Major Conferences, Meetings and Events Fill Pasadena Facilities

The city of Pasadena is a destination for much more than just big parades and football games. Along with its scenic streets, world-class art collections, celebrated landmarks, historic neighborhoods and an endless assortment of exciting places to eat, shop and be entertained, Pasadena has become a vital destination city for meetings, conventions and special events.

That reputation continues to grow, with the addition of the Great Minds in STEM Conference that will fill the Pasadena Convention Center and occupy more than 4,000 hotel room nights throughout the city from Oct. 13-18, 2015.

Great Minds in STEM is the gateway for Hispanics in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Established in 1989, as the Hispanic Engineers National Achievement Awards Conference, the event has expanded to include other STEM fields.

The non-profit organization focuses on STEM educational awareness programs for students from kindergarten to career, providing resources for recognition and recruitment of Hispanics in STEM on a national level, connecting multi-areas of engineering and science arenas to the general population. The Hispanic Engineers National Achievement Awards Conference was last held in Pasadena in 2004.

“We’re delighted to welcome the Great Minds in STEM Conference, which has doubled in size and is an ideal fit for our facilities and our city,” said Michael Ross, chief executive officer of the Pasadena Convention and Visitors Bureau. “This and other new upcoming events have a wide level of interest and will attract visitors to Pasadena, boosting local tourism and our city’s economy by filling hotel rooms, restaurants and stores,” Ross said.

With accommodations to host up to 2,500 guests each day at city venues ranging from quiet inns to five-star convention hotels, including 1,500 that are within close walking distance, Pasadena is drawing the interest of more trade and industry conferences and meetings, along with numerous public events.

For example, the American Phytopathological Society, the premier society dedicated to high-quality, innovative plant pathology research, will hold its 2015 annual meeting in Pasadena, booking more than 3,300 hotel room nights in the city from July 31-Aug. 6, 2015. More than 1,500 participants will engage in symposia and discussion sessions, present research results, view hundreds of technical posters, attend special events and learn about new products and services.

The American Choral Directors Association will hold its 2016 Western Division Conference at the Pasadena Convention Center in February 2016. Traditional choral performances will take place in the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and throughout Pasadena. More than 1,000 people are expected to attend the conference, which organizers estimate will fill more than 2,300 hotel room nights.

More than 1,200 rooms are expected to be filled from Sept. 18-21, 2015, when the Garden Writers Association holds its 2015 annual symposium in Pasadena. The organization provides professionals in the gardening communications field with career development and education opportunities.

The California Association of School Business Officials will call Pasadena home in April 2016 for the organization’s 2016 Annual Conference for professional development in all K-14 business disciplines. Hotel occupancy for the conference is expected to exceed 1,350 room nights.

“We’re seeing more and more interesting and impactful meetings, conferences and special events like these choose the Pasadena Convention Center or the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, and we look forward to many other exciting new events that will be coming to Pasadena in the near future,” Ross said.

The expanded Gold LEED-Certified Pasadena Convention Center features a 55,000-square-foot exhibit hall (expandable to 80,000 square feet), 25,000-square-foot ballroom, 29 meeting rooms, 3,000-seat Civic Auditorium, and 22,000-square-foot outdoor plaza.

Five major Pasadena hotels also offer additional event space. The Langham Huntington has more than 33,000 square feet of restored meeting space, which includes the 11,220-square-foot Langham Ballroom. The Clara Vista Executive Retreat is a 1930s-era Spanish mansion, which is ideal for intimate meetings.

The Westin Pasadena offers 26,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 2,200-square-foot meeting room on the hotel’s plaza level. The Pasadena Hilton features 28,000 square feet of meeting space, while the Sheraton Pasadena Hotel has 14 meeting and banquet rooms with more than 12,000 square feet of space.

In addition to traditional meeting and event venues, Pasadena also offers a seemingly endless collection of other unique sites for meetings and special events, ranging from spectacular gardens and stately educational institutions to museums and theatres. The city’s abundance of dining, shopping, cultural and entertainment options, all conveniently located near the Pasadena Convention Center, make Pasadena a desirable destination for event planners.

The Pasadena Convention and Visitors Bureau is a non-profit marketing organization dedicated to promoting Pasadena as a desirable meeting, convention and leisure travel destination. For more information and assistance in planning meetings and special events in Pasadena, contact the Pasadena Convention and Visitors Bureau at (800) 307-7977.