By Astrid Zeppenfeld
Meetings, expos, conferences, trade shows, dance competitions… You name the event you are planning, and St. Charles Convention Center has you covered. Having opened its doors in April 2005, this large venue with 154,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space has over 20 years of experience to help you make your business gathering a true success.
Conveniently located right off I-70, immediately after crossing the picturesque Missouri River into St. Charles if you are heading west from the city of St. Louis, the convention center has meeting and event planners from all around the Midwest vying for available venue openings among the more than 159 events held there every year.
Recent Improvement of the Already Vibrant Ambiance
Last August, a new lighting system was installed throughout the venue, featuring 54 new 4000LM tunable white fixtures for adaptable brightness and color temperature, 34 new 3000LM archi-color white + RGB fixtures for dynamic, color-changing capabilities, and 19 new 3000LM corridor fixtures to enhance visibility and ambiance. Paradigm controls from Electronic Theater Controls allow for seamless and precise lighting management.
Julie Davinroy, CMP, Director of Sales and Marketing at St. Charles Convention Center, specifies, “It really enhances the space. People can have a meeting in that room now, versus it just be a banquet or a trade show, so we feel it really helps that quality. It also has colored lighting around the perimeter, so for special or VIP events, we can do special effects and things of that nature, too.”
Enhanced Security for Your EventBut not only the lighting system received an upgrade last year. Davinroy continues, “We also had a new security system installed, which interfaces with the St. Charles City Police Department. So, if there is something that they see that’s maybe flagged or of interest, it actually goes directly to their security system.”
Not that the security detail at this venue doesn’t receive rigorous safety training. Peter Aftayev, Security Manager at St. Charles Convention Center, declares, “We ask the Police Department to come help us out, especially at high-profile events in case anything serious happens. We can help to some extent and take care of things, but it’s always nice to have police presence on the premises.”
Aftayev elaborates, “Everyone on our security team is first-responder certified, which includes AED, CPR, and standard first aid training. That way, if anyone gets injured at an event, we are able to provide services until the medics get here. Everyone on the staff is trained in hazardous materials awareness and certified as a Trained Crowd Manager. What that means is that, if we have an emergency come up—fire alarm, severe weather, tornado, things like that—our guys know what to do and everybody gets on it quickly to ensure the safety of everyone in the building.”
And unfortunately, these days, meeting and event planners everywhere have to take into consideration the—albeit remote—possibility of an active shooter at their event, so Aftayev makes sure all staff at St. Charles Convention Center receives intruder and active shooter training from the St. Charles Police Department.
Pamela Fichter, Eastern Region Chairman of Missouri Right to Life and Chairman of the Annual Gala Dinner, couldn’t agree more. She explains, “Our annual gala dinner is the most important fundraiser for our statewide organization. We have been having our dinners at the St. Charles Convention Center for several years, and our experience there has been wonderful. We find that the entire staff at the convention center is really focused on serving our needs and making our event a success. Because of the nature of our organization, we sometimes attract a few protesters, and the St. Charles Convention Center security team has been excellent about recognizing the rights of other people but also protecting the safety of our guests, making the event a pleasurable experience every step of the way. Their entire team meets with our committee to discuss each event and how they can help make it the best one yet, and part of that is that they provide a space for those people who want to protest—and they have a right to do that on public property—but they make sure that the space doesn’t interfere with our event and the comfort of our guests.”
Fichter goes on to say, “In addition to all of that, the staff at St. Charles Convention Center sometimes even helps us through things we don’t even know about. Things like having the excellent audio/visual equipment and the best presentation, the best arrangement, they work with us on preparing for the event—they’re just very, very accommodating.”
Security That Extends Beyond Personal Safety
Food safety is taken just as seriously as personal safety at this venue. “If we do have deliveries come in the morning, our officers will get them in and into the right place, which means that food will be refrigerated and stored in the right places. All of those areas are in locked areas, and then we will notify food and beverage services,” Aftayev explains.
And the food service at St. Charles Convention Center is as amazing as every other service the venue offers! Fichter concedes, “You know, it’s difficult to serve a great meal to 1,000 people.” Her organization also holds other functions at this venue, one of which included 1,600 attendees. Fichter explains, “That particular event was very challenging because we had to expand the space that we had planned on using, and the staff really worked with us to give us the space we needed for an event that turned out to be much larger than what was anticipated. They’re just excellent! I would tell other meeting and event planners who are considering the St. Charles Convention Center for an event to book early because they do fill up, and I would give them my wholehearted recommendation.”
Exceptional Service
Amber Parker, Workforce Advancement Officer at AGC of Missouri, mentions the AEC Tech Con (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Technology Conference) with over 500 vendors and attendees, which her company hosts at the St. Charles Convention Center every year. “They have been awesome to work with, and they accommodate us at all costs,” Parker explains. She goes on to say, “This year, for the first time, we also utilized the venue for our safety banquet, and everybody loved the food and the service. Last year, one of my vendors told me that out of all the many conferences he has done over the last ten years, the food at the St. Charles Convention Center is the best that he’s ever had.”
As far as safety and security at the venue goes, Parker echoes other meeting and event planners’ sentiment, “Our vendors at the technology conference bring in equipment that’s worth tens of thousands of dollars. Our conference runs for two days, and it all gets locked down safely at night. They have security guards patrolling at night, they have security guards there during the day. So I never have a problem or feel unsafe at all.”
MEET
Astrid Zeppenfeld is MEET magazines’ Senior Editor from St. Louis.
