Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1535167
22 B M & T ••• May/June 2025 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com electricity. Miami doesn't sparkle. It testifies. And when your gathering arrives, it's not just placed—it's pronounced. Orlando Orlando doesn't whisper—it asserts. Its skyline may shim- mer with theme park fantasy, but its heartbeat lives in Parramore, where history is rooted in resistance and renewal. The Orange County Convention Center rises with ambition, yet the true character of Orlando surfaces in spaces where culture is practiced, not performed. As meeting planners from around the world have come to know and appreciate, the OCCC is the industry leader in terms of flexibility, functionality and service. Thanks to more than 2.1 million sq. ft. of exhibition space and 480,000 sq. ft. of function space, meeting professionals appreciate the Center for its flexibility and functionality. Meetings here can stretch from sunlit ballrooms to story- filled landmarks. The Wells'Built Museum, once a safe haven for traveling Black performers, now offers planners a venue steeped in triumph and truth. Eatonville—one of the nation's oldest Black municipalities—welcomes intellectual forums in spaces where Zora Neale Hurston once wrote the bones of American literature. Cultural programming unfolds in the unexpected: gospel brunches where the room sways with song and story, art walks that follow Afro-Latin beats, and community gardens that host speaker panels beneath canopies of citrus and cypress. Orlando's Black-owned bookstores, jazz lounges, and family-run event studios don't complement your pro- gram—they ground it. The cuisine doesn't repeat what's been said—it expands it. Guests can move from Puerto Rican sofrito to Jamaican escovitch, from Argentine parrilladas to Dominican pastelón—each dish a narrative, every course a crossroad of memory and imagination. Even networking here feels kinet- ic: pop-up panels inside mural-covered warehouses, twilight receptions in converted citrus packing houses, or roundtables on open-air terraces humming with dialect and dialogue. Orlando's power lies in its range. It gives planners more than themes—it offers temperature, tempo, and truth. Each gathering can slip between polish and passion, between struc- ture and spontaneity, without losing momentum. For visionaries ready to rise above the pre-packaged and the predictable, Orlando provides more than access. It brings edge, heart, and a setting that insists you go deeper. Palm Beach Palm Beach is where prestige meets purpose. While often associated with oceanfront estates and designer opulence, this city's elegance doesn't announce—it ascends, note by note, through its echelons, offering planners more than pol- ished scenery. Here, exclusivity doesn't mean exclusion. It's where high society meets heritage, and coastal refinement bows to cultural nuance. Within minutes, planners can move from a boardroom to a beachfront panel, from a tech symposium to a jazz-infused cocktail hour in the Historic Northwest—a district anchored in African-American legacy and undergoing a revival rooted in equity, not erasure. The Palm Beach County Convention Center anchors the city's meeting landscape with 350,000 square feet of modern event space, just steps from The Square—a walkable district where boutique retail mingles with muraled walls and multi- cultural cuisine. Nearby hotels like the Hilton West Palm Beach connect immaculately, creating a streamlined experi- ence from conference to cocktail hour. Along Tamarind Avenue, Black-owned cafés and cowork- ing spaces provide intimate options for breakout sessions and executive roundtables grounded in lived experience. And even the catering tells a story: peppered oxtail with green banana mash, Creole-spiced seafood paella, Haitian pikliz with slow-roasted griot, Gullah rice, and escovitch driz- zled in citrus glaze. Each course becomes an extension of the programming—flavor fused with heritage, plated with pride. Worth Avenue may dazzle with couture, but the real luxu- ry here is authenticity. Wellness retreats can unfold in restored inns with wraparound porches. Lunchtime panels might convene under banyan trees beside African-American heritage markers. The air carries both ocean breeze and intergenerational pride. In Palm Beach, sophistication and substance don't com- pete—they collaborate. For planners seeking an atmosphere where dignity is the décor and culture is the keynote, Palm Beach delivers a setting that doesn't just elevate events—it deepens them. Tampa Tampa doesn't just deliver infrastructure—it delivers intrigue. This city bursts with dual energy: a coastal calm that keeps programs grounded, and a cultural synergy that makes gatherings feel alive. From Gasparilla traditions to cigar Orange County Convention Center West Palm Beach Arts & Entertainment District