The Knoxville Convention Center has nearly 500,000 square feet of exhibit and event space, which can be configured to accommodate groups of all sizes. Meetings, conferences, dinners, shows and other events staged here have the flexibility to transform the space into something magical. Our ballrooms, exhibit hall and event spaces have unlimited potential to become a creative masterpiece.

ALL Convention and Expo Services, ACES, provides our on-site decorating service. These experienced event professionals can help our customers realize this space transformation. A relatively new company under the All Occasions Party Rentals umbrella, ACES has made a significant investment in new equipment, from tables and linens to carpet and drapes, and has full access to All Occasions’ inventory.  They are on-site to help with decorating, lighting and any other special needs they might have.

Last month at the center, we hosted some great events that transformed our ballrooms and exhibit halls in fantastic ways.

In early April, the Regal Entertainment Group management conference transformed the center into a movie hall with fantastic lights, projections and big screens.

A week later, bright splashes of color and original children’s art were used to bring to mind Chicago’s popular song “Color My World.” The band was the headline entertainment for East Tennessee Children’s Hospital’s annual Center Stage fundraiser.

Here are some other brilliant, creative ways our clients have transformed the space for their events:

When the Friends of the Smokies held their annual Evergreen Ball at the Convention Center, they converted the exhibit hall into a majestic East Tennessee mountain landscape during a full moon.

The Knoxville Area Urban League holds its annual gala at the center with stellar entertainment every year, and the stage and table decorations are always so much fun. In 2011, the Urban League brought in the O’Jays!

Fantasy of Trees is an annual holiday event hosted at the center that converts our spacious exhibit hall into winter wonderland! This photo is from 2002, its first year at the Knoxville Convention Center.

The three-day Women Today event is recognized as a top 20 event in the Southeast and as the largest show for women in East Tennessee. Held in our exhibit hall, a house full of exhibitors, trendy fashion shows, cooking demonstrations and informative seminars on three stages makes the space busy and colorful.

We have hosted everything from elegant weddings, proms and formals to dinosaur exhibits, quilt expos and pet shows. And with each event, the center takes on a different personality. Transformable spaces – just the right size filled with unlimited possibilities – that is one of the special features of our Knoxville Convention Center.

Photo Credit: Cynthia Moxley

The Knoxville Convention Center has been host to several faith-filled conferences, conventions and events over the years, from the ordination of Catholic Bishop Joseph Kurtz with nearly 5,000 in attendance to a luncheon with Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Billy Graham, or dinner with inspirational paraplegic and radio personality Joni Eareckson Tada, and many more.

This week, March 22-24, we are happy to welcome the South Central Youth Congress; an event for youth ages 12-17 through the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Nearly 2,000 participants are expected to take part in the weekend’s activities drawing from 145 churches in Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. The annual event rotates throughout the five-state region, and this year Knoxville will reap the benefits.

The conference-wide event features fellowship, seminars, and worship with inspirational pastors such as Dr. Carlton Byrd and Noah Washington. While in Knoxville, conference attendees will also work on service projects planned in conjunction with area churches that will provide a lasting benefit for our community.

The weekend is not all work, however. Plans include a singing competition based on the popular TV show “The Voice.” And the conference culminates with a concert by popular gospel/hip-hop artist J. Moss on Saturday evening.

The group will utilize our versatile center for everything from auditorium presentations and dinners to Zumba classes and even a concert. We truly can accommodate all sorts of activities in a variety of spaces at the center. And the Youth Congress appreciates the nearby lodging at the Holiday Inn Select.

The South Central Youth Conference will soon be making an impact on our community, and we are preparing to show the group a warm Southern welcome.

The Women Today Expo has been going strong for 18 years, and I have to say that I always feel a rush of excitement when we start setting the stage for this three-day event that has grown to become the largest show for women in East Tennessee.

This year’s show is set for March 16-18, 2012, here at the Convention Center. It again offers all the elements that make it appealing to most every woman: exciting exhibitors, trendy fashion shows, cooking demonstrations and informative seminars. Those attending will have the opportunity to be entertained by celebrity guests, enter to win exciting door prizes, and shop a variety of vendors for new products and great ideas for home, work and family.

This year’s celebrity guests include Claire Robinson, Food Network star and host of “5 Ingredient Fix,” and Giuliana Rancic, “E! News” host and co-star of the popular “Fashion Police” team on the E! Network. Robinson will be at the Food City Cooking School stage on Saturday, and Rancic will be at the What Women Want Fashion Stage on Sunday.

A rising star for this year’s Women Today is the new Making the Connection luncheon taking place at the Convention Center. The luncheon is set for Friday, March 16, from noon to 1:30 and features U.S. Cellular President and CEO Mary Dillon, named one of FierceWireless’ “Most Influential Women in Wireless” in 2011. Many of our leading businesswomen and men are taking advantage of this tremendous opportunity to hear Dillon share insights on topics such as leadership, company culture and building a brand.

There’s so much more that I could share, but I’ll leave the rest for you to discover when you experience Women Today Expo yourself.

This weekend at the Knoxville Convention Center we have a great interactive, family-friendly exhibit, “Discover the Dinosaurs.” Step into our exhibit hall, and you’ll be transported 65 million years into the past when dinosaurs ruled the earth. Sixty museum-quality and animatronic dinosaur replicas have taken over the center.

Our exhibit hall has been transformed into a prehistoric playground. An interactive, hands-on exhibit allows families and children to get up-close and personal with the dinosaurs and even touch them. Guests can push buttons to control the dinosaurs’ movements and make them roar! We are so excited to have “Discover the Dinosaurs” here in Knoxville. We first heard about this exhibit from a sister SMG-managed property in Illinois. They told us how interesting, educational and fun it was for families in their area, so we jumped at the chance to bring something this unique to Knoxville.

Discover the Dinosaurs will provide a fabulous adventure for the whole family. With a variety of activities from an actual-sized replica of a T-rex head and educational displays to dinosaur inflatables and an excellent gift shop, there’s something for everyone. Kids can even ride a dinosaur! It has truly never been more fun to learn about dinosaurs.

The exhibit is open Friday from noon until 9 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tickets are available at the door: adults (12 and older) $14; children (2-11) $9; and seniors (65+) $9. Children under 2 are free.

The price of admission includes attractions such as a Dino Dig, Dino Theater, Dino Den, Dino Coloring and a scavenger hunt. For an additional charge, there are also Triceratops and T-rex rides, inflatables, gem and fossil panning, mini-golf and dino face painting.

Step back in time at the Knoxville Convention Center this weekend!

January is going to be a very brisk month for us – and I am not predicting the weather. We started the New Year looking ahead to spring with the annual Premier Bridal Show, bringing in more than 3,500 visitors looking for tips on planning their special day.

On the heels of that event we celebrate 40 Under 40 this week with the Greater Knoxville Business Journal, recognizing the bright, young leaders in our community.

You may notice an unusual number of canine companions in World’s Fair Park in January as the Flushing Spaniels Dog Show comes to Knoxville for the first time.  Members of the American Spaniel Club will compete with breeds such as Cocker Spaniels, Welsh Springer Spaniels, English Cocker Spaniels and Springer Spaniels. This new event will result in 600 room-nights in local hotels and plenty of business for local restaurants as well.

In the middle of the month we will be head over heels for FlipFest, now the The Ozone Invitational. As one of the most successful gymnastic competitions in the country, this event brings in nearly 3,000 gymnasts from 15 different states. Many of these athletes hope to attain Olympic glory in years to come.

And just as everyone is focused on New Year’s resolutions, the Healthy Living Expo provides the information and encouragement visitors need to start off healthy in 2012.

If you are interested in exploring new places in the New Year, the Sertoma Cruise and Travel Show on Jan. 22 will have all the information you need. And if you are in the market for new car, you can see all the makes and models and pick out your favorite at the News Sentinel Auto Show.

The Knoxville Convention Center will be as busy as Santa’s workshop in December during the month of January. With such a variety of shows and events, I hope you will all bundle up and come check out the activities as we kick off a brisk New Year!

We have a lot of excellent employees, so winning this award is not an easy feat.

This year, the announcement came through a creative poem composed by our management team based on “Twas the Night Before Christmas” entitled “Twas the Bright Leader Rewarded.”

The poem gave kudos to all of our team members and finally revealed the qualities of this year’s winner as follows:

The Leader, the winner the one you selected,
Is revered by clients and downright respected.
Friendly and helpful all were repeated
As reasons their peers say they are treated

She stays with her groups from start to end
And always has a hand to lend.
A perfectionist, detailed and quite OCD
As any great catering salesperson should be.

In addition to all of those things you must know
Despite the recession, her numbers grow.
You have all voted, and without question,
Lynn Armstrong’s our winner for two-thousand eleven.

I was happy to present Lynn with this award. She has an amazing focus on details and a strong work ethic. Clients and coworkers alike praise her positive attitude and willingness to go above and beyond to ensure excellence for every event.

Perhaps the most important thing about our Leader of the Year is that she inspires greatness in others.

Lynn came to the Convention Center in 2007 as a catering sales manager and was promoted to senior catering sales manager in 2010. Her nearly 16 years of experience in catering and event planning have definitely been a great benefit for our clients.

I congratulate Lynn on this well-deserved honor and our whole team on another fabulous year of customer service at the Knoxville Convention Center.

We had 55,948 people Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree over this five-day event. While visitors enjoyed the nostalgic 1950s themed decorations, the more than 300 decorated trees, the gingerbread village, traditional carousel, live music, games, activities and of course Santa, they also helped raise money for some important projects at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.

Last year’s event raised $350,000, and ETCH is hoping for a similar result this year. Funds will go toward renovations in the hospital’s MRI suite, pharmacy department and Lifeline transport including a transport incubator to bring ill or premature infants to Children’s intensive care unit from other hospitals.

Every year, new attractions make the event even better. This year the Fantasy of Trees committee offered a Tuesday afternoon pre-sale for decorated trees. People took advantage of this first look and appointments filled up quickly, raising more than $10,000 before the doors officially opened. On-line ticket sales were also a new addition that the public appreciated. Nearly 600 people avoided the ticket lines by purchasing on-line.

For the past few years, Fantasy of Trees has gained permission from the Tennessee Lottery to raffle off a tree. This year over 6,000 tickets were sold for a chance to win the prize tree and gifts donated by Wal-Mart.

The 27th annual Fantasy of Trees was five days of non-stop excitement here at the Center. There was something for everyone from the Kris Kringle Kiddie Party to Santa’s Senior Stroll and performances by regional entertainers from ballet and belly dancing to violin students and show choirs. Though this year’s event has come to an end, it is only the beginning of a festive and busy holiday season at the Center. Our halls are decked and we are in the holiday spirit thanks to the inspiration of our annual Fantasy of Trees.

The spring storms that ripped through Knoxville damaging many homes and businesses caused the ceiling in the Mobile Meals Kitchen to collapse, making their space unusable.

So since July, Executive Chef Chris Moore and his staff here at the Center have been making room in our already busy kitchen for the Mobile Meals kitchen staff to prepare the 1800 meals they provide each day for area homebound seniors.

When the city informed us that CAC was searching for a temporary space to prepare meals, my staff and I put our heads together to see what we could do. We knew sharing space would be tight, but we were not going to let the 1,800 people in our community who count on Mobile Meals go hungry.

We decided we would do whatever it took to make space available for their staff and equipment and help them through this crisis. Since our kitchen was already set up to serve a large number of people, Mobile Meals was actually able to move in that very weekend and continue service without a single missed meal.

But there were some difficult logistics involved. Mobile Meals had to place a refrigerator truck in our loading bay to keep food fresh and we turned meeting rooms into temporary food storage areas. Then once meals were prepared, they had to be shipped to another location for the Mobile Meals carriers to pick them up for distribution.

We soon discovered that the damage to the kitchens at Mobile Meals was so extensive that it will be nearly a year before the service can return to their own space.

So we began working with CAC Executive Director Barbara Kelly and her staff to find another kitchen that would accommodate the service. We found a kitchen large enough right next door on the site of the old convention center. It took a little work to get that facility up and running again, but now they have settled into a space which will work well until they can return to their own facility.

I am so glad we have been able to help Mobile Meals continue to provide this important service during a very difficult time. Being a good community partner is an important part of our mission at the Knoxville Convention Center.

The exhibit hall at the Knoxville Convention Center is bustling with hundreds of busy volunteers preparing for the 27th annual Fantasy of Trees. One of Knoxville’s premier holiday events, this benefit for East Tennessee Children’s Hospital always puts me in the holiday spirit.

It takes three days of non-stop activity to transform the hall into a winter wonderland. Last year we filmed a time lapse video of the transformation. And while it shows the tremendous amount of effort involved, it can’t compare to being in the midst of the set-up.

Volunteers ranging from decorators to school groups are creating more than 300 Christmas trees and hearthside holiday vignettes. Hundreds of gingerbread creations are painstakingly assembled in the snow-covered gingerbread village. There is sparkly bow-tying and snowflakes are flying as this incredible fantasy land is artfully constructed one special section at a time. And there is a great sense of urgency and anticipation to have the magic complete in time for the Opening Night Preview Party.

Many events transform our exhibit hall each year, but this one is truly special. It may be the spirit of the season, it may be the passion for the children served by Children’s Hospital, or it may just be because so many groups in our community are involved in the event. Whatever it is, loading-in days for Fantasy of Trees gets our entire staff humming Jingle Bells.

And from inside the center, I can tell you this year is going to be better than ever. The theme is “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” with décor reflecting holidays of yore. It’s a 1950’s look, with classic cars and vintage decorations reflecting the simple pleasures of the holiday. It’s a great place to shop, visit Santa, get ideas or simply soak in the holiday spirit.

Just like the elves in Santa’s workshop at the North Pole, Children’s Hospital volunteers are busy putting together this year’s Fantasy of Trees. It is going to be a treat you won’t want to miss.

We recently hosted a welcome reception here at the Convention center for the University of Tennessee’s new Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Dave Hart and his wife Pam.

More than 200 community leaders, elected officials and UT fans gathered for this festive event. Event sponsors Pilot, the News Sentinel, First Tennessee Bank and UT Medical Center really made this a special evening. The Harts remarked that they felt truly welcomed.

On behalf of the University of Tennessee, Chancellor Jimmy Cheek presented Dave Hart with a framed Volunteer football jersey honoring him as #1.

Hart joked about meeting one of the UT students while serving as a volunteer Pilot Celebrity Pumper during the recent United Way fundraiser.

“After introducing myself to a UT student at the Pilot on Cumberland and pumping gas for him, the student said to me, ‘Well Mr. Hart, if you don’t win some games soon you have a good start on a second career.”

Good to know he has a sense of humor. But as Chancellor Cheek said, Hart also has a lot of experience winning. He knows what it takes and is committed to creating a “Pat Summitt standard of excellence” throughout the University of Tennessee athletic program. That is a great goal!

He may have played for Alabama, worked at Alabama, and even received two degrees from Alabama, but he is wearing Orange proudly now.

University of Tennessee President Joe DiPietro was there for the welcome, as well as President Emeritus Joe Johnson and interim Athletics Director Joan Cronan. Everyone seemed as pleased as I am with this new member of the Volunteer team.

With this final member of the UT Athletics Department team now in place, I say GO Vols!