Sister City of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico Official Visit

Meet Minneapolis coordinated the visit of a 10-person delegation from our Sister City of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico from October 27 - November 3. Cuernavaca, which has been a Sister City since 2008, is one of 12 Sister Cities programs that our team manages the on behalf of the City of Minneapolis.

We welcomed a delegation of 10 members – including Cuernavaca’s mayor, city officials and Emiliano Zapata's grandson Mr. Manuel Manrique Zapata – to Minneapolis. Emiliano Zapata was a historical figure of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and a leader in the Mexican Revolution. He was native of the state of Morelos where Cuernavaca is located.

The week-long visit included meetings with Mayor Frey, Minneapolis City Council, Minneapolis Foundation, and Lake Street business owners, along with meetings regarding public health initiatives, youth-violence prevention, fire fighter training, and more.

One of the highlights was when the City of Minneapolis donated two fire trucks, equipment and fire training to the City of Cuernavaca. A basic premise of the Sister City program, which was founded by president Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, is to unite citizen diplomats from around the world in order to promote mutual respect, understanding and cooperation. This gift of life-saving fire equipment is a shining example of this.

We’d like to thank the many organizations who made this exchange possible including Minneapolis-Cuernavaca Sister City Association, Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, Greater MSP, and Mercado Central. And special thanks to City Council Member and Meet Minneapolis board member Alondra Cano for helping to bring this delegation to our city and organizing many of the activities. Additional thanks to Susan Smoluchowski, and the team at the MSP Film Society, for including the delegation in their week of Cine Latino events and presenting a documentary film on Emiliano Zapata at the Weisman Art Museum to a full house.

Washington, D.C., Sales Blitz

Stephanie Grimaldi, Meet Minneapolis’ Director of Convention Sales, took the lead on a weeklong set of activities focused on generating and sustaining ongoing interest in Minneapolis among Washington, D.C.-area meeting and event planners.

The highlight of the week was a Prince-themed event that brought together three different individuals who worked with Prince, in different capacities, over the years. These individuals were part of a panel discussion where they shared their unique insights and interactions with Prince to two dozen highly qualified meeting and event planner guests. It is through unique events, like this, that Meet Minneapolis can distinguish our city from others in a very competitive marketplace.

Some of the other key highlights of the week in Washington, D.C., included:

• Conducting group sales appointments/presentations to five associations for future, citywide business that would utilize the Minneapolis Convention Center
• Hosting 14 members of Experient, a leading third-party meeting planning and execution company
• Providing a detailed presentation to Conference Managers, a third party that represents 20 associations. Some of their client associations have had events in Minneapolis and several others are currently considering us
• Interacting with over 140 association meeting planners at Professional Convention Management Association’s (PCMA) Capital Chapter’s largest yearly event

In each of these examples, we relied heavily on the support of a diverse cross section of our public, private and civic partner organizations. Without their assistance, we would not be able to undertake the breadth of work that we do on behalf of our community.

Thank you to the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, Hilton Minneapolis and the Millennium Hotel Minneapolis for joining the Meet Minneapolis team for this week of intense sales and marketing initiatives. In addition, we offer our special thanks to Hyatt Regency general manager Mark Bastis and Hilton Minneapolis general manager Ken Jarka for their active participation during a very busy week.

Finally, I hope you’ll join me in thanking all of our partners, and our team at Meet Minneapolis, for continuing to elevate our profile as a major leisure and convention destination.