A woman acrobat performs on a ring on the ground with a crowd watching at the Kona Konvention

While Northern Kentucky can be a bit chilly in winter, more than 1,500 franchisees and vendors of the Kona Ice company brought plenty of energy to the region this past February, making the Kona Ice Konvention a rousing success in NKY for the ninth consecutive year.

In fact, the 2024 edition was nearly three times the size of the 2015 Konvention, the year the company began a tradition of holding its big meeting at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center and its adjacent headquarter hotel, the Cincinnati Marriott at RiverCenter, plus overflow hotels.

Darren Varnado, senior V.P. of operational support and development, leads Kona Ice’s convention-planning team. He notes that “we’ve looked at bringing the meeting to Nashville, Orlando, or Las Vegas in alternating years, but the bang for the buck is just not there compared to Northern Kentucky. Also, about half of our attendees are able to drive in.”

Lastly, “our people love being familiar with NKY’s convention center, hotels, and neighborhoods,” he says. “On site, our attendees only need to focus on making the most of their time together.”

Circus signs reading "The Greatest Snow on Earth" hang from red tapestries with many round tables in the foregroundDestination Support Is Key to Convention Success

Because the Kona Ice Konvention is so large now, the company books additional room blocks at overflow hotels that require attendees to take shuttles to the Northern Kentucky Convention Center (NKYCC.) Varnado notes that meetNKY, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, “coordinates that shuttle service and our people say it is always a great experience.”

At the NKYCC, the event-services team along with the production/audiovisual vendor and other local suppliers assist Varnado in creating a Konvention that educates, entertains, celebrates, and motivates the participants. “We want our people to take away many ideas that will help them grow their business, and to be highly inspired,” he says.

To make that happen, “our on-site partners always find a way to make our ideas work: Michelle Henry from the NKYCC, as well as Prestige AV and Creative Services, the in-house production vendor. We start planning with them six months out, and they bend over backwards to give us what we’re looking for.”

Two statues of camels on the left, a giant popcorn box on the right with people walking past a sign that reads "The Greatest Snow on Earth" over a circus tent painting

This year, the Kona Ice Konvention used a theme that played off the phrase “The Greatest Show on Earth” that describes a world-famous circus, altering it slightly to match the company’s products: “The Greatest Snow on Earth.” From there, Varnado, Henry, and Prestige worked together to build out an environment with circus-style features and entertainers to delight attendees before, during, and after the educational sessions, peer discussions, and product demonstrations. Two other local firms, Accent on Cincinnati and Ambience, provided props and furnishings to complete the dazzling atmosphere.

In addition, Varnado finds that the NKCC’s space is large and flexible enough to host nearly all of the Konvention’s social events. “We bring in some pretty big performers,” he notes. “We’ve had finalists from America’s Got Talent play for us, and we’ve had comedians like Nate Bargatze and Taylor Tomlinson entertain our people right before they hit it big. The center’s production team is always up to the task, and the quality of the center’s food and beverage makes for an excellent group dinner before a show.”

In the end, the confidence that Kona Ice has with the NKCC, the headquarters hotels, meetNKY, and other local vendors means that there are sure to be many more Konventions held in Northern Kentucky.