Meeting Professionals International brings its MeetDifferent conference to Cancun, Mexico, February 20–23, and as its title promises, organizers are trying out an array of educational formats in order to expose attendees to new ideas and enrich their experience.

In addition to a new hosted-buyer program (planner spots are already full), which will defray costs for some and create on-on-one appointments between planners and suppliers, attendees can look forward to the experiential “learning hallway,” where interactive games and the new Soap Box Debates (a format for debating hot industry issues) will take place.

In the conference’s Ideas Exchange space, speakers and MPI leaders will be on hand to answer questions; computers will be available to get attendees blogging; and career experts will offer individual coaching.

The conference’s education tracks include international meetings management, corporate social responsibility, technology and meeting virtually, professional development, and more. An online social network, created for the show, is up and running on the Pathable platform. And don’t miss the book-club gatherings. This year, attendees will be discussing Jonah Lehrer’s How We Decide and The Green Collar Economy by Van Jones.

Special events on the Saturday before the opening reception include a Certified Meeting Professional exam, an MPI Foundation golf tournament, and a speed-networking session.

For a pre-conference taste of MeetDifferent, join one of the association’s free webinars. There are two live events left in the series, one with innovation expert and MeetDifferent keynoter Jeremy Gutsche and the other on “Goal Setting for Decision Makers.” Past webinars have been archived.