Don't miss one of Boston's most anticipated culinary events held each year in March and August. Restaurant Week Boston brings together over 200 of Boston's most acclaimed restaurants, from mouthwatering international cuisine to tasty New England fare.
From March 17 to 22 and March 24 to 29, 2013, Boston's best restaurants will be offering delicious prix fixe menus for lunch and/or dinner for an excellent bargain: 2-course lunch for $15.13, 3-course lunch for $20.13, and 3-course dinner for $38.13.
Boston Restaurant Week is presented by the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau (GBCVB) twice every year for two weeks during which residents, visitors and convention attendees can enjoy some of the finest restaurants in the city at discounted prices.
“March is a great time to visit Boston because Restaurant Week can be combined with a Celtics or Bruins game, a concert, a theater performance, or shopping,” said Patrick B. Moscaritolo, President and CEO of the GBCVB. “With so many restaurants to choose from, locals and visitors alike enjoy the exceptional value, variety, and hospitality of Restaurant Week Boston”.
Visitors can go online to view all the restaurants, peruse menus, and make reservations on the official website: BostonUSA.com. They can search by cuisine as well as by neighborhood. For restaurants near the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC), select South Boston/Seaport District from the Neighborhood drop down menu and select Back Bay for restaurants near the Hynes Convention Center. For restaurants’ reviews, visit the Boston Magazine’s website, which scoured the list of participation restaurants to find those with the most appealing menus.
If your attendees miss it this month, Boston Restaurant Week will be back in August!
Since the mid-1990’s, our two Boston convention centers, the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC) and the Hynes Convention Center, have been hosts to unique art exhibits through the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) Art Program. They are among the first convention centers to host rotating painting, photography and sculpture exhibits throughout the year, displaying the works of local artists from across the region.
The MCCA has made support of the local arts community one of its key priorities. Both the work of professional artists and students is displayed, and many pieces are available for sale. Along with showcasing more than 700 local artists in the art galleries, the Boston convention centers have hosted 29 public art receptions and have sold more than $65,000 worth of art.
The art pieces are placed in the walkways and at different locations throughout our facilities so they can easily be discovered and enjoyed by attendees.
This 2 minute video tour with Susan Merritt, Art Consultant for the MCCA, will give you an idea of what your attendees can expect to see when walking around our Boston convention centers!
Are you looking for a specific space to accommodate a specific number of people in a specific configuration? A ballroom for 500 people in banquet style or a meeting room for 150 people in classroom style? There is an easy way to find it in just two clicks of a mouse: go on our AdvantageBOSTON.com website and try our new Space Finder!
We have a Space Finder for each of our two Boston convention centers: the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC) and the Hynes Convention Center.
It’s easy to use! Select the type of room, the seating style and the capacity you are looking for (see screenshot 1. below). You will be given a number of options to choose from (screenshot 2.). Click on the option you are interested in and you will find a fact sheet for this space (screenshot 3.). The fact sheet includes: specifications, features, a Room Location diagram that shows where the room is located in the building (screenshot 4.), a Room Configurations PDF document that shows the room in 3 different seating styles (screenshot 5.) and a photo gallery (screenshot 6). You can also access the room fact sheets by clicking on a space directly on the floor plans (screenshot 1.).
All of the information you are looking for is conveniently located in one place! Try the Space Finder now:
BCEC Space Finder >>
Hynes Space Finder >>
Our AdvantageBOSTON.com website showcases Boston’s two convention centers as well as Boston as a world-class convention destination. Our website offers practical information on our convention centers, a calendar of events, a media gallery, industry news, testimonials, floor plans, an easy way to submit your RFP, an interactive map, and more!
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The Back Bay Hotel in Boston from the Doyle Collection is being purchased by Loews Hotels & Resorts. The acquisition will close by the end of the month.
“Boston is one of the most vibrant markets in the U.S. and an excellent city for a Loews property,” said Jonathan Tisch, Chairman of Loews Hotels & Resorts. “This one-of-a-kind, historic hotel is a unique addition to our growing portfolio.”
Situated on the corner of Berkeley and Stuart Streets, The Back Bay Hotel is one of the Boston’s preeminent historic buildings. Originally constructed in the 1920s as the Boston Police Department Headquarters and occupied as such until the late 1990’s, the property was extensively redeveloped in 2004. This downtown Boston landmark features 225 spacious guestrooms, modern amenities, meeting and event space as well as two dining options: the Irish bar Cuffs and The Stanhope Grille.
The meeting and event space includes five meeting rooms that can accommodate five to one hundred people in a range of set-up styles with state-of-the-art equipment. Each space is named for a famed Irish Author and boasts original Irish artwork featuring Beckett, Joyce, Shaw, Wilde and Yeats.
The hotel is located in the heart of Boston’s historic Back Bay neighborhood and is walking distance to world-class shopping, dining, attractions, and to the Hynes convention center.
Learn more about our Boston hotels and about the great free services that we offer when it comes to building your hotel packages by visiting our website and our blog. You will also find a very handy interactive map that shows where Boston’s convention centers, hotels and venues are located. For information on The Back Bay Hotel, visit the hotel’s website.
In June of last year, the Antiques Roadshow filmed three episodes at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC) and brought along more than 6,000 fans. The first hour of the three-part Boston series aired this past Monday on PBS and the next two are scheduled for Monday, February 4th and Monday, February 11th at 8PM EST.
Local antique owners including the Mayor of Boston flocked to the BCEC to have their items appraised. Inside the convention center, people were waiting in lines holding all sorts of objects: books, lamps, jewelry, a totem poll, a crib, a large sculpture of the White House made of pearls. Lines wrapped around other lines, leading to the expert appraisers. There were about 80 experts who had come from all over the country.
Notable discoveries included a Norman Rockwell collection from a guest who modeled for the artist as a child, an Aldro Hibbard oil painting brought in by Mayor Menino, and no visit to Boston would be complete without a Red Sox World Series team-signed ball valued at $25,000 to $35,000.
Part adventure, part history lesson, and part treasure hunt, Antiques Roadshows marks its 17th season and is watched by almost 10 million viewers each week. Discover some of the great treasures of Boston by watching the 2nd and 3rd episode of the Boston Antiques Roadshow series!
With world class hotels and two state-of-the-art convention centers--the BCEC and the Hynes Convention Center--Boston can accommodate any size event including worldwide television events such as the 2012 presidential election night. Find out about those successful events by clicking here >>
Watch a preview of next week’s Boston episode:
Watch Appraisal: 1734 American Paper Filigree Crest on PBS. See more from Antiques Roadshow.
Watch our video showcasing Boston as a historical and cultural destination, a home for innovators, and a perfect fit for successful events!
Boston area attractions provide your attendees with more compelling things to see and do than any other convention city in North America. From America's history found along the Freedom Trail to world-famous museums, musical institutions, local and international cuisine, and spectator sports like the Red Sox and Patriots, Boston has it all!
Boston also stands out for its history of being home to innovators and revolutionary thinkers and has a long track record of making history—from the beginnings of the American Revolution to the beginnings of the Internet and Facebook.
View more videos of Boston and our Boston convention centers--The Boston Convention & Exhibitors Center and the Hynes Convention Center--by clicking here >>
At PCMA's annual meeting in Orlando, which featured hundreds of educational sessions and thousands of networking opportunities for meeting planners and show organizers, Boston had a special presence since it was there to announce next year’s location for the conference: Boston!
Participants enjoyed stopping by the Boston Pavilion and meeting with representatives of the Boston Team. They were excited to enter the raffle for a chance to win iPads mini, Bose portable speakers, Kindle Fires, or a free registration and hotel stay to next year’s meeting.
Our theme “What Happens in Boston Changes the World” immediately drew the attention. Attendees were interested to learn that Boston has a history of being home to innovators and revolutionary thinkers and has a long track record of making history—from the beginnings of the American Revolution to the beginnings of the Internet and Facebook.
Over 65 Boston Team members, representing the convention centers, CVB, hotel community, venues, DMCs, transportation providers and more participated in Boston's efforts to get PCMA attendees excited about coming to Boston. The team all wore matching colored shirts, with each person wearing a different Boston first or innovation on the back of their shirt. The color of the shirts changed each day, creating a buzz around which color Boston would wear next.
On Monday, January 14, Boston hosted a cocktail reception at ICEBAR Orlando, the largest permanent ice bar in the world. The party was well-attended and guest enjoyed going in the "ICE" room, sitting on the ice throne, and drinking from ice glasses at a bar made completely of ice.
But the highlight of the meeting was the Boston kick-off luncheon on Wednesday, January 16. Guest were greeted by living statues of historic figures. The beautiful room decor included brightly colored linens, oversized balloons, and beautiful lit cube centerpieces with images of Boston landmarks. The presentation kicked off with a flash mob, with the entire Boston team dancing. That led into a trio of professional tap dancers followed by a video that incorporated interviews with Mayor Tom Menino, Cassius Cash, Keith Lockhart, Doc Rivers, Drew Faust and Governor Deval Patrick. After the video, Jim Rooney, Executive Director of the MCCA, and Pat Moscaritolo, President and CEO of the Greater Boston CVB addressed the crowd from a pair of scissor lifts offering their personal invitation to the audience to come to Boston in 2014. The flash mob concluded what was a colorful and festive presentation.
The entire city of Boston will be ready to welcome you for PCMA Convening Leaders 2014! Check our PCMA Boston blog for updates throughout the year.
Boston Pavillion at PCMA Convene Leaders 2013
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Boston Cocktail Reception at ICEBAR |
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Boston Kick-off Luncheon!
One of our Advantage BOSTON ads won the AdStudy Award! The AdStudy Award is given in recognition of
advertising which achieved outstanding readership response in relation to other ads appearing in the same issue.
The AdStudies measure recall, readership and exposure. They are conducted by Signet Research, Inc., a leading provider of ad measurement, editorial readership and audience profile studies. The Signet AdStudies measure thousands of ads yearly and are valuable resource to the publishing and advertising communities.
For this award, Signet surveyed Trade Show Executive magazine’s subscribers. Their response was used to measure recall and readership of ads that appeared in the October 2012 issue of the magazine. The Advantage BOSTON ad scored within the top six ads in the issue.
Advantage BOSTON is the brand of the Boston Convention Marketing Center, a one-stop solution for planning successful events in our great city. We are responsible for the sales and marketing of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and the Hynes Convention Center and represent your single point of contact for RFP submissions, building hotel packages, and planning convention center, hotel and city site visits.
The Boston Convention Marketing Center received another prestigious marketing award in 2012: The NEDMA (New England Direct Marketing Association) Gold Award for B-to-B Campaign Direct Mail!
Visit our website for more information on our services >>
Because we cater to a mobile industry, it was natural for Advantage BOSTON to optimize its website for mobile devices.
Meeting planners and show organizers do business away from their offices and from their large screen desktop on a regular basis. Recent data from MPI’s Future Watch Survey indicates that 80% of meeting professionals use smartphones and other mobile devices in their job.
To respond to a rapidly increasing mobile traffic, we converted our AdvantageBOSTON.com website to a responsive website that has a new interface for tablets and smart phones, making it a lot easier for mobile users to access the full website content. This intelligent site adapts the user interface to the device it’s viewed on. It reacts to the user’s screen size and automatically adjusts the display.
Its single column format for smaller screens makes it finger friendly and easy to read. There is no need to zoom in! The way we organized the different menus makes it very easy to navigate and the images and graphics resize nicely to fit the different screen sizes.
AdvantageBOSTON.com showcases Boston’s two convention centers--the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and the Hynes Convention Center--as well as Boston as a world-class convention destination. Our site offers practical information on our convention centers, a calendar of events, a media gallery, industry news, testimonials, floor plans, a new room finder, an easy way to submit your RFP, and more!
Check out AdvantageBOSTON.com on you tablet and smartphone now!
The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA)’s chief technology officer, Steven Snyder, has been selected as one of Computerworld’s Premier 100 IT Leaders for 2013.
The MCCA owns and operates the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC) and the Hynes Convention Center.
Now in its 14th year, this awards program recognizes top information technology leaders who have displayed exceptional technology leadership in their organizations, fostered ideas and creative work environments, envisioned innovative approaches to business problems and effectively managed IT strategies.
In his nine years with the MCCA, Snyder has led information technology teams and technology development at the BCEC and Hynes. His innovative spirit drove the development of the MCCA’s custom, state-of-the-art event management system, Showbiz, which is used by MCCA employees and their clients to plan and manage events. Thus far, the ShowBiz program--the only one of its kind developed by a convention center--has processed $95 million in business and received innovation awards from both Red Hat and JBoss.
Snyder also led the development of the meetings and conventions industry’s first facility mobile applications, myBCEC and myHynes. The apps can be customized on a show-by-show basis, and are available for iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Android platforms.
“Steve has never been the type of CIO to sit still or be satisfied with the status quo”, said James E. Rooney, executive director of the MCCA. “Steve embraces an entrepreneurial spirit, imbuing his team with the drive to be the most innovative and prepared IT department in the meetings and conventions industry. We’re extremely proud of his accomplishments and lucky to have him on our team.”
The BCEC and Hynes deliver the most advanced technology services of any convention facilities in the world and include state-of-the-art networking, free Wi-Fi, building-wide cell phone coverage, teleconferencing and videoconferencing. Our own staff of certified IT professionals will manage all your technological needs.
Last year, the BCEC celebrated the debut of its new digital outdoor 78 feet tall HD LED Media Tower and indoor 159 feet wide HD LED Video Wall, the first of their kind in the convention and meeting industry. Both displays are expected to become the new standard for how convention centers use digital technology to welcome events. Watch them both in action!
Learn more about the BCEC’s and Hynes’s advanced technology by visiting our website.
Steven Snyder |
myBCEC & myHynes Phone Apps |
BCEC Media Tower |
BCEC Video Wall |