It was lucky to catch Michael Van Parys in his downtown Hartford office recently.
As head of the newly minted Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau (CTCSB), Van Parys keeps a busy schedule, attending trade shows and conventions across the country to encourage meeting planners and sports promoters to consider Connecticut as an option for their next event or meeting venue.
Recently, Van Parys has gone as far as Denver to a show called Collaborate, where he met with businesses searching for a corporate meeting venue.
“Sitting at a desk is pretty unusual for me,” Van Parys said in a recent interview in his One Constitution Plaza office in downtown Hartford. “I’m usually not sitting still for too long.”
Although busy, Van Parys is always eager to talk all things Connecticut. He is, after all, a pitch man for the state’s tourism, sporting and entertainment industries.
Even CTCSB’s offices, from a reception area filled with Connecticut tourism and travel picture books to an art gallery with work from local artists exudes a sense of state pride shared by Van Parys and his peers.
Van Parys’s convention and visitor’s bureau recently wrapped up its first year in existence. The CTCSB is a public-private partnership between the state Department of Economic and Community Development and what is now the former Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau (GHCVB). The organization, which got $1.3 million in start-up funds from the state, aims to lure meetings, events, and other activities to Connecticut venues including the XL Center, Connecticut Convention Center, and Mohegan Sun Casino.
Van Parys’ job is to market the entire state, not just Greater Hartford, which was his former role as head of the now defunct GHCVB.
The broader focus, experts say, should help create a more coordinated approach to economic development in the state.
“It is a critical endeavor to ensure that we fully leverage the entertainment and sports venues that we have,” said Oz Greibel, who, as president and CEO of the MetroHartford Alliance, has worked with Van Parys to bring the Big East Women’s Basketball Tournament and other major events to Hartford. “They’re key employers for a lot of people, and we are highly supportive of Michael’s leadership as they move forward.”
One of the biggest challenges Van Parys said he faces is getting Connecticut on the map. Although Van Parys said he is able to sell many attractions the state has to offer, he admits that Connecticut and its Capital City lack more nationally recognizable icons.
“Hartford doesn’t have a Mickey Mouse,” Van Parys said. “But what we do have is our location and access to more than 23 million people within a two-hour drive. You can do just about anything in Connecticut.”
Van Parys said he tries to give Connecticut and his bureau a recognizable face, so it’s usually safe to assume that he is traveling to meet with potential clients in and outside Connecticut whenever he’s absent from his office.
In terms of activity, the summer has been busy, Van Parys said. The CONCACAF Gold Cup brought USA men’s soccer to Rentschler Field in East Hartford and the USA Gymnastics Championships made a return trip to XL Center.
Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics, credits Van Parys and his team for luring them to Hartford and helping coordinate hotels, restaurants, and community partners involved in the event.
“They were the first ones to reach out to us and urge us to look at the city and consider it for the event,” Penny said. “We’ve accomplished a great deal in Hartford and Michael and his team have been there for us at every step.”
An issue Van Parys’ bureau is currently tackling is determining how to generate more activity at venues during off-peak days and times of the year.
Mashantucket’s Foxwoods Resort & Casino, for example, does extremely well on weekends, but struggles throughout the week without a strong corporate and residential presence in the area.
The bureau is trying to help venues think beyond the conventional “Thursday-to-Sunday” business cycle, Van Parys said.
“Sometimes we have to turn around our thinking,” he added.
Van Parys hasn’t always been in the convention recruiting business, but he has strong ties to the region’s tourism and hospitality industries. Out of college, Van Parys worked at various area hotels holding positions as director of marketing and director of catering, among others.
Van Parys even opened up a few ventures of his own including the former Hastings Hotel and Conference Center in Hartford. He ended his hotel career as general manager of Hartford’s Goodwin Hotel, the historic Haynes Street lodging that closed its doors in 2008.
When Goodwin closed, Van Parys said he had two options: leave Hartford or find a new local industry to be successful in.
“I wasn’t really interested in being transferred to California,” Van Parys recalls. “I’d always worked closely with bureaus no matter where I was, so it was an easy leap over to the Greater Hartford CVB.”
Van Parys said his hotel tenure taught him what it takes to provide a positive customer experience, lessons he’s brought with him to his new job.
When he’s not wooing events to Connecticut, Van Parys said he likes to entertain guests and take a swim at his Woodbury home, which he recently moved into. He also likes to garden and relax with a good book. His latest read was Dan Brown’s The Inferno. Van Parys said he enjoys historical books and biographies as well.
But mostly, it seems Connecticut’s pitch man is satisfied with never sitting still.
“A lot of times you work crazy long hours,” Van Parys said. “But at the same time you’re always learning something new and meeting so many different people. When the ball is rolling, any negatives that can come out of this job kind of just fall in the dust. I think I’ve finally found what I want to be when I grow up.”
