Formerly with destination marketing organizations for Puerto Rico and Myrtle Beach, the new head of Explore St. Louis sets his sights on growing meetings business in America’s heartland. In this Q&A with Meetings Today, Dean details the latest in St. Louis.
Meetings Today: Is this the first time working with a landlocked destination?
Brad Dean (laughs): First time I haven't had a beach to promote. But now I have a culinary garden, and I’m pretty excited about it.
Meetings Today: Excuse me—what?
Dean: There’s an addition to America’s Center called the “culinary garden.” It's actually a small farm in downtown St. Louis that, over time, will produce tons of food. The horticulturalists are beginning to grow the food, but the plan is to disperse that product throughout the convention center’s menu. The garden supports and affirms the importance of sustainable meetings but is also a great tie-in to farm-to-table and the evolving culinary scene throughout St. Louis.
Meetings Today: What else is new about St. Louis’ culinary scene?
Dean: St. Louis has had seven James Beard nominations, so that’s pretty interesting. For diversity, the City Foundry opened up in 2021. That's a really innovative food hall, and it's just close enough to downtown that conventioneers can get to it easily.
How’s the rest of the convention center expansion coming along?
Dean: We've added 75,000 square feet more exhibit space in use right now, but we still have other parts of the expansion opening in phases. The expansion has moved us forward in terms of space and the ability to layer conventions. We are now the 17th-largest center in the country.
Meetings Today: What’s America’s Center’s typical market?
Dean: St. Louis is a tier-two city that delivers a compelling combination of affordability, accessibility and attendee experience. We do great with associations, church groups and state-based groups. Now we're seeing the benefits of ag tech and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency industry, which is beginning to grow and thrive in downtown St Louis.
Before I arrived, the team noted a rising demand for subject matter expertise. With 37 colleges and universities here, there is a deep talent pool of highly educated professionals in technology, healthcare, biosciences, agriculture, tech and engineering. So, the team developed a local speakers bureau to help meeting planners tap into this expertise, which is reinforcing St. Louis as a smart, forward-thinking choice for meetings and conventions.
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