I have the greatest job in San Antonio, and it’s for one reason: I get to make people smile every day.
As a guest relations specialist for the Henry B. González Convention Center, I am often the first face visitors see when they come through the glass doors of our facility. For 17 years, that has meant my greeting can give a great opening impression to guests who in many cases are making their first visit to our city.
It’s a pleasure for me on several levels. As a San Antonio native, I have a deep love and appreciation for this community. Being raised by Christian parents, I also find pride in helping others, born of watching my grandfather, a pastor, treat members and everyone who visited his church like lifelong friends. From early on, I wanted to be like him.
So every day, I work to make a new friend. Or, in the case of my workplace, hundreds of them.
Consider that I share the convention center grounds with the nearly 300 events booked at the site annually. Including attendees who arrive from places near and very far, the facility hosts approximately 750,000 guests each year, or more than the population of El Paso. The meetings involve a diverse number of topics, from the fun of a San Japan anime and gaming convention to the impactful work done at the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Over the years, that has meant some remarkable experiences for me. When I first joined the center, our guest relations team would effectively roam around the building, often mingling among the attendees and answering questions as needed. Now, I enjoy working the entrance desks at the main lobby and on the west side of the building, serving as what I like to call “the smiling face of a friendly place.”
That can sometimes be a challenge, of course. Because of the great diversity of events that we have, we deal with different personalities and languages each day. You never know what a person has gone through simply to arrive at our doors, and our emphasis is — no matter the situation — to ensure that guests have a special experience. And that means treating each of them special.
We try to interact with every attendee one-on-one. That may mean offering the same directions or advice hundreds of times a week, but it’s important each and every time.
Just over the past year, the convention center has hosted nurses and physicians, educators, first responders, global influencers and international journalists, among so many others. From meetings involving a few hundred patrons to the more than 25,000 who attended the Texas Music Educators Association and Herbalife conferences, the convention center accommodates a near-constant stream of traffic throughout the week, including the occasional very high-profile — but under-the-radar — keynote speaker or performer.
Over the years, I have met celebrities like Nick Saban, Judge Judy, Deion Sanders and Oprah Winfrey, along with movie stars, politicians, singers and other headliners. The 2018 Men’s Final Four, which included several events at the convention center, boasted some of basketball’s greatest names. On many occasions, it has been my job to escort those folks to where they need to be, taking them “back of house” to get them there safely and without interruption.
One memorable interaction for me was with former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith, who stopped to have a personal chat. We found common ground in how we grew up playing street football, acting like we were play-by-play announcers in describing our heroics. It was a wonderful occasion for a sports fan like me.
Groups on hand each week take up some or all of 72 meeting rooms, four halls and two ballrooms, including the 54,000-square-foot Stars at Night Ballroom. Each and every day, the more than 300 full-time and contract employees of the center, my incredible teammates, cater to the needs of the conventioneers by keeping the facility clean and secure, preparing and serving meals from a huge kitchen on site and answering questions with the warmth and friendliness that has become San Antonio’s longstanding trademark.
I do know that it all adds up as fuel for a vigorous economic engine for San Antonio, which thanks in large part to the convention industry ranks as one of the country’s top visitor destinations. According to a study by Trinity University, in 2022 the hospitality sector generated $19 billion in economic impact and supported 140,000 jobs.
I have one of those jobs, and I hope to be doing it for years to come. After all, with every friendly word, I have established relationships — some of them that have endured for years — and let them know that San Antonio is unlike any other place. When you’re here, you’re family, and I’ll be waiting.
And that’s something to smile about.
