The Keystone Centre

on attracting full-on conventions or national and international-level events like the Brier (the annual Canadian men’s curling championship) and the Arabians championships. These are a little more for-profit.” BVM: What competition exists in your area and what characteristics, do you believe, give your Centre a competitive edge? Kowaluk: “Our competition is two-fold. We have local competition convention-wise, conference- wise, and meeting-wise with local hotels and other meeting places around town. Our biggest selling point here is our size and what we’re able to accommodate. In particular, one thing that is very beneficial due to our sheer size here at the facility, and particularly in that the agricultural industry is so prevalent in our area, is that we can host large pieces of equipment indoors in a number of our rooms, so that’s something that certainly gives us a competitive edge. And then regionally, there’s certainly a competition for entertainment events and sporting events.” Schumacher: “Locally, you sort of have competition - but you sort of don’t, because we’re the bigger facility, with more spaces. We could have 15-plus events going on, on the same day, or there could be one event using the entire facility, so it’s pretty unique like that, and very diverse, with the ability to do all kinds of different events. And, because it’s a small city, we all interact on some level and with some other organizations. As you open up more regionally, cities that are near here, like Winnipeg, have multiple facilities. Then as you go across Canada and North America, we actually do a lot of networking, so it’s not so much competitive, it’s actually working together. And you kind of get out how much time you put into it. We are a member of Venue Coalition, a group of over 70 venues around North America that actually work together to attract shows and route them. Then, if you take a look at a Winnipeg, as well, we actually try to work with the bigger building there, because they will actually scale down and do some shows that are small for them, but big for us due to our smaller size. And where I think a lot of people think you’re competing, you’re actually not; you’re working together and there are some events that CALL TODAY 204.717.2839 1.877.343.6755 LIMITED TIME OFFERS AVAILABLE Westman Business is dedicated to finding the perfect Voice, Internet, TV and Data solutions that suit your business. Our faster & competitively priced Business Class services allow your business to run seamlessly. WESTMANCOM.COM/BUSINESS SERVING WESTERN MANITOBA FOR OVER 40 YEARS Wi-Fi ask us about FASTER & MORE RELIABLE COMMUNICATION SERVICES THE KEYSTONE CENTRE