Meeting planners understand the importance of keeping attendees and/or organization members feeling that their time is well spent by attending a convention or congress. One of the goals is to make sure that attendees will return for next year's convention.
MPI WEC 2008 organizers gave prime visibility to Salt Lake City, the selected host city for MPI WEC 2009. A seated lunch was served on the final day of the convention, sponsored by the Salt Lake City Convention & Visitors Bureau. This allowed Salt Lake City tourism officials to highlight competitive strengths for their destination, while encouraging attendees to want to experience next year's event.
This type of convention sponsorship was also valuable to Salt Lake City because they were able to make an informal pitch to all meeting professionals who happen to also be key decisionmakers in the selection of venues and destinations for numerous programs throughout the year.