The Motivation Show will convene for the 69th time next week--but you're always sure to find something new. The September 24 to 26 show in Chicago will feature more than 2,000 exhibitors and 50 free seminars about planning incentives and events. One new feature at this year' s show is a Leadership Forum luncheon, featuring Jack Canfield, co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

Stop by Global Event Partners' booth, where you can enter a drawing to win $10,000 off your next GEP program of $50,000 or more. Or, bop by the Australian Tourism Commission's booth, where their travel-weary salespeople are just back from Dreamtime, the annual tradeshow for meeting and incentive planners, held from September 14 to 18 in the newly opened Alice Springs Convention Centre in Australia’s Red Centre. Dreamtime is named after the spiritual world of Australia’s Aboriginal people, whose history extends back between 50,000 and 200,000 years. Dreamtime was staged at Alice Springs Convention Centre, a 40-minute flight from Uluru (Ayers Rock) to capitalize on the surge of interest in destinations seen as safe and secure, but also exciting and different.

You might also want to stop by the PGI booth, not just to pick up your invitation to PGI's annual Pizzathon party, but to talk to representatives of the event and communications agency about its management of the "Faces of Ground Zero" touring exhibit, which returned to New York City on September 10 and will be there through September 23. The exhibit, presented by Time Magazine and sponsored by Morgan Stanley, which was the largest employer at the World Trade Center, is made up of life-sized Polaroids of rescue workers, survivors, and relatives of victims from the September 11 terrorist attacks. The exhibit has traveled to six cities in the past year before returning to New York City to mark the one-year anniversary of 9/11. PGI has served as project manager throughout the tour, including set-up and dismantling of the exhibit, and handling logistics such as venue selection, signage, labor, staging, lighting, and client receptions.

And don’t miss the Society of Incentive and Travel Executives' annual Crystal Awards Gala Monday night, September 23, at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre at 7 p.m. Tickets at the door are $50. SITE will recognize the best incentive travel programs of the year in grand style Partnering with SITE (www.site-intl.org) on the awards is IMEX, a new trade show for incentive travel, meeting, and event planners, launching in Frankfurt, Germany in April 2003.

For more info about The Motivation Show, visit www.motivationshow.com.