The International Board of Directors of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) has announced that the organization’s 2010 World Education Conference will be held in Vancouver during July of that year.

“This is a unique opportunity for us to showcase our venues, services and activities to approximately 3,500 of the world's most influential meeting professionals,” said Mariela McIlwraith, president, MPI BC Chapter. “MPI's planner members have a collective buying power of US$10.9 billion dollars, so showcasing our destination to them has the potential to bring in significant future business.”

While Vancouver has been the site for smaller MPI Professional Education Conferences in 1994 and 1999, this will be a first for the World Education Conference, which requires a larger complement of exhibit space than the VCEC has been able to deliver in the past. The WEC attracts meeting planners and related suppliers from around the world.

"We're delighted that Vancouver and the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre (VCEC) have been selected as the venue for such a prestigious group," said Olga Ilich, British Columbia’s minister of Tourism, Sports and the Arts.  "Conventions offer one of the most diversified economic impacts of any industry sector and the resulting delegate spending will benefit the city and province in a variety of ways."

Vancouver is recognized as one of the world's premier meeting and convention destinations, and a top delegate draw according to Rick Antonson, president and CEO of Tourism Vancouver. "We are honoured to have them choose our city and are confident that our service "edge" commitment - to deliver the best combination of customer sales, service and destination value anywhere in the world will result in a wonderfully successful event."

MPI is the world's largest trade association for the US$102.3 billion meeting and event industry. The Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre, currently under expansion, will triple its existing size and is scheduled to open in 2008. It will also be used as the International Broadcast and Main Press Centre during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

"The meeting planner community is crucial to the success of the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre and its ability to deliver the levels of economic benefit we are expecting from expansion," explained Barbara Maple, general manager of the VCEC. "These are the professionals who are influential in deciding on where to book meetings and events for their organizations, and the opportunity to expose them to our product is a very valuable one."