Meeting Professionals International is tinkering with its trade show format and will extend its MeetingPlace hours at the World Education Congress in Montréal this summer over two days instead of one.

This summer’s conference runs from July 28 to 31, with the trade show scheduled for noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday, July 29, and 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, July 30. Over 600 exhibitors are expected to attend.

This is the second time in recent history that MPI has changed the trade show format at its annual conference. During January’s Professional Education Conference/North America in New Orleans, MPI held the trade show on Sunday, immediately after the opening general session, in an effort to increase the show’s traffic. This was a change from standard practice that saw the trade show held on Monday. January’s trade show was well attended initially but came to a standstill about two hours into the event when attendees fled the trade show hall to watch the hometown New Orleans Saints football team take on the Chicago Bears in the game that determined which team would go on to the Super Bowl.

MPI is planning on more than 125 educational sessions at the Montréal event, with specialized educational tracks for strategic meeting management, novice meeting professionals, senior meeting professionals, business owners, and sales and marketing. Before the conference begins, a two-day workshop on the Return on Investment Methodology Model developed by Jack Phillips will be held on July 27-28. Participants will learn how to collect and analyze meeting data to determine a meeting’s ROI.

Early-bird registration discounts are available through June 22. For more information, visit MPI’s WEC Web site.