DAYTONA BEACH

With the completion of a $76 million expansion of the Ocean Center Convention Complex, the Daytona Beach area is ready to roll out the red carpet for your meeting group. Completed at the end of 2008, this highly anticipated expansion of the convention complex added 100,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space and 30,000 sq. ft. of new meeting space, nearly tripling its size.

In addition to the Ocean Center, the area offers an array of other unique meeting facilities including the world-famous Daytona International Speedway/Daytona 500 Experience; the News-Journal Center in downtown Daytona Beach; the historic oceanfront Bandshell and Oceanfront Park; the Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center; Peabody Auditorium; and the area's most famous asset - the beach.

Home to approximately 13,000 hotel rooms, groups meeting in the Daytona Beach area will find accommodations to fit any budget, along with the recognizable brand names you have come to trust, including Hilton, Wyndham, and Marriott.

The Daytona Beach area is a great place for work and play. The area's legendary 23 miles of sparkling beaches are perfect for castle building, cycling, jogging, fishing or just relaxing in the sun. A popular golf destination, the area is home to several championship greens that make it an ideal spot for year-round golfing fun.

Unique shopping and dining spots can be found along Beach Street in historic downtown Daytona Beach and along Granada Boulevard in Ormond Beach. The area's newest shopping, dining and entertainment complex, Ocean Walk Shoppes at Ocean Walk Village is the perfect place for fun. Enjoy the 10-cinema theater complex, restaurants and plenty of apparel and gift stores all just steps away from the Atlantic Ocean.

New resort spas also await visitors. The area's newest, Terra Acqua Day Spa at the Daytona Beach Resort & Conference Center, joins The Spa at the Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort, Indulge at The Shores Resort & Spa, the Vacation Therapy Spa at Ocean Walk Resort and Ocean Waters Spa at The Plaza Resort & Spa in offering visitors a complete respite that rejuvenates the mind, body and spirit.

Daytona Beach is also rich with an African-American history that encompasses several of the twentieth century's most prolific leaders. The seaside city is home to several African-American heritage sites that are listed on the National Historic Register, including the former homes of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of Bethune-Cookman University, and famed theologian, Dr. Howard Thurman, who created, taught and wrote of a climate of action-oriented nonviolence that was later inherited and institutionalized by the Civil Rights Movement. Also listed on the National Historic Register is Jackie Robinson Ballpark in downtown Daytona Beach, where in 1946, baseball icon Jackie Robinson broke the "color barrier" in U.S. professional sports by playing in the first racially integrated baseball game in modern Major League Baseball history.

To plan your next reunion, meeting or convention in the Daytona Beach area contact:

Sally Gardiner, Director of Convention Sales
Daytona Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau
126 East Orange Ave., Daytona Beach, FL 32114
(800) 544-0415 ext. 129
Fax: (386) 255-5478
sgardiner@daytonabeachcvb.org
www.daytonabeach.com

FLORIDA'S EMERALD COAST

Florida's Emerald Coast - famous for 24 miles of dazzling, sugar-white sands and brilliant emerald-green waters - is recognized as one of the South's most attractive meeting places for all types of gatherings. From regional events to conferences of Fortune 500 companies, the Emerald Coast - voted the "Best Beach Town in the South" for 14 years in a row by the readers of Southern Living - has something for everyone, from golfing on 1,080 holes of vibrant greens and fishing the clear blue waters of the "World's Luckiest Fishing Village" to browsing at Destin Commons - a premier outdoor lifestyle center - and dining in more than 300 easy-going eateries that are simple in atmosphere, yet spiced with character, serve to-die-for dishes and offer southern hospitality.

Located on Okaloosa Island, the Emerald Coast Conference Center has made Destin o Fort Walton Beach o Okaloosa Island a meeting mecca with 70,000 total sq. ft. of meeting space. The Conference Center features 35,000 sq. ft. of flexible meeting space within a short "flip-flop" stroll of the Gulf of Mexico and directly overlooks Choctawhatchee Bay. A complement to the current lodging facilities with meeting space throughout South Okaloosa County, the Conference Center showcases 12 breakout meeting rooms ranging in size from 450 to 1,800 sq. ft. including the 21,500-sq. ft. Emerald Grand Ballroom. Architectural design allows for theater, banquet, classroom and reception hall style seating.

For ease of booking, the Emerald Coast website - www.destin-fwb.com - offers planners information "at-their-fingertips" on the conference center including fast facts, floor plans, pricing and capacity charts, center guidelines, event calendars and an online request for proposal.

For meetings with free time, Destin o Fort Walton Beach o Okaloosa Island present simple pleasures such as the "World's Luckiest Fishing Village," spirited seaside celebrations, 1,080 holes of challenging golf and undeniably fresh seafood - all embraced with an assuming charm. The "World's Luckiest Fishing Village" offers a fish-filled experience complete with deep-sea and inshore fishing excursions, lessons from "old salts" who know the Gulf waters like the back of their hands. Bonding during team-building charters on the open ocean encourages the creation of long-lasting tales.

Acclaimed for its sporting collection of great golf escapes, the area touts the most holes of golf on Florida's Gulf Coast with an incredible 1,080 holes. The courses, created by such world-renowned architects as Finger, Dye and Fazio, utilize surrounding waters - bay, bayou, gulf and sound - and natural contrasts of woods and wetlands for scenic, yet challenging oppositions.

Surprisingly, Destin o Fort Walton Beach o Okaloosa Island accommodations provide priceless meeting locations without the price. More than 15,900 Gulf-edged rooms are available including popular hotels, spacious condominiums, a bed and breakfast inn, beach cottages and five-bedroom bungalows. The Okaloosa Regional Airport offers continuous service by five major airlines. Ground travel is easy along primary feeders: Highway 98, Highways 331 and 85 and Interstate 10.

To book a meeting, visit www.destin-fwb.com or call the Emerald Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc. at (800) 322-3319 or (850) 651-7131.


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