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AmericanAirlines

Presents "AMERICAN AIRLINES PRESIDENTS' WEEKEND"

The ballroom lights dimmed; stage lights flashed on. 

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to play 'The Site is Right'!"

So began one of the convention-selling highlights of the recent "American Airlines Presidents' Weekend" at Los Angeles for leaders of national Black organizations from throughout the country. 
The special game show, created and hosted by television personality Art James, was arranged by the greater Los Angeles Visitors and Convention Bureau. The Bureau was co-host with American of the four-day marketing program aimed at capturing the convention business of the associations, whose memberships total more than 15 million.

Questions asked of those participating in the make-believe TV show were based on what they had learned at seminars during the weekend. They were also given a first-hand look at Los Angeles through specially arranged tours of the convention community and many of the city's attractions including Universal Studios, Beverly Hills and Farmers Market.

The presidents and chairpersons, representing some 100 Black business, religious, social and fraternal organizations, were housed at five hotels in downtown Los Angeles, Receptions luncheons and dinners were hosted by the participating hotels including the Biltmore, the Bonaventure, the Hyatt Regency, the Hilton and the New Otani.

A convention planning seminar covered subjects such as site selection, presented by the Greater Los Angeles bureau; transporting delegates between hometown and the site, by American Airlines; working with hotels, by the Los Angeles Hilton; ground arrangements, by Gray Line Tours, and car rental by Hertz Corp.

Primary hosts for the American Airline Presidents' Weekend in Los Angeles were Myraline Morris-Howard, convention sales manager of the Greater Los Angeles Visitors and Convention Bureau, and Hayes W. Jones, American Airlines manager of group and convention sales, based in the airline's corporate offices in New York.

This was the third time American had teamed with a city's convention bureau to present a "Presidents' Weekend" for Black leaders. Similar events were staged in New York and Washington in the past several years.

[[image]]
[[caption]] Among those attending the "American Airlines Presidents' Weekend' were Richard  M. Ballard Jr., center, president of Phi Beta Sigma national fraternity, Richmond, Va. He is pictured with Carl Ellis, American Airlines, Los Angeles; Evelyn Hood, Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, Atlanta, and Janice Kisner, Zeta Phi Beta sorority, White Plains, N.Y. [[/caption]]

[[image]]
[[caption]] Actor Brock Peters, second left was one [[cutoff]]
to welcome participants in the "American [[cutoff]]
geles. Being greeted here are, from left, [[cutoff]]
Chicago; David Ford, Jr., national president [[cutoff]]
Richardson, Texas, and G. Lamarr Howa[[cutoff]]
Criminal Justice. [[caption]]

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