Chicago Southland FAMs Big Hit For Planners

The Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors Bureau aims to accommodate planners by offering a customized FAM tour of the area and its facilities any day of the year. Through FAM tours, planners are able to "familiarize" themselves with the area and plan in real time. Upon the day of the planner’s choice, the Visit Chicago Southland will create an itinerary, assist with on-site visits, and even help meeting and sports groups connect the dots between local decision makers and the key planners within your organization. Whether you want transportation, audio/visual, tour companies, catering, signage, trophies, or other services, they are ready to help make those introductions for you.

The Visit Chicago Southland is here to make planning an event a much easier process. Because the staff at CVB are experts of the area, its features, and amenities, they go above and beyond to cater to every planner’s unique needs. According to the specific needs of the client, the CSCVB can customize a unique FAM tour to incorporate all the sites that a planner wishes to see. From full-service hotel site visits and unique meeting space venues to sports facilities and area attractions, and more, there is no better way to experience all Chicago Southland has to offer than with a customized FAM.

FAM Trips for Meeting Planners 

Meeting planners love FAM trips in Chicago Southland because they can visit all the best meeting locations based on their event specifications. Planners can get a real-life look at what the venue looks like and meet facility staff, rather than just being left to their own research and sorting through online content. Meeting planners may choose to visit the beautiful Tinley Park Convention Center, one of Chicago Southland’s largest and most recently updated full-service meeting venues. They can also visit other full-service meeting locations like the Hilton Chicago/Oak Lawn & Conference Center, the DoubleTree by Hilton Chicago-Alsip, Georgio’s Banquets Quality Inn & Suites Conference Center, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Hotel/Elements Conference Center, and Holiday Inn Chicago Matteson Conference Center. Experts at CSCVB know their area better than anyone else and take pride in personally showing planners just how great their meetings can be outside the Chicago city limits. One such expert, Director of Sales at CSCVB Mary Patchin, says: “Meeting and event planners love attending personalized FAM tours of the Chicago Southland Region because our Sales Team customizes a tour based around their program needs. Whether it’s touring hotels with meeting space or visiting our attractions for an off-site event, the Sales Team makes the process effortless AND maximizes their time here in the Chicago Southland.”

Mary is a Certified Destination Management Executive through DMAI and has a true passion for partnering people with a perfect and personalized experience; you can her at Mary@VisitChicagoSouthland.com.

FAMs for Sports Planners  

Along the same line, FAM trips through the CSCVB enable sports planners to tour different sports facilities around the area. These sports FAM trips or site visits consist of taking tournament planners to facilities that the CVB thinks will be the best fit for the event specifications. For example, soccer event planners might visit various sports venues such as Southland Center, Roma Sports Club and SeatGeek stadium. FAMs allow sports planners to check out the facilities in real time, as well as present the opportunity to talk to the people they will work with during their event. Sports planners often choose to also visit hotels in the area based on their final facility decision, getting a feel for both the full-service and select-service amenities closest to their chosen site. For more information on setting up a customized FAM to explore sports facilities in Chicago Southland, contact Joel Koester at Joel@VisitChicagoSouthland.com.

Group FAM Tours

FAM tours are also an ideal option for group tour planners that may handle many groups with varying interests. FAM tours through the CSCVB allow group tour planners to get a taste for everything the Chicago Southland has to offer, from historic and educational attractions like the Pullman National Monument and downtown Frankfort, to distillery and culinary experiences like The Well and Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant. The CVB can also include FAM or site tour stops at various hotel options.

The CSCVB occasionally offers scheduled group FAM tours, whereby several tour operators visit at one time to experience all the Chicago Southland has to offer. To inquire about an upcoming scheduled FAM tour date, or to plan and customize your own FAM tour, email Tobie Fitzpatrick at  Tobie@VisitChicagoSouthland.com and get started.

ABOUT CSCVB:

The Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors Bureau is the official destination marketing organization for the south metropolitan area and represents 63 south and southwest suburbs of Chicago. The Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors Bureau is the official destination management and marketing organization for Chicago’s 63 south and southwest suburbs. The CVB markets the Chicago Southland region as a meetings and conventions, group tours, sports and leisure event destination. For more information, go to VisitChicagoSouthland.com

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