For meeting and incentive professionals who select Mexico, the upcoming Meeting Place Mexico event offers a wide variety of regional suppliers and educational offerings to choose from. And the event is coming up fast: Meeting Place Mexico will be held June 7-9, 2009 in Puerto Vallarta, one of the most popular beach resort destinations in Mexico. This year’s theme is Meetings 3G: "The genesis of a new generation of events."

PlannerWire will be on the ground in Puerto Vallarta, providing coverage of the event, and we spoke with show organizer Fernando Compean to find out what Meeting Place Mexico has in store for participants…

Q: Who attends Meeting Place Mexico?
A: Between 150 and 200 international and Mexican meeting and incentive buyers, with the power to purchase approximately $4 million of meeting and incentive business. This is from the buyer side; on the supplier side, we have participants representing all the facets of the industry, including destinations, hotels, hotel chains, CVBs, cruise lines, DMCs, audiovisual equipment, airlines… pretty much all of the suppliers interested in this segment of the market. The suppliers are not 100% from Mexico; we have perhaps 10% from other parts, like Las Vegas, for instance, or Guatemala, and other destinations.

Q: How does your team's participant screening process increase the quality of the event?
A: We have several people screening each and every one of the buyers because we believe everything is about the ROI - the return on investment - for the buyer, and for the supplier. If we want to deliver good ROI for our suppliers, we definitely need to have high-quality, key buyers who do have business to offer as they come and sit down, because everything is on a pre-appointment type of [basis]. On the other side, we need to deliver, also, a good ROI for our buyers - for the meeting planners - and to do that, we have different components to not only deliver the best possible [suppliers] for their time, but also in education and other things.

Q: What types of educational offerings can attendees look forward to?
A: This June, during Meeting Place Mexico, we will have the CEOs of what we consider the most important associations of our trade. We will have the CEO of MPI, Bruce MacMillan; we will have Martin Sirk, CEO of ICCA; and we will have the CEO of SITE, Brenda Anderson. We will also have, in the seminars, the President of SITE, Patrick Sullivan. We will also have the President/CEO of ASAE, John Graham. In Mexico, in our history, probably seldom do these high executives get together to share what they see in our industry. We're going to have this one-day, full-day event that will be educational for everyone to attend.

Q: What will these industry leaders be discussing during the event?
A: The first topic, which is the theme of the event, is Meetings 3G. Meetings 3G is the new thought that will have to be implemented from now on. Things have been changing so dramatically in the last few months, and in the years to come, we will be facing a different type of mentality to organize and to plan and to think about events in the future. It will be looking at the glass ball to see what all these experts think about what the future will hold. We will also have a European component of meeting planners attending Meeting Place Mexico, and, therefore, we also are bringing the CEO of what is probably the biggest and most important company in Europe [concerning] congresses and events, which is MCI. So, as you can see, we'll have a great opportunity to share with all the participants - meeting planners and the industry in general - what these high executives think about the industry.

Q: What will attendees get to see during the city orientation visit?
A: Puerto Vallarta is a unique destination that offers a variety of activities - not only the sun and the sand and the beach but, also, the nature around Puerto Vallarta is just magnificent. We have the culture itself, and the city. After Mexico City, it's the second city in Mexico that has more quality restaurants than anywhere else around the country. There are plenty of things to do there.

Q: What can attendees gain from the pre- and post-tour opportunities?
A: The pre- and post- opportunities will be precisely about getting to know the destination, whether it's doing sea activities like snorkeling, scuba diving, and things like that, or playing golf at the best golf courses in Puerto Vallarta. Going to the mountains; jungle tours; we'll have the zip line, also, that is quite astonishing.

Q: Why is Meeting Place Mexico the trade show for meeting/event and incentive professionals?
A: Meeting Place Mexico is the most important event and has been for the last seven years now. We are very excited because, regardless of the [economic] situation that has been a little hectic for everyone, our event seems to be gaining a lot of strength and interest. We have the participants; we are reaching the goals of our meeting planners, as before, and our suppliers, as before. This has become, allegedly, the center of learning and the center of doing business in Mexico, and that is why I think we are keeping our suppliers and buyers as planned.

For more information about Meeting Place Mexico, visit www.meetingsmexico.com.

Serenity J. Knutson is the Editor in Chief of PlannerWire.com, the News, Information and Community website for meeting and event planners. Contact her at Serenity@PlannerWire.com.

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