Baltimore Area Convention

Armed with telephones, prospect lists and hot-pink markers, volunteers gathered at the Baltimore Convention Center yesterday to try to replace convention business lost in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks. The sales blitz, which continues today, is aimed at 3,000 East Coast meeting planners, who plan at least five meetings a year, using 100 to 1,000 hotel rooms per night during traditionally slow months. About 45 volunteers from the hospitality industry are expected to make 3,000 calls over the two days on behalf of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association.

Howard County doesn't have the sailing tradition of Annapolis, the boardwalk of Ocean City or the storied battlefields of Gettysburg. But it does have a prime spot between two big cities, a historic downtown, miles of mountain biking trails and plenty of money to lure tourists. Over the past year, county leaders have dramatically increased spending to promote Howard as a convenient destination between Baltimore and Washington, seeking a regional niche to help draw visitors from around the Mid-Atlantic.

An editorial yesterday misidentified the new executive director of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association. He is Carroll Armstrong, not Anthony Armstrong. The editorial also mischaracterized the mayor's relationship with Carroll Armstong. They are not long-time acquaintances, having met just twice before.The Sun regrets the errors.Pub Date: 3/26/96

Carroll Robbins Armstrong, a former president of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, died of pneumonia related to cardiac arrest Dec. 20 at Sinai Hospital. The Village of Cross Keys resident was 65. Born in Baltimore, he was a 1962 Forest Park High School graduate. He then attended the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied trumpet and piano. He also studied at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. Family members said he found his way to Greenwich Village, where he played trumpet and keyboard alongside Miles Davis, Lee Morgan and Jackie McLean.

A preview of the 6th District race for Baltimore City Council that appeared in some Thursday editions did not list some of the public service activities of Stephanie C. Rawlings Blake. She also serves on the boards of the National Aquarium, Maryland Science Center, Living Classrooms, Greater Northwest Community Coalition, Parks and People Foundation and Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association.

Baltimore Jan. 26-30 United States Pony Clubs annual meeting, Renaissance Harborplace, Pratt and Commerce streets. Contact: Peggy Entrekin, 606-254-7669. Estimated attendance: 300 Information The Sun lists selected conventions of general interest or with exhibits open to the public from those provided by the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association. For Washington-area convention information, call 202-789-7000.

BALTIMOREFor more Baltimore convention information, call the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association at (410) 659-7300 within Maryland or (800) 343-3468 outside Maryland.Feb. 7-Feb. 12: No Baltimore-area convention activity has been reported for this period.WASHINGTONFor more Washington-area convention information, call the Washington, D.C. Convention and Visitors Association at (202) 789-7000.* Feb. 7-8: Fertilizer Institute national convention in the J. W. Marriott. Contact: Linda McAbee, (202)

BALTIMOREFor more information, call the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association at (410) 659-7300 or (800) 343-3468.* Feb. 17-19 Black Engineers Awards Conference, Convention Center. Contact: Tracy Brown, Suite 504, 728 E. Pratt St., Baltimore, Md. 21202. Expected attendance: 3,000* Feb. 20-24 American Society for Quality Control, audit conference, Stouffer Harborplace Hotel. Contact: Charles Robinson, AlliedSignal Aerospace, Box 2960, Torrance, Calif. 90509. Expected attendance: 600

BaltimoreJan. 3-6 Northeastern Weed Science Society, annual meeting. Hyatt Regency, 300 Light St.Contact: A. Richard Bonanno, 987- 682-9563. Estimated attendance: 300Jan. 5-7 Mid-Atlantic Nurserymen's Association, trade show. Convention Center, Pratt and Howard streets. Contact: Carville Akehurst, 410-882-5300. Estimated attendance: 8,000InformationSelected conventions of general interest or with public exhibits, as listed by the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association.

These events are scheduled at the Baltimore Convention Center, Howard and Pratt streets: Dec. 8 Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association -- annual meeting. Expected attendance: 250+. Contact number: 410-659-7136. Dec. 10 Hollywood Vibe -- event. Expected attendance: 600+. Contact number: 818-567-2359. Dec. 26-31 General Youth Conference -- Expected attendance: 4,000+. Contact number: 703-908-0707.

For more than two decades, thousands of engineers, scientists and mathematicians have come to Baltimore for the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference - an annual economic infusion for the city's hotels and restaurants. It was an event the city's tourism industry could count on year after year, in its peak bringing in as many as 9,000 people and nearly $10 million in spending during the slow winter season. But conference organizers, lured by perks and incentives, plan to move the conference in February 2011 to Washington, when it will celebrate its 25th anniversary.

The president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP says it looks as if the city is a good bet to host the civil rights organization's national convention in 2012, which happens to be the 100th anniversary of the local branch. "It looks favorable," Marvin L. "Doc" Cheatham said Wednesday, a day after he, Mayor Sheila Dixon and representatives of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association and the Baltimore Convention Center made a 20-minute pitch to an NAACP panel considering proposals for that year's gathering.

Baltimore will be host for global trade shows The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association has booked a global trade show for travel planners that will generate an estimated $15 million in spending and 50,000 hotel room night bookings over five years, the convention agency said yesterday. The Americas Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition, which will hold its inaugural event in Baltimore from June 29 to July 1, 2010, and each summer through 2014, is expected to bring 3,000 attendees annually and boost the city's reputation as an international convention destination, BACVA said.

It's a promising start: 451,608 room nights in Baltimore hotels booked through 2017, business attributed in large part to that shiny new convention center hotel at the corner of Pratt and Paca streets. That's the assessment of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, which booked the hotel stays during a 12-month period that ended June 30. They should improve Baltimore's bottom line. Not only do these room nights translate into convention center business and companion stays at other area hotels, but robust bookings at the 757-room Hilton Baltimore should make good on city development officials' promise that the city-owned hotel could pay for itself.

With the opening of Baltimore's $301 million convention headquarters hotel a month away, city convention officials said yesterday they have booked a record number of convention room nights for future years. The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association said it booked 451,608 room nights in city hotels through 2017 during the fiscal year that ended June 30, an 18 percent jump over last year's bookings. The number beat the goal of 400,000 room nights - an achievement BACVA officials credited to the new Hilton Baltimore, a city-owned, 757-room convention headquarters hotel on West Pratt Street set to open next month.

You really couldn't ask for a better kickoff weekend to the Dew Tour than this one. Baltimore played host to the Panasonic Open, the second straight year the tour's first stop came here, and fans flocked to the Camden Yards Sports Complex on a sunny weekend. And it looks as if they will have a chance to flock there again next year. The Maryland Stadium Authority signed two one-year contracts with the Dew Tour for 2008 and 2009. Having the Dew Tour return next year is contingent on the Orioles' schedule, but it appears the Panasonic Open is here to stay.

The city should build a new arena in downtown Baltimore - probably on the site of the present one - and it should be large enough to accommodate an NHL or NBA franchise, major concerts and conventions. The men and women looking into this should take a serum against small-think and never-think. Baltimore deserves an arena that serves a future of big possibilities. I don't know if any member of the Baltimore Development Corp.'s arena advisory panel is under 35 years of age, but if not, it would be a good idea to add one or two who are - some young, future-minded, civic-minded sharpies who care about the emerging Baltimore.