A statue of Joel Poinsett -- the South Carolina statesman who first brought poinsettias to the United States -- sits next to his namesake hotel. (Photo courtesy of Aimee Edmondson)
During a special Zoom meeting on Nov. 11, the AJHA Board of Directors voted to approve a contract to have the 45th annual conference at the Westin Poinsett Hotel in Greenville, South Carolina. The conference dates will be Nov. 5-7, 2026.
The Board consented at its regular meeting during the Pittsburgh convention last month for the Convention Sites Committee to pursue hotels in Greenville for the 2026 conference. Convention Coordinator Aimee Edmondson reported that securing an ideal hotel in Greenville around the typical late September/early October conference time proved difficult because mid-September to mid-October is high season for conferences.
Edmondson said that five of the seven bids on the request for proposals were not viable because they did not at all align with the AJHA’s needs, as stated in recent surveys of organization members. The two remaining options were the Westin Poinsett ($229/night) and AC Hotel Greenville, a Marriott property ($219/night). For reference, Edmondson noted that hotels for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conferences will be $279 in the coming years.
Although the AC Hotel contract would be during the regular AJHA conference time frame, Edmondson reported that the hotel was not ideal. Among the issues was the hotel layout, which would require break-out sessions (panels and presentations) to be scheduled on different floors in the hotel and cause attendees to travel between floors all day. Edmondson added that the hotel does not have escalators, so attendees would need to ride elevators to two different floors for sessions. Board members were concerned that the disjointed layout would be inconvenient at best and could be difficult for attendees with mobility challenges.
Edmondson said that the Convention Sites Committee felt the Westin Poinsett would be much better for AJHA members. It is in a prime location and has an ideal layout. Additionally, the Westin is a 100-year-old building that Edmondson described as “restored to perfection,” while the AC Hotel is a newer property that Edmondson described as “cold.” See https://www.historichotels.org/us/hotels-resorts/the-westin-poinsett/ for more about the Westin.
Board members wondered how important an historic hotel was to AJHA members. Edmondson stated that an historic property is pretty important, but the most important thing to members is being somewhere they could just walk out of the hotel and go to restaurants. She reported that the Westin Poinsett is in the middle of a charming and robust downtown with more than 20 blocks of shops and almost 100 restaurants (80 percent of which are local).
“It looks like a huge hallmark movie set,” she said.
Board members expressed concern that moving the date to November would put the conference too close to other fall conferences. The Symposium on the 19th Century Press, Civil War, and Free Expression – which typically would be that same weekend in November – was a particular concern because many AJHA members attend that event.
AJHA President Debra van Tuyll also is involved in planning for the Symposium, which takes place in Augusta, Georgia. She indicated that the dates for the 2026 Symposium have not been set yet, and they may be able to move it for one year. Another option would be for the two conferences to have some joint programming.
Van Tuyll also said that the weather would be nicer and the scenery more fall-like in November than in early October.
Ultimately, the eight board members present for the special meeting voted unanimously to accept the Convention Sites Committee’s recommendation to move the AJHA conference to November, emphasizing that the shift would apply to 2026 only. Edmondson stated that she and the local host committee would begin working to secure donations to keep registration fees as low as possible.
The local host committee for the Greenville conference consists of Nathaniel Frederick (Winthrop), Kenneth Campbell (University of South Carolina), and Dante Mozie (South Carolina State).
As previously announced, the 44th annual AJHA conference will be Sept. 25-27, 2025, at the Hilton Long Beach in California.
