Joplin Expo opens door to booking conventions

(From KGCS)

When the John Q. Hammons Center closed in 2018, Joplin lost a large space for hosting conventions and big events. Now the Joplin Expo hopes to fill that void. How the Expo has transformed the old Macy’s store and its impact on the community are the focus of the next Newsmakers program.

Joplin Expo director of Sales Jeremy Morris discusses remodeling that created three separate and distinct spaces from the Macy’s footprint. The trade center has already hosted several events including a Holiday Market. A video package includes comments from vendors at that event. Morris explains that events have already drawn visitors from more than an hour radius of Joplin.

Kerstin Landwer of Visit Joplin talks about the opportunities for bigger meetings and convention bookings. Landwer says the Expo events help boost the foot traffic at the mall and business at hotels and local restaurants. Morris, who also serves as President of the Rt. 66 Association of Missouri, says efforts are underway to book events that coincide with the centennial celebration of the Mother Road.

Newsmakers is airing nightly at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. beginning November 30 on KGCS-TV and will air at 5:30 a.m. Saturday, December 6 on KOAM-TV. It is also posted on the station’s YouTube channel: KGCS – Missouri Southern State University.

KGCS-TV programming can be seen on channel 21 and is also available on regional cable television systems such as Sparklight, Mediacom and Optimum Internet. The station operates as a service of the Department of Communication at Missouri Southern State University.