IF YOU SPEND much time in the heart of Indy, you can almost gauge the seasons simply via people watching near the Indiana Convention Center. In the springtime, downtown becomes a smoke show of mustachioed firefighters in safety gear during FDIC International’s annual training week. When summer reaches peak heat, a veritable parade of cosplayers flocks to Gen Con for a weekend of board games, role-play, and author panels. Autumn ushers in a wave of agriculturally inclined teens in blue corduroy coats emblematic of the National FFA Convention & Expo. And in winter, even the most frigid temps can’t cool the spirit and enthusiasm of bow-bedecked cheerleaders competing in JAMfest Cheer Super Nationals—those squads flip for our climate-controlled skywalks and tunnels. In between, the convention center hosts an array of groups ranging from trial lawyers to hose distributors. How does the Circle City so deftly accommodate its diverse roster of events? Our cover feature explores our success as a top-tier meeting site capable of hosting assemblies with 70,000-plus attendees. We take readers on a tour of the convention circuit, revisit the rise of downtown attractions, and gather perspectives from visitors to piece together the winning combination.
While convening in our fair city, conference-goers would be remiss to not carve out a little extra time for sightseeing at Conner Prairie’s newly revamped Museum Experience Center, which reopened its doors in April. And no trip to Indy would be complete without visiting the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Michael Good, president of the IMS Museum—which underwent its own multimillion dollar transformation last year—explains the lure and lore of the famed 2.5-mile oval that hosts hundreds of thousands of spectators annually.
