If your host city feels like an interchangeable backdrop, your attendees will treat your conference like an interchangeable event.
Members don’t travel just for content they could catch in a webinar; they travel for context, community, and energy.
That’s where the Richmond Region brings something different to the table, with the meeting infrastructure associations need and the culture, neighborhoods, people, and experiences that make attendees want to get out and explore. Richmond Region Tourism (RRT) works across seven localities to connect planners with the businesses, venues, community partners, and local experiences that can turn a meeting into something members remember.
The history is certainly part of that story, but so are the people, ideas, cultures, and experiences continuing to shape the Richmond Region today.
Take the Meeting Beyond the Meeting
In June 2026, the Richmond Region welcomed TBEX North America, the North American conference of Travel Blog Exchange, a global community that brings together travel content creators, destination organizations, and travel brands for education, networking, and destination experiences.
More than 400 attendees from 25 countries gathered at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. What made TBEX especially relevant for association executives, however, was what happened outside the formal conference program.
RRT worked with partners across the region to make the destination part of the experience. More than 20 pre-conference tours and 20-plus additional experiences connected attendees with local businesses, neighborhoods, Black history and culture, food, arts, the James River, and other highlights of the area. Some were structured experiences, while others gave attendees flexibility to explore around their conference schedules.
For associations, that approach can serve a much bigger purpose than filling free time on an agenda. It can create another reason to register, provide natural opportunities for members to build relationships, and add value to the in-person experience that can’t be replicated through virtual education alone.
TBEX CEO Rick Calvert saw that value firsthand. In a post-event letter to RRT, he credited the team with understanding both the value of the event and the “long-term opportunity” it could create. He noted, “The experiences you helped create inspired hundreds of pieces of content, stories, videos, photography, social posts, and conversations that will continue to reach travelers for months and years to come.”
For your association, the output may look different, but the opportunity is similar: Create an experience with value that continues after members go home.
Make the Community Part of the Content
That same partnership carried into how attendees experienced the conference itself. For TBEX, RRT developed PreBEX experiences that allowed attendees to explore the Richmond Region in meaningful ways, while accessible travel became an important part of the programming.
Calvert, TBEX’s CEO, noted the numerous comments the organization received from attendees and sponsors following its opening keynote on accessible tourism and their positive response to the Richmond Region’s commitment to an often-overlooked group of travelers. He called it the best accessible travel programming TBEX had ever presented.
That kind of intentionality matters for associations working to create meetings where more members feel considered and included. It also shows what can happen when the destination becomes part of the meeting strategy rather than simply the place where the meeting happens.
Throughout TBEX, the Richmond Region helped bring that idea to life. Local businesses and venues became settings for connection. Arts, culture, and history gave attendees different ways to experience the community. Evening events showcased what Calvert described as the region’s “energy, creativity, history, and hospitality,” while outdoor and destination experiences gave attendees opportunities to connect beyond the traditional conference environment.
The point wasn’t to pack more activities into the agenda. It was to make more of the time attendees were already spending together.
Connect Your Association to the Richmond Region
The Richmond Region has also seen what can happen when an association’s purpose naturally connects with the community.
When one industry association brought its annual conference to the
Richmond Region, RRT brought local cideries into the effort to win the meeting. Businesses wrote letters sharing why they wanted their industry’s annual gathering to come to the Richmond Region.
The resulting sold-out conference welcomed 805 attendees representing 36 states and Washington, D.C., with 37 workshops across eight educational tracks. The local cider community wasn’t simply near the conference. It helped make the Richmond Region a natural fit for an association and members deeply connected to the cider industry.
That same approach can work for associations across a wide range of industries. Depending on the organization, RRT can help connect members with local businesses, universities, entrepreneurs, cultural organizations, industry leaders, or community groups that complement the association’s mission. Those relationships can support education, networking, service projects, and member engagement in ways that feel natural to the meeting rather than added onto it.
RRT’s reach across seven localities expands what those connections can look like. Members can move from meeting spaces to museums and murals, restaurants and neighborhoods, trails and outdoor experiences. The James River even offers Class III and IV whitewater in an urban setting, one of the unexpected experiences that can quickly change what attendees think they know about the Richmond Region.
Create Value That Travels Home
Ultimately, a strong host destination can help a meeting create value that lasts beyond its closing session. The connections members make, the experiences they share, and even the approaches an association tests on-site can influence future programming, partnerships, and member engagement.
The Richmond Region has a track record of changing expectations. Visitor research found that roughly half of previous visitors rated their perception of the Richmond Region as excellent or very good before visiting. After experiencing the destination, that number climbed to 82 percent. People may arrive knowing the history, but once they’re here, they discover the food, Black culture and entrepreneurship, contemporary arts, neighborhoods, outdoor experiences, and people continuing to shape the Richmond Region.
Calvert perhaps summed it up best after TBEX: “Richmond did far more than host TBEX.”
That’s the opportunity for associations, too. A meeting in the Richmond Region doesn’t have to simply happen here. It can create stronger connections, introduce members to something unexpected, and give the organization something valuable to carry forward long after everyone heads home.
The post What If Your Host Destination Could Do More for Your Members? appeared first on Associations Now.
