I had the Opportunity during Meeting Professionals International's Professional Education Conference in January to tour some of the New Orleans neighborhoods decimated by Hurricane Katrina with a dynamo of a woman who is leading the charge to bring groups back to the city: Bonnie Boyd, president of her own destination management company. We drove along, stone silent, for an hour and a half through miles and miles of indescribable destruction. When people tell you that you can't imagine the scope of the devastation, it's because you can't.

The love that the local people feel for this city is also indescribable, from cab drivers and hotel workers to those such as Jennie Campbell, a meeting planner whose home and office were destroyed. Campbell also lost her Tomorrow's Leader award from Meeting Professionals International, which the association replaced during a touching ceremony. She has no intention of leaving New Orleans, despite all that she has been through. “I believe in this community,” she told me.

All around the city you will find pioneers like her — brave people rebuilding their homes as they live out of FEMA trailers, doctors and dentists reopening their doors, retailers with huge banners flapping in the wind: “Now Open for Business.”

MPI's meeting also brought enormous hope to the city, as attendees explored the city to see if it's ready for group business. The problem is that most of them were viewing the city as a potential site for conventions two, three, and more years out. New Orleans needs the business now. Corporate meetings will lead the way to the city's revival.

That's where our cover story on Whirlpool's annual sales convention comes in. This 800-person meeting, held the week before MPI, brought rave reviews from attendees, who also participated in a Habitat for Humanity build one morning. Sure, the city was far from an easy sell, but its planners fought for it every step of the way. “There were safety concerns for our employees and for the success of the corporation,” said Marv Raglon, Whirlpool's purchase experience manager for contract and retail business. “I just felt in my heart — I can't even explain it — that we needed to do this.”

I applaud him — and MPI — and encourage you to take a look at the articles about both meetings in this issue and on our Web site, http://meetingsnet.com. And to take a serious look at New Orleans.
Barbara Scofidio
Editor

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— BS