For the 2011 edition of Convening Leaders, the Professional Convention Management Association’s annual meeting to be held January 9–12 in Las Vegas, officials are offering an incentive to stay in the room block. Attendees who book outside the block will have to pay $200 more for their registration fee.

The incentives apply to planners and suppliers, and mean the difference, for example, between a $695 and an $895 registration fee for professional members and $795 and $995 for member suppliers. (Full rate schedule here.)

PCMA has secured an $89 per night (plus tax) room rate at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, where the meeting is taking place. “By staying within the official PCMA housing block at the MGM Grand/MGM Grand Signature, you are helping PCMA keep overall registration fees lower than they otherwise would be,” officials stated on the PCMA Web site. PCMA leaders have not yet determined whether this pricing strategy will be used at future meetings.

To get the discounted hotel room rate, guests must book before December 22. Organizations that register more than two people from the same physical address get $50 off the registration fees for any additional registrants.

A highlight of this year’s annual meeting is the co-location of the Virtual Edge Summit, a meeting about planning virtual events. Virtual Edge will run January 12–13 at the MGM Grand, and all pre-registered PCMA attendees are invited to attend the first day for free. PCMA attendees can add the second day of the Summit for an additional $99; however, the first 200 PCMA members who register for Virtual Edge will get both days for free.

PCMA’s general session speakers include Tony Hsieh, president and chief executive officer at Zappos.com, who will talk about how he grew a $1 billion online retailer by focusing on customer service and “delivering happiness;” Renee West, president and chief operating officer of Luxor Las Vegas and Excalibur Hotel Casino, talks about leadership; and best–selling author Daniel Pink explores the secrets to high performance and personal satisfaction.

On January 11, the leaders of various meetings and travel associations—including Deborah Sexton, PCMA; Bruce McMillan, Meeting Professionals International; Roger Dow, U.S. Travel Association; Michael Gehrisch, Destination Marketing Association International; and John Graham, ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership—discuss the major issues confronting the meetings industry in a plenary session. The Masters Series sessions focus on social media and events, the challenges facing CVBs, the art of choosing, succeeding in the “transformation decade,” and more.

Attendees will also find sessions on attendance-building, marketing, sponsorships, going green, contracts, social media, and negotiations, among many other topics. Four sessions are specifically related to medical meetings, including The Quest for CME Funding Transparency, and CME: Global Trends, Challenges, and Issues.

For more information, go to PCMA’s Convening Leaders 2011 site.