The Woodlands, Texas, January 2003 - Opened in mid January 2003, the largest hotel convention center in The Woodlands area is using an innovative, high tech CD ROM to showcase their new venue to business prospects. The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center Director of Sales and Marketing, Bradley McCreedy, and The Woodlands Town Center Improvement District Director of Marketing, Nick Wolda, had epic software group, develop this interactive tool. Just pop the CD into any PC and you can see the history of the Woodlands followed by a virtual tour of The Waterway.
The CD is an excellent program to help meeting planners, and prospective tenants understand the amenities available and how the hotel and convention center fit in the community. With more than two million square feet of shops, restaurants and entertainment venues, The Woodlands Town Center is transforming into a dynamic regional tourism and convention destination. According to the Town Center Improvement District, more than 10 million people visit the area and its attractions annually. The mission of the Town Center is to promote, develop, encourage, and maintain economic development for the public benefit of The Woodlands downtown area. In terms of economic development, one goal is to help bring more jobs to the area, and provide the needed infrastructure to support the companies that offer those jobs.
"The creation of the CD was as close as we could get to flying someone through The Waterway, and epic had no problem producing this for us," McCreedy said. "The three dimensional look gives a feel of what we have to offer in The Woodlands. The quality of depth and graphics on the CD were so phenomenal, and the detail is unequal to anything ever produced. We have received nothing but positive feedback on the realism of this CD ROM."
After the viewer flies through The Waterway, the CD-ROM gives them a chance to explore a number of places in The Woodlands to learn more. For example, a viewer can preview the shops in Woodlands Mall along with other retail and commercial property. Want to know more about the community? You are just one click away from learning all about The Woodlands golf courses, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, schools, homes and all sorts of social activities.
The packaging of the CD is very special as well. A unique clear plastic slip case holds the CD, and has added sleeves for 20 more CD's. Meeting planners and conventioneers will not be disappointed when viewing the contents of the CD. The section devoted to the Marriott Hotel includes 3D animation and architectural renderings which allow you to see the hotel will look like when the construction process is through. The property will feature 345 well-appointed guest rooms and suites, an Italian-style dining experience, as well as terrace seating with waterway views. With 70,000 square feet of total meeting space, featuring a 38,000 square foot exhibit hall and 18,000 square foot ballroom, groups can be hosted that historically could not consider using Houston, due to their size.
Working under a tight deadline, the epic software group created the master CD in just under 60 days. "Our studio is just minutes from The Woodlands Waterway, so when we needed to check an architectural or geographic detail we could just hop in the car and visit the site," said Danny Duhon, lead animator for epic. epic has been in business for over 14 years and has the artists, animators and programmers on staff to take ideas from concept to creation.
For more information on The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center visit http://www.marriott.com.
