Meetings Today LIVE! Corporate/Incentive Makes a Fiery Bahamas Debut

 

Meetings Today LIVE! Corporate/Incentive gave attendees a peek at paradise October 27-30 in The Bahamas, and during one-on-one appointments with planners, two words kept coming up to describe the event: “intimate” and “relaxed.”  

The perfect Meetings Today LIVE! incentive event combines both seamlessly, giving planners the opportunity to meet face-to-face with some of the top suppliers in the incentives sector and pairing the business experience with a myriad of activities offered at our host property, Atlantis Paradise Island.  

At Meetings Today LIVE! events, there’s always time for work and play. Here’s how our attendees experienced both during Meetings Today LIVE! Corporate/Incentive on Paradise Island.

Opening Reception

Meetings Today LIVE! Corporate/Incentive came in HOT at Atlantis Paradise Island with an opening night welcome reception on the 600-acre property’s Royal Deck, where the iconic Royal Bridge Suite, which has hosted celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jackson, stood as the focal point of the view from our dinner tables.  

The Royal Deck is just one of Atlantis Paradise Island’s outdoor group venues, which total 300,000 square feet and serve as an ideal option for evening gatherings and dinners that allow groups to enjoy the island’s year-round perfect weather as the sun sets.  

Dinner came with a show, of course, that gave attendees a taste of Bahamian culture and included a fire dancer twirling flaming batons, an impressive limbo demonstration and a grand finale performance full of color featuring traditional Bahamian Junkanoo music and costumes.  

If there’s one thing any incentive event should prioritize right now, it’s destination experience. Incentive qualifiers are increasingly prioritizing authentic local experiences that showcase a destination’s culture, as reported in this year’s Incentive Travel Index (ITI) results, and by partnering with the Nassau and Paradise Island Promotion Board, Meetings Today was able to ensure our incentive event delivered not only something memorable, but something truly representative of the Bahamas.

[Related: What Lies Ahead: SITE and IRF Release Results From 2024 Incentive Travel Index]

Planners also got to tour the iconic Atlantis Paradise Bahamas, a 25-year-old resort property that’s topped travelers’ bucket lists since it opened. Attendees were hosted in the Royal, the property’s centerpiece hotel featuring the newly transformed East and West Towers that drew inspiration in design from its location on Paradise Island.

Additional brands on the property include The Reef, offering an elevated lifestyle experience and the upscale amenities of residential-style suites, and The Cove, a luxury boutique property with adults-only amenities.  

Atlantis Paradise Island also features more than 500,000 square feet of meetings and events space, including the 50,000-square-foot Imperial Ballroom, with space for up to 4,000; the 24,804-square-foot Grand Ballroom, which is divisible into seven smaller rooms and served as our venue for one-on-one appointments; and Cove Beach, an exclusive setting boasting views of the turquoise Bahamian waters.  

During the event, Meetings Today’s Taylor Smith, content developer, destinations and features, had the opportunity to chat with two representatives from our host property, Andrew Newbauer, account director, and Ted Adderley, VP of sales, to learn more about what’s new at Atlantis Paradise Island, what they’re seeing in the incentive market and why Atlantis Paradise Island is the perfect place to host your next incentive event.

Day One

Meetings Today LIVE! Corporate/Incentive attendees were up with the sun on day one of our event to grab a quick bite at Casa D’Angelo before heading to an informative, and quite fun, education session led by  Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) CEO Annette Gregg.  

Gregg’s presentation dove into data from this year’s ITI, which was released during IMEX America earlier in October and points to an exciting year ahead for the incentives sector. Budgets are increasing to keep up with inflation, and while some planners are finding it necessary to cut back on spending in certain areas, overall, the outlook remains positive. (Read more about highlights from this year’s ITI now!)  

Following our first morning of one-on-one appointments, planners departed for Margaritaville Beach Resort, conveniently located on the harbor front steps away from historic Bay Street and the popular Straw Market.

The property features two towers with 155 oceanfront rooms, including 12 suites, all with balconies overlooking the water, as well as 40,000 square feet of meeting space. Adjacent to the resort tower at Margaritaville Beach Resort is One Particular Harbor, offering an elevated residential lifestyle experience with Caribbean-chic decor.  

“A timeless island haven,” the 100-plus-year-old British Colonial Nassau welcomed planners for a quick site tour of the newly renovated property. The timeless hotel offers 288 guest rooms and more than 18,000 square feet of meeting space as well as historic charm and a century’s-worth of stories to tell.  

Our evening wrapped at The Ocean Club, A Four Seasons Resort, where scenes from the iconic James Bond movie Casino Royale were filmed in the early 2000s, and where The Beatles recorded snippets of their second feature film, Help!. The 107-key property features 90 guest rooms, 12 suites and five two-bedroom plunge pool and residential villas.  

The Ocean Club offers more than 20,000 square feet of meeting and event space, including the sprawling Versailles Gardens, an intimate Executive Boardroom and the 2,408-square-foot Beach Deck, where Meetings Today LIVE! Corporate/Incentive attendees enjoyed dinner overlooking the water as cruise ships sailed by.  

Wondering whether to plan your next incentive event in the Bahamas? Meetings Today’s Taylor Smith spoke with George Brice, VP of the Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board, to get the inside scoop on what makes the destination an ideal choice for groups and how working with the NPIPB can help planners execute an incentive event that delivers an authentic destination experience.  

Thanks to Our Sponsors

• Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas
• The Ocean Club, A Four Seasons Resort
• Wildflowers Events & Occasions
• Margaritaville Beach Resort Nassau

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