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w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m S e p t e m b e r 2 0 15 • I NSIGH T | 29 B y S e a n P. J o h n s o n B ig meetings are big business. Really big. More than 1.8 million meetings and conventions take place each year, according to a recent economic impact study by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Convention Industry Council. ose events involved more than 224 million participants and generated more than $280 billion in direct spending. Buoyed by those numbers — and the industry's demand for larger and more flexible space — an increasing number of cities are expanding their convention centers or building new Working a big room KI Center set to debut expanded facility as convention demand grows facilities to capture a larger share of a growing and competitive marketplace. With an expanded KI Convention Center coming online this month, Green Bay may have timed the market perfectly. "We are finding a lot more things we can fit in now," says Brad Toll, president and CEO of the Green Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We do have name recognition on a national level but didn't always have the space to take some of those groups on before." is month, the CVB will hold the grand opening for the expanded KI Center, which has undergone nearly $23 million in renovation and expansion to make it the fih largest convention center in the state. e available space for meetings and conventions has expanded from about 80,000 square feet to 145,000 square feet. In addition, the center will now have a hotel at each end of the complex to better serve the groups using the convention center. Besides the Hyatt, the center will connect to newly renovated Hampton Inn being refurbished by Fox River Hospitality. e renovated KI also includes an outdoor area tentatively known as Packers Plaza aer the The renovated and expanded KI Center in Green Bay will open in September, nearly doubling the space available for meetings and conventions. C O U R T E S Y M I R O N C O N S R U C T I O N C O . , I N C . [continued ] » I N S I G H T O N CONVENTIONS