In the events biz, it's common knowledge that two of the biggest U.S. destinations for meetings and conventions are Las Vegas and Orlando—and one hospitality professional is set to have sold them both. Lisa Messina, chief sales officer for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, announced she will leave Sin City after 15 years (including four and a half with Caesars Entertainment) to lead meeting and convention sales for Visit Orlando.
The Florida DMO says Messina joins its ranks at "a crucial time," with the Orange County Convention Center set to embark on an expansion project to its North-South Building. The project involves the new Convention Way Grand Concourse, which will feature an additional 60,000 square feet of meeting space and an 80,000-square-foot ballroom, along with a new entry to the North-South Building along Convention Way.
"Her rich experience in leading high-performing teams, focus on driving results, passion for the industry, and alignment with our company culture are exactly what our organization and destination need right now for this critical role," said Visit Orlando President and CEO Casandra Matej in a press release.
Messina officially starts her new gig on Aug. 19. Below, we caught up with her at Destinations International's Annual Convention about her move to Orlando, the impact she hopes to have there, and more.
What drew you to Orlando?
It's a little surreal to leave Las Vegas after 15 years, but I'm very excited. What drew me to Orlando is they are the No. 1 visited destination in North America. There are a lot of parallels between Las Vegas and Orlando. They are the theme park capital of the world. They are the meetings capital of the world. And they continue to develop and innovate to draw tourism in from the leisure and business sectors. So I'm really excited to be a part of that.How do you hope to impact the Orlando meeting and event industry?
Orlando has always been a formidable competitor for Las Vegas—similar convention center campuses, similar hotel packages, similar off-premise venues and entertainment that attracts the convention attendee. So that'll be very interesting because we've competed for so long.
Universal Helios Grand Hotel will be one of multiple hotels part of the Epic Universe development. The 500-room property will have a dedicated entrance into the theme park.Rendering: Courtesy of Universal Orlando
But what I'm really excited about is that there's a lot of development going on with the expansion of the convention center in Orange County. Universal is also building Epic Universe, which is a new entertainment and theme park, and it'll be the first one that's within walking distance of the convention center campus. They're developing three hotels with that.
And there'll be a complete reimagination of all of the restaurants at Icon Park, which sits off the convention center campus. So what I'll be able to do is take their new storytelling and share it with the customer base that drives trade shows and conventions—and share why Orlando and why now.
What will you miss most about Las Vegas?
It is the formidable convention capital of the world. I was in the midst of the renovations that were happening in North and Central Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center, so I'm really excited for the Las Vegas customer to see what's to come—not just at the building, but all of the assets that surround it.It's been home for 15 years. What I'm going to miss most is the people, the relationships, and the friendships that I've developed over time. The community is just so strong. We have such strong relationships that sell the destination together. But I understand that this is going to be the case in Orlando as well. So I'm looking forward to building new friendships and relationships and making Orlando home.
What's your favorite thing to do in Orlando so far?
As a hospitality and tourism geek, it's exciting to know that one of the assets we get to represent is Disney. And not just because of the theme park—I have a lot of childhood memories of going there with my family and my grandparents—but Disney from a business standpoint. It has the Disney Institute, its leadership institute, things of this nature. It's this way to curate fun and business development all at one time. I'm looking forward to that.When you look back at your career, what have you learned about what attendees want in a meeting destination that you didn't know when you started in this business?
I think about how I choose what events I'm going to attend and travel to. The business value has to be there. Am I going to achieve my business objectives when I go? In addition to that, I like to think about the destination I'm going to—is it new to me? Is there something I'm going to learn? Is there something I'm going to experience? I think that all meeting attendees take that same approach. What am I going to accomplish from a business standpoint that's worth my time to travel to this event?I tend to think about it the same way. I would say I learned to ask myself: How do I help the meeting organizer translate that need of the meeting or convention attendee to how they get their key stakeholders and decision-makers to approve certain destinations that they may not think are great business destinations?
They might think that there are distractions—and I would say Las Vegas and Orlando both have dealt with this—where meeting organizers or trade show organizers worry about, 'Are you going to be in the ballroom? Are you going to be on the trade show floor? I don't want to go somewhere that's so exciting that I lose them, right?' It's taking the needs of the organizer, matching them with the needs of the attendee, and creating a win-win so that they can still get what they're trying to accomplish with them on the trade show floor and in the meeting ballroom, but then people walk away with really cool experiences and activations, and they say, 'Wow, I'm so glad I went to that meeting in Orlando.'
This interview has been edited and condensed.
