The sales staff at the Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau knows that new buildings like the Wells Fargo Arena are advantageous when courting conventions and athletic competitions, and having the mayor drop by to chat with visitors certainly never hurts, either.

The CVB staff is ahead of last year’s pace in the number of site visits it has hosted for groups in search of venues for their conferences or other large-scale events. Tiffany Spinner, the sports marketing manager for the bureau, said the completion of Hy-Vee Hall and Wells Fargo Arena are partially responsible for creating this additional interest from groups shopping for a city to host their event.

“Having these buildings open as something tangible that we can show off to visitors has really made a difference in how we do our jobs,” said Spinner, who hosted site visits earlier this month in Greater Des Moines for a representative from Pheasants

Forever and the executive director of the National Wresting Coaches Association.

Pheasants Forever is considering Des Moines as the host of the 2007 Pheasant Fest in January 2007, an event with the potential to bring more than 20,000 people to the area. The wrestling event, the Brut/Adidas Scholastic Nationals for high school wrestlers, could bring more than 1,100 athletes to Veterans Memorial Auditorium over the course of three days in April 2006, with the potential for a larger event to follow in 2008 and 2009.

The CVB’s sales staff of seven hosts 25-30 site visits over the course of the year, Spinner said. Site visits typically indicate that a city is among the group’s top three choices as a potential location. Since the CVB’s fiscal year began July 1, it has already hosted seven site visits, and fall looks to be busy too.

“We’ve been touting these new facilities for so long, and now people want to see what we’ve been talking about,” she said.

A site visit can include visits to venues, hotel rooms, restaurants and attractions for the out-of-town visitors to evaluate whether Greater Des Moines would be a good fit for their particular event. Whenever possible, Spinner said, city leaders are asked to drop in on the visits to meet the guests.

“Mayor (Frank) Cownie stopped by and met Mike Moyer from the National Wrestling Coaches Association, which was a nice touch,” Spinner said. “The coach said he had never talked with a mayor before. We always try to get city officials and higher ups to stop by to talk with them. We feel that these special touches show the clients that we really care about their visit.”

The representatives from Pheasants Forever and the NWCA were familiar with Des Moines from previous trips through Iowa. Spinner said they seemed impressed with development projects in the city and the new venue options.

“Pheasants Forever’s site visit went very well, and it seemed to help that there is a strong Pheasants Forever following in the state of Iowa,” she said. “They were impressed with Hy-Vee Hall and could potentially use the bottom level of Vets as well.”

Spinner said the wrestling bid also seems promising, because that group has expressed interest in moving to Iowa in the past, but it didn’t work with the busy spring schedule at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. But now, several of Iowa’s annual events such as high school tournaments are moving to the Wells Fargo Arena.

“With the new facilities themselves, it opens up quite a few doors from the sports side,” Spinner said. “We will be pursuing more NCAA bids with the arena, and by moving some of our annual events to the arena, it gives another cost-effective option for groups by freeing up Vets. For wrestling, there are very few buildings in the country that have the floor space that Vets does.”

Jennifer Pickar, the director of communications for the CVB, said the organization, has had to shift gears to accommodate the new facilities, but it continues to promote Des Moines’ long-standing strengths: its central location, family-friendly environment and affordability.

The bureau also continues to work on its “Bring it Home” campaign encouraging people to consider whether conventions or events they attend outside the state could work in the Des Moines market.

“We really want people in the community to think about the different organizations that they’re involved with and whether we could host that event here,” Pickar said. “This summer’s National Governors Association meeting was a great example of this. Gov. Vilsack really took the lead on this initiative, and we hope others will do the same.

“With all the great improvements in the city, now’s the time to show it off and be proud of it.”