Orlando’s vast collection of distinctive meeting venues deliver a bounty of options for planners to create unique group events whether they are coming to the destination for the first or tenth time. (SeaWorld® Orlando’s Sharks Underwater Grill pictured).
Sure, a conventional meeting venue or setting can check off all the boxes for meeting planners preparing for their next event, whether it’s an executive board meeting, employee team building activity or a client reception.
However, why go conventional when you can include immersive natural settings, a touch of cultural elegance, or a tech-infused experience? Let’s look at Orlando as we reveal unparalleled meeting opportunities that will make your next conventional meeting, well, unconventional.
Discover: Why Smart Planners Choose Orlando
Include Mother Nature on the Invite List
Mother Nature is always available to immerse attendees in a world of animal encounters and beautiful, lush landscapes, as she can be found in venues across Orlando. At SeaWorld® Orlando’s Sharks Underwater Grill, attendees will dine next to several species of sharks while across the street at Discovery Cove®, they can network on white sand beaches with bottlenose dolphins nearby or feed and learn about flamingoes during the exclusive Flamingo Mingle experience. At Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park, your group can take a guided tour on Kilimanjaro Safaris, a 100-acre African Savanna where they will observe free-roaming lions, rhinos, elephants, giraffes and more.
To add natural beauty and tranquility to your meeting, have your attendees explore Harry P. Leu Gardens, part of the Audubon Park Garden District minutes from downtown Orlando. It features 50 acres of beautiful, cultivated gardens with over 40 diverse plant collections from around the world, including a tropical rainforest, Florida’s largest formal rose garden and an amazing butterfly garden.
If you are looking to add even more adventures to your agenda, Orlando’s lakes, natural springs and bike trails present a perfect backdrop for any group outing. Airboat rides — including Boggy Creek Airboat Adventures, Spirit of the Swamp Airboat Rides and Wild Florida — plus kayaking, fishing and swimming with manatees are just a few of your choices when exploring outdoor experiences to get your group back to nature.
Discover: Orlando Ecotourism
Cultural Settings to Foster Creative Thinking
The fine arts provide a means for creative expression. Hold your meeting or event at one of the cultural venues in Orlando and tap into this creativity. In downtown Orlando, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts offers a multitude of indoor and outdoor settings including its brand-new Steinmetz Hall. Opened in January 2022, the latter stages a range of performances by local, national and international artists that will surely inspire your group. The hall is also available to host groups whether it’s a reception, banquet or theater-style meeting.
Located in Loch Haven Cultural Park near downtown, The Mennello Museum of American Art is housed in what was once the private home of Howard Phillips, son of local philanthropist Dr. P. Phillips. This cultural gem features several charming spots for special events, including the Earl Cunningham Gallery for gatherings up to 30, or the Porch, with bucolic views of the sculpture garden, accommodating groups with 50 or more guests.
Discover: Arts and Culture for Business Groups
Innovative Settings to Bolster Innovative Thinking
Meeting professionals have long been attracted to Orlando’s innovative business climate — a prime example of which can be seen in downtown Orlando’s Creative Village. This urban innovation District is full of creative workspaces and home to several high-tech, digital media and creative companies including Electronic Arts (EA) Tiburon.
In Orlando’s Lake Nona neighborhood, the Guidewell Innovation Center is a 92,000-square-foot facility designed to support the community’s medical partners — but its state-of-the-art office and laboratory space also serves as an innovative function venue for groups of any kind, particularly those engaged in medical and scientific pursuits.
Innovation can also be thrilling and found in world-class attractions throughout Orlando. Groups at EPCOT® can save the universe on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, a new storytelling coaster that rotates 360 degrees to focus on the action and includes the first reverse launch on a Disney coaster. On Test Track riders can design and “drive” their own SIM Car while passengers on Living with the Land can witness innovative growing techniques.
Over at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Florida’s east coast, about an hour from Orlando, you can surround groups of all sizes with the innovation that led us into space. Your guests will walk and dine under magnificent spacecraft like the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the massive, 363-foot Saturn V. They can also enjoy an evening among giants in the famous Rocket Garden or be inspired by a real veteran NASA astronaut.
Discover: Innovative Technologies in Orlando
These are but some of the many unforgettable experiences awaiting business groups of all sizes in Orlando — where anything is possible if your organization can imagine it. What will your group imagine next?
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