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Fargo officials gather meeting planners’ needs for proposed convention center
Summary
Meeting planners from North Dakota associations told Fargo leaders they need large indoor exhibit bays, reliable internet and AV, an attached or nearby hotel (about 180–200 rooms), full-service catering capability, and high-loading doors for vehicles to host their annual conventions.
Fargo officials and Visit Fargo Moorhead leaders on Friday heard detailed space and service needs from three North Dakota meeting planners as the city develops selection criteria for a proposed new convention center.
Planners from the North Dakota Association of Counties, the North Dakota League of Cities and the North Dakota Emergency Medical Services Association described typical event sizes, exhibit requirements and operational needs that they say any successful new facility must accommodate.
The input matters because the city is preparing an RFP and site-selection criteria for the convention center; consultants from HVS will help weigh site access, construction costs, financing and neighborhood impacts. City leaders said the outreach is intended to ensure proposals can host the kinds of state conventions that regularly bring hundreds of attendees and dozens of vendors.
Jenny Dietzmann of the North Dakota Association of Counties said her group’s annual convention "averages probably around 400 attendees" and runs about two-and-a-half days, beginning Sunday afternoon through Tuesday morning. Dietzmann said the association needs exhibit space that fits roughly 85 10-by-10 booths plus six to eight large equipment displays — vehicles such as trucks and road graders that must be accommodated indoors. "Currently where we're at at the event center, their spaces are 20 by 40," she said, noting that each large equipment space is roughly 800 square feet.
Carissa Richard of the North Dakota League of Cities said that organization typically runs five concurrent sessions and a vendor hall and that its meal counts top out near 400. Cheryl Flake of the North Dakota Emergency Medical Services Association said her group also needs large indoor loading doors: "Their height of their door is 13 feet 5 inches, and the truck that wants to come in is 13 feet 6 inches," she said, adding that ambulance and mobile-simulation vehicles are increasing in size.
Planners emphasized operational features that affect both attendee experience and event viability. Several said reliable internet and robust AV rigging are critical — "The Internet needs to be reliable," one planner said — and that a nearby or attached headquarters hotel of roughly 180–200 rooms would be a major advantage. Dietzmann and other planners also asked for full-service catering capability (as opposed to a venue that forces outside caterers and uses disposable service ware) and suggested a prep kitchen of several thousand square feet; city staff reported prior caterer guidance in the range of 9,000–16,000 square feet for peak service.
Planners described other support spaces they rely on: a dedicated "war room" or headquarters space for registration and staff operations; a speakers' green room with soft seating, food service and restroom access; reliable in-house AV or easy vendor rigging; and flexible exhibit halls that can be opened into one large room or divided into separate halls. LiveWire, a local production vendor mentioned in the meeting, was cited positively for rigging and AV services.
City officials also asked about location preferences. Planners were split: some prioritize walkability and proximity to restaurants and shopping, while others prioritize easy vehicle access and parking. Several planners said ease of access for exhibitors bringing heavy equipment and the availability of off-site event options (restaurants, other hotels) are useful when hosting multi-day conferences.
The meeting concluded with staff noting that HVS consultants had provided a draft selection checklist and that the city will schedule site visits for committee members and hosts to examine example facilities, including stops in other regional cities. City staff reiterated that a recent City Commission vote had given the Fargo Dome permission to participate in a bidding or proposal process for site development; that authorization allows the Dome to submit a proposal but ‘‘does not state that that's our selected site,’’ Mayor Tim Bonney said.
Officials said they will circulate an itinerary and supporting materials before a planned site-visit trip and that the HVS work will include demand and user-mix modeling to help weight the selection criteria.
For now the city is collecting technical specifications and operational preferences from frequent users to shape the RFP and evaluate proposals.
