing desire for outside activities during an event, she said.
“I think people today are so busy that they need to combine great
experiences with everything that they do,” she said. “A city that offers
interesting off-site opportunities has an advantage because it allows the
meeting planner to sell the ‘whole experience’ to potential attendees.”
Grand Rapids area offers events at the Van Andel Arena http://vanandelarena.com/
and performance halls http://www.experiencegr.com/things-to-do/art-antiques/theatre/
as well as museums a wide array of downtown festivities throughout the year,
“and you can’t beat our restaurants,” she said.
In 2009, Gordon Food Service met with serendipity when the
ultimate outside experience launched at the same time as the company’s annual
trade show in Grand Rapids.
“ArtPrize http://www.artprize.org/ and our fall food
show overlap,” Beurkens said. “So our customers who attend our fall show now
have this wonderful bonus of being able to explore downtown Grand Rapids and
view all the ArtPrize exhibits.
“That’s just such a gift,” she said. “It’s wonderful.”
