Our Story Tells Itself

I am in Washington, DC, to convince national groups to bring their conventions and business meetings to our great city. I am traveling with the CVC’s Kim Tucci and Carole Moody. Our plan is to take advantage of D.C.’s rich concentration of professional and trade associations to make a series of sales pitches to bring their national conventions to St. Louis.

I have been talking to the meeting planners about the renaissance of Downtown, our wonderful convention headquarters hotel, the region’s great attractions, and the ease of holding a convention here. The reaction, so far, has been overwhelmingly positive.

Being the mayor from the city with a league-leading baseball team visiting the city with the ball club currently holding the wild card meant I had expected some special attention to what I had to say about hotels, restaurants, and other amenities in St. Louis. I’d also anticipated some frank curiosity about St. Louis weather in September. And I am getting it.

What I was surprised to find, however, was the level of knowledge among meeting planners and association officials about things like Forest Park’s restoration, the City Museum’s secret caves, the St. Louis Symphony’s new music director, the popularity of downtown’s lofts, and the architecture of the Pulitzer Foundation.

Our story is telling itself.