What better place, asks Gary H. Nelson, president of the Edison Inventors Association, could his group convene than at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers?

"It's an honor, quite frankly," he says. "It's extraordinary."

On the third Wednesday of each month, 80 members of the association share their struggles, triumphs and ideas in the inspiring setting of the former residence of one of the greatest inventors of all time.

In addition to daytime tours, weddings and tented parties at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates, rooms are available for business and civic gatherings. While the inventors enjoy the privilege of get-togethers in the museum, most other meetings take place in the Ford Cottage, which seats 50 people for $150. Upon completion of a $9-million restoration of both estates, the Edison Caretaker's Cottage, which has never been open to the public, will also be available for rentals.

Many local venues open their doors to the business world after normal visiting hours. With financial, insurance and estate-planning executives hosting seminars in every steak house and hotel conference room in the area during season, savvy professionals understand that seasoned investors appreciate a breath of fresh air. Naples Botanical Garden provides just that and more. UBS Financial Services recently hosted a series of seminars for clients and prospects at the gardens.

For $1,500, or in exchange for sponsorship of a fund raiser, the botanical garden opens its Windstar Garden Room to corporate meetings and receptions. The 4,000-square-foot space features a central seating area for 75 people, bordered by tropical plants.

"I was thoroughly impressed with the fantastic job they do, which included volunteers giving private tours of the garden," says Mic Lundon, divisional vice president of UBS Financial Services. "Not only do our guests learn about UBS, but they also have the opportunity to enjoy the Naples Botanical Garden."

For more excitement and less education, try a private reserve in east Naples. Billed as a trip to Africa in Collier County, Ngala consists of three permanent tented structures with teak furniture, comfortable sofas, and bamboo tables and chairs. Professional insect control and a mist cooling system ensure a comfortable visit.

Conventioneers sometimes venture beyond hotels to hold gatherings here. The 35-acre preserve was originally set up to accommodate animals, including zebra, giraffes, chimpanzees and leopards that were born into captivity and cannot be placed back into the wild. Drum beats set the rhythm for exotic dancers, viewed via torch light with jungle animals as a backdrop.

Ngala is equipped for meetings of 20 people or conferences for 900 and offers on-site catering. Events and food can be designed for Egyptian-, Moroccan- and Everglades-themed evenings. Costs are based on themes and the number of animals chosen and can be tailored to budgets. Because of economies of scale, a large group will cost less per person than a more intimate gathering. The facility is event-focused, specializing in activities such as team building, as opposed to straight-ahead meetings.

In a fast-paced world, an audience held captive might be the only group that slows down long enough to smell the roses. For this reason, an island destination like Southwest Florida's Useppa Island Club can be the ideal locale for a relaxed and productive exchange of ideas.

Visitors to Useppa enjoy beautiful scenery and a wealth of history. The island, eight miles west of Captiva Island and accessible only by boat, was populated by Paleo and Calusa American Indians first, then Spanish settlers, before soldiers moved in during the Seminole wars and Civil War, long before Barron Collier bought it in 1908. Today, the island has full-time residents, a museum filled with local treasures and American Indian artifacts, a marina and upscale guest lodging and dining.

The Collier Inn at Useppa Island Club offers two meeting rooms. The Bayside conference room, which seats up to 40 people, and the Collier Board Room, which seats 20 people boardroom style, are available for $200 a day. The inn's staff arranges audio/video equipment and catering needs.

For the last several years, Conmed Corp., a medical device company, has hosted sports medicine surgeons and annual residents and fellows at the Collier Inn. "This is not your typical Florida beach resort where there are people everywhere," explains Karen Sousa, Conmed's manager of professional education and meeting services. "Useppa is secluded. We like the idea that people are sequestered with nowhere else to go. We don't lose people, and instead have a bonding experience. The surgeons love it."

On a smaller scale, Key Island Estate, on the southern tip of Keewaydin Island, is a 6,000-square-foot beach-front house with wraparound porch and sleeping quarters that can accommodate 16 for $2,000 a day. The lodge-style stilt structure features one massive great room, custom-milled knotty pine interiors, vaulted ceilings and a tin roof. A 360-degree, wraparound wood-planked screened verandah provides gorgeous views. Catering is extra and available through Jamie & Jacob Catering.

Keewaydin Island, just three miles south of Naples and part of the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, boasts an eight-mile-long stretch of sugary sand. Key Island Estate has hosted off-site, outdoor convention gatherings of up to 80 people for area resort hotels and much smaller board meetings for the Rookery Bay Foundation.

For Florida fun and meetings that won't hurt your wallet, try a longtime local landmark, the Shell Factory in North Fort Myers. The Shell Factory and Nature Park encompasses 18 acres and includes 60,000 square feet of stores, restaurants, amusements, rooms for meetings and a nature walk.

"We might get 400 people here for a United Way appreciation event," says Pam Dunmire, marketing director.

The Shell Factory's Community Room seats up to 150 theater-style or just 80 with tables. A full-day rental for the room, which enjoys a state-of-the-art sound system and overlooks the Shell Factory's miniature-golf course, is $250. Half-day rentals are available for $175. For larger gatherings, an enclosed, air-conditioned patio seats 225.

"This is not simply a place for tourists and shell collectors, although we do have 6,000 square feet dedicated to a wide range of gorgeous shells," Dunmire says. "We built the meeting venues to draw the local community."