Raleigh Convention Center Attracts the “Wow!” and the “Who Knew?”
Raleigh, NC – Approaching the July 4th holiday and the very brief lull in venue activity that comes with it, the Raleigh Convention Center is releasing the latest information on bookings and economic impacts – with a note about the often obscure or unexpected events that are drawn to the City of Oaks.
“I just signed a contract booking the 8th International Soft Matter Conference at the Raleigh Convention Center, and it dawned on me,” says Kerry Painter, director and general manager of the Raleigh Convention + Performing Arts Complex. “I have no idea what soft matter is! We book so many unique, one-of-a-kind events, I am constantly learning something new about what people are passionate about.”
The Triangle’s premiere event venue has been particularly in-demand this fiscal year, with nearly 90% of sellable dates already booked just six months in. From July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023, the Raleigh Convention Center hosted 154 events, 64 of which were in conjunction with the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau. These 64 events generated 100,050 contracted hotel rooms and brought $70.4 million in direct economic impact tied to events associated with overnight visitation.
The Center also announced that more than one million rooms have already been contracted through 2030 and 1.8 million attendees have walked through its doors since 2009. Since opening in FY 2009, the economic impact of the RCC now surpasses three quarters of a billion dollars.
Many bookings are the kind of event one would expect in the state capitol: GalaxyCon, Pendo’s annual companywide kick-off, the NC South Atlantic Fire Rescue Expo.
Others, though, stretch the imagination and the city limits, attracting visitors with unconventional interests and from around the world:
- The 8th International Soft Matter Conference, which brings together researchers in basic and applied sciences to study synthetic and biologically complex materials. Raleigh is one of three cities to host the conference in a three-year span – the other two are Poznan, Poland, and Osaka, Japan.
- The World BioAg World Congress 2024 – an event for sustainable smart farming that “moves across continents every year.” The last host country was Brazil; for their very first visit to the United States, they chose Raleigh.
“North Carolina and Raleigh Durham in particular is the proven ecosystem of ideas, thought leadership and innovations for the BioAgTech segment,” says Roger Tripathi, CEO and founder of Global BioAg Linkages. “North Carolina is geographically well connected for global entrepreneurs and innovators, therefore it is the innovation gateway of the U.S. There could be no better place than Raleigh to share, brainstorm, network and celebrate the BioAg industry.”
- The World Anti-Bullying Forum – a meeting place for researchers, policymakers and practitioners in the work against bullying; the first three Forums were held in Stockholm, Sweden, and Dublin, Ireland.
- The National Academy of Inventors 2024 – an annual gathering of inventors with U.S. patents (and hopefuls!) who drive innovation and creative problem-solving in their fields. Their Annual Meeting has previously been hosted in Houston, D.C., Boston, and the California Institute of Technology.
“With our convenient, engaging location and our technologically nimble facility, the RCC brings the world to Raleigh,” Painter says. “We’re booking sports tournaments and esports tournaments; first-responders and sustainable smart farmers; fans who research their favorite character’s costumes and scientists who research matter, energy and quantum physics.”
(Soft matter, by the way, is a subfield of condensed matter comprising a variety of physical systems that are deformed or structurally altered by thermal or mechanical stress of the magnitude of thermal fluctuations. It includes polymers, gels, foams and biological membranes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_matter)
The data released this week show the extraordinary impact the RCC has on Raleigh and its downtown businesses, but it also points to a challenge: as visitors continue to seek out the Convention Center to host their events, and as word-of-mouth and media coverage continue to boost the city’s popularity, the RCC is running out of room. “Our greatest limitation is space,” Painter explains. “Clearly, people from across the globe want to spend time in our city and spend money with our hotels, restaurants and other businesses. Expanding to meet this demand will allow us to continue our role as a leading economic driver for downtown and Wake County.”