MeetingPlace 2007
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 7/23/2007
Where: Palais des congres de Montreal, Montreal (rotates)
When: July 29–31 (annual)
Show owner: Meeting Professionals Intl.
Who exhibits: Anybody and everybody who wants to do business with meeting planners: venues, hotels, CVBs, airlines, speakers, suppliers, etc.
Who attends: Meeting planners attending MPI's World Education Conference
2006 statistics: Approximately 3,600 attendees; 550 exhibitors
First year of show: 1972
New this year: No to everything that is any color but green: No paper plates at receptions (only porcelain), no tiny paper packets of cream or sugar, no meter boards outside session rooms (digital signage instead), no printed handouts, no exhibitor service kits (except online) and no plastic water bottles.
The bottom line: A crowd of 3,600 attendees is big for an association meeting in this industry, and even if meeting planners must feel they can't walk five feet without a supplier buttonholing them (in fact, MPI estimated last year the supplier-to-meeting planner ration was 3-to-2), this is still the place to do business if your job is organizing a meeting of any size in North America.
Source: 2007 TSW Data Book; Meeting Professionals Intl.
