01/25/2008 – The Elgin Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (EACVB) has actively worked with the Illinois Council of Convention and Visitors Bureaus (ICCVB) in order to create awareness of Illinois as an overnight destination for meetings, sports tournaments and group tour. Market Illinois, a new initiative for ICCVB, in collaboration with the Illinois Bureau of Tourism (IBOT), has been created to further extend this outreach. Market Illinois purpose is to connect Marketing Directors and Public Relations Directors in an educational format to increase awareness of industry trends and procedures and unify the marketing presence Illinois Marketing Professionals will have at various industry-related tradeshows.

Brent Edwards, Director of Marketing for the Elgin Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, will be chairing the committee during its inaugural year. “Brent was very instrumental in the development of the committee”, states Kimberly Bless, President and CEO of the Elgin Area Convention & Visitors Bureau as well as the Chair for the Illinois Council of Convention and Visitors Bureaus.
“The idea of a Marketing committee for the State stems from a tradeshow I was attending” states Edwards, “I was representing the Elgin Area but I did not see many other communities throughout the state of Illinois being represented. I wondered if everyone knew about this specific tradeshow.” After nearly two years of planning for the committee, Market Illinois will be hosting its second meeting at the Illinois Governor’s Conference on Tourism in February of 2008.

“Market Illinois now allows an opportunity for Marketing and Public Relations Directors of each Bureau throughout the state, the time to network and be educated on topics and trends that are on the horizon. The committee will bring in Travel Journalists, Advertising Agencies, and other speakers to present in an educational environment and also build strong bonds within the marketing community of our industry,” states Edwards.

ICCVB is a state association of Illinois based Convention and Visitors Bureaus. ICCVB and its members, in collaboration with the Illinois Bureau of Tourism, oversee the initiatives of various sales committees that collectively work together to attract group and leisure business to Illinois.

The Elgin Area Convention and Visitors Bureau serves 13 communities in Chicagoland’s Northern Fox River Valley including Bartlett, Carpentersville, East Dundee, Elgin, Gilberts, Hampshire, Huntley, Lake in the Hills, Marengo, Sleepy Hollow, South Elgin, Union, and West Dundee. Our purpose is to encourage, foster, promote and stimulate conventions and tourism in Chicagoland’s Northern Fox River Valley.

Please contact us at (847) 695-7540 or at www.northernfoxrivervalley.com for more information.

Media Contact:
Elgin Area Convention and Visitors Bureau
77 Riverside Drive
Elgin, IL 60120
(800) 217-5362 or (847) 695-7540

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