San Diego Convention Center Corporation staff and their hotel partners joined in volunteering at Experient’s favorite children’s charities during the holiday season as a way of thanking Experient staff for the tremendous meetings and convention business they bring to San Diego. Experient is a leading provider of integrated meeting and event services and a valued client and partner of the SDCCC.

This first-ever joint holiday project took place during the SDCCC’s annual client meeting trips to four U.S. cities where Experient offices are located – Denver, St. Louis, Twinsburg, Ohio and Boston.

While the more traditional goals of these trips are to introduce the Convention Center’s hotel partners, provide a destination update and encourage future bookings in San Diego, this invitation to volunteer seemed like a wonderful way for the San Diego team to express its gratitude for the outstanding client services Experient provides and further strengthen our partnership with them. More importantly, these voluntary activities reminded everyone of the importance of reaching out and helping others in need, especially children, during the holidays.

The non-profit organizations chosen by Experient staff in each city included:

• Children’s Hospital, Denver. The San Diego team participated in the Experient and the PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association) Rocky Mountain Chapter-sponsored arts and crafts project in the hospital lobby to spread holiday cheer amongst young patients and their siblings.
• Cradles to Crayons, Boston. The San Diego and Experient teams inspected, sorted and packed essential items, including clothing, shoes, books and toys for poor and homeless children from birth to pre-teen at the Cradles to Crayons warehouse in Boston.
• Hugs for Kids, St. Louis. Hugs for Kids trained the San Diego and Experient teams how to make 20 fleece blankets for young patients at St. Louis Children’s Hospitals.
• Haven of Rest Ministries, Twinsburg, Ohio. The Haven of Rest Ministries provides shelter, food, clothing and counseling to needy adults and children. The Experient and San Diego teams assisted with special food preparation.

The San Diego hotels that participated in the client meetings and volunteer projects with Experient included the Hilton San Diego Convention Center, which is slated to open in fall 2008, the newly opened Hard Rock San Diego, the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina, the Manchester Grand Hyatt, the Omni San Diego, the Hilton Gaslamp, the Sofia and Humphreys Half Moon Inn, representing the Shelter Island Group.