Hattiesburg Lake Terrace Convention Center - Meetings, Events and Tourism

Hattiesburg— The Lake Terrace Convention Center and the Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra have been honored by ConventionSouth Magazine with this year’s preferred meeting site and top event awards. The regional magazine spotlighted Lake Terrace Convention Center for its commitment to excellence and customer service. The Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra was also honored by ConventionSouth for this year’s top event, the Atlantis Gala, held at Lake Terrace.

This is Lake Terrace’s third Best of the Best award presented by ConventionSouth magazine. The publication covers a 14-state coverage area and receives thousands of nominations for meeting sites. Only the top vote getters out of over 2,000 meeting sites and CVBs throughout the South received this recognition.

“The value in receiving this recognition is that it comes from the United States’ top meeting planners who book events in the South. These planners demand the highest level of customer service and quality facilities,” said ConventionSouth President and Publisher J. Talty O’Connor. “It is an honor to announce that the Hattiesburg Lake Terrace Convention Center was selected by these planners as one of the best in the South.

“We are honored to be presented this award by ConventionSouth for the third year,” said Andy Stetelman, Chair, Hattiesburg Convention Commission. “To be recognized for the third time with such a prestigious award is a testament to the dedication of the staff at the Lake Terrace Convention Center. We would also like to thank the community for their support of Lake Terrace.”

The Atlantis Gala, presented by the Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, was voted a top event for 2007. The event was a fundraising banquet highlighting the USM Symphony, and featured acrobats and jugglers

“The Atlantis Gala was our first fundraising event on this scale for our symphony and opera. With an elite guest list, unusual and extensive set up with multiple performers, stages, and technical considerations, and installation within a very tight window, the Lake Terrace Convention Center more than exceeded our needs both in the venue capabilities and the excellent staffing,” said Mike Lopinto, Marketing and Educational Outreach Coordinator, Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. “We were delighted to be named ConventionSouth’s Top Event of 2007 and look forward to repeating on an even grander scale on September 18, 2008.”

Nine years ago the Lake Terrace Convention Center opened its doors with the dream of serving South Mississippi’s convention and meeting needs, and after almost a decade the Center has cemented its place in Mississippi’s economy, and in the hearts of convention goers throughout the Southeast. This year Lake Terrace will celebrate its tenth anniversary. Since opening, its role as an economic development tool has continued to expand for Hattiesburg. In 2007, the Lake Terrace Convention Center generated more than $25 million new dollars, which translates to nearly $35 million dollars in economic impact. Since opening in 1998, the Lake Terrace Convention Center has welcomed more than 1.3 million people who have attended conventions, consumer shows, performances and special events and this has introduced more than $125 million new dollars into the local economy. Each year Lake Terrace has seen improvements in event capacity and number of guests.

The Lake Terrace Convention Center is a Hattiesburg Convention Commission Facility. Since 1991, the Hattiesburg Convention Commission has been developing, operating and promoting tourism-related facilities for the Hattiesburg area. For more information, visit www.HattiesburgConventionCommission.com.

ConventionSouth
Contact:
President/Publisher
J. Talty O’Connor
toconnor@coveypubs.com

Lake Terrace Convention Center
Contact:
Leif Munkel, Public Relations
601-296-7419/601-818-3319
lmunkel@hattiesburg.org