The 2021 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting will move to the Music City Center in downtown Nashville June 15-16, the SBC Executive Committee has announced.
According to Ronnie Floyd, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, the shift was made in order to “provide abundant space conducive to holding a meeting that is efficient, effective and safe for every attendee” while adhering to local COVID-19 protocols.
The cancellation of the 2020 SBC annual meeting, originally scheduled for Orlando, “created significant, ongoing challenges,” according to Floyd, who added he and others were committed to holding the 2021 annual meeting “in accordance with SBC bylaws, in complete fulfillment of our order of business.”
While other options were explored, Floyd said the Executive Committee wanted to keep the annual meeting in Nashville for reasons including the protection of previously made travel plans by attendees. Nashville was selected as the site for the 2021 SBC annual meeting by messengers to the 2016 annual meeting.
The Music City Center, located in the heart of downtown Nashville, offers 1.2 million square feet of convention space, almost twice as much as the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, a few miles northeast of downtown.
The exhibit hall and childcare will also move to the Music City Center.
Jeff Pearson, the SBC Executive Committee’s chief financial officer, said although lodging, transportation and other details have not been finalized, several blocks of hotel rooms have been secured near the Music City Center. Hotel reservations booked through the convention housing bureau remain in place, but can be modified through the housing website.