San Diego rolled out the red carpet for 2,700 delegates who attended Meeting Professionals International 2005 Professional Education Conference – North America (MPI PEC-NA).
“It was an honor to host the event.
The entire city and our staff were committed to demonstrating why San Diego is consistently ranked as one of the nation’s leading destinations.” |
Held January 23-25, this was the highest attended MPI PEC-NA conference in the association’s entire history.
The prestigious event provided San Diego with a golden opportunity to showcase the city’s outstanding destination amenities including an exciting and vibrant downtown, award-winning convention center, first-class hotels and outstanding visitor attractions.
At the San Diego Convention Center, we welcomed our special guests with broad smiles and the customary world-class service we are renowned for.   MPI PEC-NA occupied exhibit halls D-H, or 270,000 square feet of exhibit space. Touted as one of the meeting industry’s leading educational conferences, over, 100,000 square feet of meeting space was used for workshops and learning sessions.
When the delegates were not on the exhibit floor or attending workshops, they spent their time exploring San Diego’s revitalized downtown and the waterfront. Just across the street from the Convention Center, the historic Gaslamp Quarter, downtown’s premier dining and shopping area, was a popular draw, as was Sea Port Village, a waterfront landmark.
Two major events were planned by the San Diego Host Committee to woo meeting planners and show off our beautiful waterfront city. The Opening Night event featured a reception aboard one of San Diego’s newest visitor attractions, the decommissioned U.S.S. Midway, moored right on San Diego Bay. Dubbed “Hot Landings on Steel Beach,” the event featured sumptuous food, wonderful entertainment and a fireworks extravaganza.
 The conference’s closing night event, held in the Convention Center’s impressive Sails Pavilion, was equally as grand. Over 2,000 people attended “An Evening at the MPI Supper Club,” an event inspired by the glamour and elegance of a 1950’s supper club, but with a style and sophistication all of its own. The 90,000 square foot Sails Pavilion came alive with a fabulous art-deco design, superb dining and live entertainment.
 “It was an honor to host the event. The entire city and our staff were committed to demonstrating why San Diego is consistently ranked as one of the nation’s leading destinations,” said Carol Wallace, the San Diego Convention Center Corporation’s president and CEO.
San Diego was recently rated as the very best city in North America for conventions and meetings in the 2004 Watkins Study, the nation’s most prominent survey of more than 400 meeting planner executives. MPI attendees experienced first-hand the customer service that earned us that distinction and from all indications, liked what they saw.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, one meeting planner, Margaret Moynihan, commented that San Diego is a place where you “bring your family and stay an extra day.” Moynihan schedules corporate events for Deloitte and Touch and is considering San Diego as a possible site for a corporate meeting.
 “The energy levels were soaring when MPI was in town, and we couldn't be more pleased with the results. Even the weather cooperated,” added Wallace. While much of the East coast was experiencing a major blizzard, MPI delegates enjoyed sunny San Diego skies and 72 degree weather. |
