This year, more than 3,700 meeting professionals will gather in Montréal, Canada, for Meeting Professionals International’s World Education Conference à la Montréal. The annual event will convene July 28-31, offering 125 educational sessions; MPI’s MeetingPlace 2007, a two-day trade show with more than 600 exhibitors; a variety of networking and social events; and continuing education courses.

Attendees will have the opportunity to choose from specialized professional development tracks such as “Small Business Owners,” “Sales and Marketing,” “Strategic Meetings Management,” “Novice Meeting Professionals,” and “Senior Meeting Professionals.” Sessions will be conducted in a variety of formats, including open-space sessions, roundtables, and forums.

The keynote speaker for this year’s opening general session is Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything and authority on the strategic value and impact of information technology. Tapscott’s presentation will examine how businesses can tap the potential of global collaboration tools such as blogs, Wikis, chat rooms, and peer-to-peer networks. MPI’s speaker roster also includes Edward Gabriel, director of crisis management for Disney, who will share his experience with event crisis management policy, planning, and training, having served in the New York Fire Department during the time of the September 11 World Trade Center attacks.

Registration for the conference is going well, says Kathryn Goldstein, MPI’s director of communications, who adds that the conference has not been affected by the stricter passport requirements that went into effect in January for U.S. travelers flying to and from Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean (but which have recently been waived for the summer months). “We are pacing way ahead of last year for the conference,” says Goldstein. “We were hoping for 3,700 attendees, but we are currently pacing at about 4,000.”

The cost of the event is $750 for members of MPI and the National Business Travel Association, $950 for nonmembers, with early-bird discounts available through June 22. Discounts for students and faculty are also available. Click here for registration details.