hen a company chooses to hold a conference or meeting in the 49th State, they’ve not only accomplished their goal of getting people together to talk business but also provided lifelong memories for all participants.

Not only do Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau offer their own unique yet incomparable scenery any day of the year, but the local convention and visitor bureaus go out of their way to ensure that meetings exceed conference planners’ expectations.

Most people think of Anchorage when they consider hosting a conference in Alaska, mainly because of its accessibility.

“Everyone is able to get here pretty conveniently,” says David Kasser, senior vice president of sales at Visit Anchorage. “We also have plenty of inventory, whether you’re talking hotel rooms, meeting spaces, or event spaces. We can offer conference participants a variety of activities, from taking a boat excursion on Prince William Sound to flying over a glacier.”

Conferences can also be held in Fairbanks year-round, though Scott McCrea, president and CEO at Explore Fairbanks, says April and October are prime months to hold events. “Those are softer months for visitation, so bringing up meetings and conferences during that window provides a welcome economic lift and helps reinforce Fairbanks as a year-round destination,” he says.

McCrea credits the “lure of the destination” for making conferences in the Golden Heart City a success. “Not only do we have the facilities that conference planners need, but we also have the beauty of Interior Alaska, the midnight sun in summer, northern lights season, incredible winter experiences, and more,” he says. “There’s so much to attract people here, above and beyond coming to a meeting, and those experiences can vary greatly depending on the season that they visit.”

Juneau is also a prime location to hold a conference or convention, as the historic mountain town is a shorter flight from Seattle.

“Juneau offers breathtaking views and a safe, walkable downtown,” says Heather Collins, event and group sales manager for Travel Juneau. “Its relaxing and picturesque environment is enhanced by incredible locally owned restaurants, bars, a brewery, and a distillery, all within walking distance of downtown hotels and conference venues.”

Larger conferences in the capital city are often held at Centennial Hall Convention Center or Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall, yet Juneau also offers smaller hotel meeting spaces. Centennial Hall houses 17,000 square feet of rentable meeting space, including up to seven meeting rooms and a 12,389-square-foot divisible ballroom. It also offers a commercial kitchen, lobby areas, and professional service staff. Located on Juneau’s downtown waterfront, the newly renovated center is close to hotels, restaurants, and shopping.

Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall offers more than 6,000 square feet and can host up to 1,168 people for conferences, meetings, receptions, and banquets. A short walk from the Downtown Historic District, the newly renovated facility is available for daily, half-day, or multi-day rent, and is equipped with a state-of-the-art audio and visual system. Meal service is available through Smokehouse Catering, and Sacred Grounds Café is located across the street for coffee breaks or small breakout sessions.

Conferences in Anchorage are big business; in 2025 alone, the city booked 583 events (and 149,000 hotel rooms) for an estimated economic impact of more than $117 million.

Conference planners have access to venues of every size, including the city-owned Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center and the William A. Egan Civic and Convention Center.

The 85,000-square-foot Egan Center, built in the ‘80s during the oil pipeline boom, has undergone major renovations since its inception. “We keep the building in great shape through continued investment,” says Kasser, noting that in-state planners particularly like the Egan Center because it contains many breakout areas that allow smaller meetings to run concurrently.

The Dena’ina Center, which opened in 2008, was designed to take advantage of Anchorage’s mountain vistas. “The construction takes advantage of natural light, which helps restore people’s energy after a long day of meetings,” says Kasser, referencing the giant skylights above the third-floor large meeting room. “The building itself is designed to be viewed from the inside out; though the exterior looks boxy, inside it’s an amazing space.”

Kasser adds that the center also pays tribute to the Dena’ina people, who have called Southcentral home for more than 3,000 years. The décor includes Alaska Native artwork and interpretive signs that educate visitors about Indigenous culture.

Fairbanks is especially looking forward to the 2026 conference and meeting season now that the city has more space than ever to host visitors. “Before, we didn’t have the proper convention space, especially for larger groups,” says McCrea. “While we’ve been able to utilize the 5,100-seat Carlson Center, it’s really a sporting facility and not a true convention center space. We’ve also utilized the Westmark Fairbanks Hotel and Conference Center, but it does have capacity challenges, topping out at 400 attendees.”

Fairbanks will soon be home to a new meeting option in the former site of the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum. The museum is merging with the Pioneer Air Museum, leaving room to create a 30,000-square-foot, 950-person conference center.

The museums relocated in 2025 to the former Kmart building, also partially occupied by an Amazon delivery station. That left the former auto museum, part of the Wedgewood Resort on the north side of Fairbanks, available for redevelopment.

“The conference center will have access to all of Wedgewood’s amenities, including a massive new commercial kitchen, hotel rooms, additional venue space across the Wedgewood Resort campus, and full staffing from catering, to AV, to planning,” explains Daniel Cerny, marketing coordinator for resort and museum owner Fountainhead Development. He says the goal is to open the center in winter 2026.

“As with any project, we’ve been hamstrung with access to materials,” he says. “We were supposed to close the current museum at the end of December, but we’ve been waylaid by materials shipments, so it is not closing until the end of March.”

While many organizations already use the museum for parties and meetings, Fountainhead wants to expand to create an all-in-one place for weddings, events, meetings, and conference.

Meanwhile, on the south side of Fairbanks, a former church is set up as a 26,000-square-foot conference center. In 2024, Jonathan Huff, owner of 8 Star Events, bought the 11-acre property and renovated the interior.

“The fact that we have different sized rooms is a great asset,” he says. “Our main room is 10,000 square feet and can fit 520 people, and anything below that is gravy; they have a lot of space to move around.” The conference center can host anything from a small party of 10 to 20 people to events of up to 950 guests.

The main room features a built-in stage, full concert lighting, and a sound system provided by Alaska Universal Productions, another company Huff owns. “Because we are a full production company, we can provide the technology an organizer wants, whether that’s Zoom meetings, full two-way calling, or broadcasting the meetings to attendees outside of Fairbanks,” says Huff. “We can also provide one to twenty cameras or inputs, and can output to different things all at the same time. We also have dedicated high-speed internet.”

Huff also created a full catering company to serve the venue, which has already provided more than 20,000 meals since the center’s inception. “We have four servers for every thirteen to fifteen tables, so all of the tables are served at the same time,” says Huff. “We can serve 520 people in 15 minutes; it’s almost a show, really.”

In addition to the interior renovations, 8 Star Events is currently working to develop the back half of the property into an outdoor event space.

No matter where planners choose to hold their event, accommodations are easy to come by, as Fairbanks boasts 2,800 hotel rooms as well as numerous lodges, short-term rentals, and vacation rentals. Some of its summer-only properties open during the off-season if more capacity is needed.

In Alaska’s largest city, conference participants rarely have trouble finding places to stay, as Anchorage has more than 8,700 hotel rooms and is adding more. They range from anchor properties such as the Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, and Hotel Captain Cook to smaller boutique properties such as the Historic Anchorage Hotel and the newly renovated Wildbirch Hotel.

The Hilton Anchorage, which is the largest Downtown hotel with more than 600 rooms, underwent a full transformation this past year. “You wouldn’t think that it was the same property,” says Kasser. “You walk in the lobby and it has a brighter, more contemporary design.”

Apart from hotels, Anchorage meeting venues include the Anchorage Museum and the Alaska Native Heritage Center, as well as a variety of restaurants that provide space for group dinners.

“Anchorage has a celebrated food scene; we have people from all over the world here, and that’s represented on our menus,” says Kasser. “When people leave Anchorage, they say that one of the big things they miss is the quality and variety of food.”

Some favorites he mentions—just within a few Downtown blocks—are Whisky & Ramen, Serrano’s Mexican Grill, Glacier Brewhouse, and 49th State Brewing. Kasser adds, “We’ve done a buyout for an 800-person conference to have an entire building, including a rooftop bar with views.”

That’s the key to hosting meetings: offering experiences beyond keynote speeches and breakout sessions. Collins notes, “Juneau is such an exciting destination that it is especially common for conference guests to extend their stays.” And Collins has observed that many attendees also bring their families.

According to Collins, visitors to Juneau can step away from conferences to enjoy whale watching, view Mendenhall Glacier, go flightseeing, take a helicopter tour, or fish for salmon and halibut.

“Guests also enjoy taking a ride on the Goldbelt Tram or hiking on our over 100 miles of well-maintained trails, many within walking distance of downtown hotels,” she adds. “Both the state and city museums are downtown, and visiting the State Capitol Building is also a fun option. The Alaska State Museum is an excellent location for an off-site cocktail party.”

In winter, activities include skiing at Eaglecrest ski area, Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, or simply relaxing in a cozy coffee shop.

Collins notes that visitors to Juneau also like to immerse themselves in Alaska Native culture. The newly installed Kootéeyaa Deiyí (totem pole trail) showcases thirteen totems along the sea walk down to Mayor Bill Overstreet Park, home of the life-sized breaching whale statue, Tahku. The Sealaska Heritage Institute houses rotating displays of both ancient and modern Northwest Coast art pieces, as well as regional artists creating new works. At the top of the Goldbelt-Mt. Roberts Tram, visitors can find a wealth of Northwest Coast art, as well as watch a short cultural video about the Tlingit of Southeast Alaska.

According to Collins, Travel Juneau—the Juneau convention and visitors bureau—assists with events ranging from small meetings to larger conferences of up to 500 people. The average group size is 176 attendees.

Explore Fairbanks works with meeting planners to coordinate with vendors and hotel partners, and the bureau helps on the service side, providing a welcome table and coordinating other activities beyond meetings.

“We do everything we can to bring them here—and once they’re here, we take care of them to make sure that their event is as successful as possible and that their attendees have the best time they can,” says McCrea.

Visit Anchorage helps planners make the most of their events, providing a list of services they can choose based on the size of their program and the activities they’d like to include. The bureau also provides registration assistance for meetings that come into Anchorage as well as greeters to welcome attendees.

Planners can also take advantage of Visit Anchorage’s digital assets to promote their meetings, and they may even request that a Visit Anchorage representative attend a meeting to present information on the destination.

According to Kasser, hosting a conference in Anchorage, and Alaska, has been shown to reflect a 20 to 30 percent bump in attendance over those held in other areas. These meetings also benefit city residents, as visitors to Anchorage pay a 12 percent hotel bed tax.

No matter which Alaska city an event planner chooses, their meeting or convention is sure to be a success in the 49th State, accomplishing business—and bucket-list—goals.