Orange County Convention Center

There's always stuff going on in Orlando, probably too much to cover in our podcast.

A couple of major things is a $560 million Grand Concourse expansion at the Orange County Convention Center, and also 100,000 square feet of new meeting space at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin.

I guess they're a couple of the biggest things, but why don't you fill our audience in on what's going on there, Cassandra?

Well, it's so good to see you.

And that is very important to us.

But we want to make sure that we're always advancing and really looking at our infrastructure and what is going to be that next level.

And so, as you mentioned, we are investing over $560 million in the Orange County Convention Center.

which is really completing the north south side of the building.

And now they are leading the volunteer team that is putting Orlando's ideas on one stage.

This year's event happened Saturday, October 17th at the Orange County Convention Center with 13 speakers chosen from more than 630 applicants.

The theme is called The Space Between, and it's all about the gaps between people, ideas, perspectives, and what becomes possible when we step into them.

As a TEDx partner, I have had a front row seat to what this team is building, and I wanted you to hear the story behind it.

Exactly.

Exactly.

So it's being held at the Chapin Theater, which is located at the Orange County Convention Center.

Plenty of parking.

The International Fresh Produce Association is hosting its major annual event.

More than 20,000 professionals from 50 countries are expected at the Orange County Convention Center starting on October 14th.

The three-day event will focus on supply chain logistics, new retail technologies, and sustainable packaging innovations.

Well, Farm Journal's Christina Herrick, who is also the host of the Packer podcast, recently spoke with Samantha Ayoub.

What do you call it? Uh...

Yeah, it was in the North Concourse.

It was one of the little breakout lobby areas inside the North Concourse, or, you know, north side of the North South Concourse.

For the last two years actually, they've, it's been very successful.

And now they brought it into the West Concourse so there's a little bit more space.

It doesn't have to be in their booth.

It could be at the member lounge, it could be at one of those outposts and other lounges.

It could be in the, you know, on a seat in the north concourse.

So anyway, I think one of the things that is important also to think about is when you're talking to some of these vendors, because yes, this was the case here at IAPA Expo in London.

But it's going to be a record number of attendees and vendors at IAAP Expo in Orlando coming up as well because of the expansion into the West Concourse at the Orange County Convention Center.

And so it's also important for these technology providers to... have measurable operating outcomes, and a credible post-installation roadmap.

So what does this mean? This means how is my platform or my product going to continually be updated to be fresh, have fresh new content, depending on what it is, to keep guests coming back over and over and more engaged in that particular product so that I'm not buying something that just stays static and stays the same and I have to end up replacing it wholesale in just a few years.

Everybody calls it iDrive.

So the Orange County Convention Center is on International Drive, and that's where you want to find your hotels.

The cool thing about the hotels all the way up and down I-Drive is there is a trolley system that runs between pretty much all of the hotels or very close to the end of your hotel that you can grab the trolley for free and takes you right to the convention center.

So there's several that are right within walking distance of the convention center.

I miss...

I kinda, I kinda miss the Orange County Convention Center.

I don't.

Uh, first time-