Last week, with less than two weeks to go before its World Education Conference, Meeting Professionals International rolled out a Virtual Access Pass,” which allows members and nonmembers to sign up for a parallel online conference.

The full-access VAP, which will cost MPI members $299, students and faculty $79, and nonmembers $499, will be a greatly expanded version of the online content that was offered in conjunction with MPI’s February Meet Different conference. That experience included one webcast and two audioconferences, and was available free of charge. The http://www.mpiweb.org/Events/WEC2009/VAP.aspx full-access online pass to the July 11-14 conference, coming up in Salt Lake City, will include a live (or recorded) viewing of the opening general session, two additional keynotes, and 14 educational sessions. In addition, more than 100 other educational sessions will be recorded and made available for about a year. Subscribers also get access to the WEC’s social networking community, run on the Pathable platform; access to the Resource ExCHANGE, and a $100 credit toward attendance at one of several major MPI events in 2010.

A second online subscription option costs $19 for members and $59 for nonmembers. It allows access to only the opening general session.

The registration fee for the live event in Salt Lake includes access to all of the material from the conference that will be archived and the social networking service.

In a statement on its Web site, MPI says it has done “everything possible” to hold down the cost of online participation. “This small charge will allow us to develop and perfect this technology so that we can continue to deliver this important conference content to you in the future,” the statement reads.