MPI Adds Showfloor Day
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 5/21/2007
Meeting Professionals Intl. will add a day to the MeetingPlace tradeshow at its upcoming World Education Congress in Montreal. The congress will take place July 28–31 with the tradeshow now running from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, July 29, and 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, July 30. It was previously a single day.
According to Kathryn Goldstein, MPI director of communications, demand from suppliers and planners drove the extension of showfloor hours. The price for exhibitors remains the same as it was for the one-day show.
MPI expects about 600 exhibitors. The conference will comprise more than 125 educational sessions.
The association has had timing issues at past meetings. In January, its Professional Education Conference/North America in New Orleans attracted approximately 2,300 attendees. MPI changed the tradeshow portion, which had been held on Mondays, to Sunday immediately following the meeting's opening session. This year, that turned out to be the day the New Orleans Saints played the Chicago Bears in an NFL playoff game, which drew some attendees away from the exhibition.
Next year's Professional Education Conference will take place Feb. 3–5 in Houston — this time on Super Bowl weekend — but there will be ample opportunity for attendees to watch the game, to be played on the first night of the meeting, Goldstein said.
