Successful Meetings - January 2009 - (Page 15)

NEWS UPDATE Airport Improvements Terminal, concourse renovations promise better experience MPI Cements Its Show Circuit Meeting Professionals International has announced the future sites for its World Education Congress, as well as the location for its 2010 MeetDifferent conference (formerly the Professional Education Conference). C ustomer satisfaction with airlines is at its lowest point since 2001, but satisfaction with airports is poised to rise, thanks to renovations and expansions at several hubs in the South. In Atlanta, where work continues on a $6.2 billion, 10-year capital improvement program at Hartsfield-Jackson, upgrades include linking ATL—via the new Automated People Mover—to the Georgia International Convention Center, and two new hotels, as early as November. Also debuting in November is a consolidated rental car facility. The largest of the projects under way is the construction of an international terminal, which will have 12 new gates when it opens in 2011. The $1.68 billion terminal will adjoin the existing E Concourse, resulting in a 40-gate complex. A new terminal has already opened in Raleigh, NC, where Phase 1 of a twophase, $570 million redevelopment project was completed last month at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU). The new Terminal 2 is home to four airlines, 40 electronic check-in kiosks, seven security checkpoint lanes, 25 shops and restaurants, three baggage carousels, and 19 boarding gates. When Phase 2 of the project opens in 2011, it will be three times the size of RDU’s existing Terminal C—currently being demolished to make room for the latter half of Terminal 2. Phase 2 will add three security checkpoints, two baggage claim carousels, 17 shops and restaurants, and 13 boarding gates—giving RDU plenty of room to accommodate increased convention traffic generated by the new Raleigh Convention Center, which opened in September. And Nashville’s BNA is in the midst of an extensive terminal facelift—its first interior renovation since opening in 1987. Scheduled for completion next year, the renovation will give BNA a consolidated, 12-lane security checkpoint as well as new flight information displays and an upgraded interior. Also opened within the last two years were airport renovations in Lexington, KY, and Biloxi, MS. —Matt Alderton The following cities are confirmed for WEC: • Orlando July 23-26, 2011 • St. Louis July 28-31, 2012 • Las Vegas July 20-23, 2013 For MeetDifferent, which traditionally has been held in the U.S., MPI selected Cancun, Feb. 20-23, 2010. Other upcoming dates: • MeetDifferent 2009 will be held in Atlanta, Feb. 7-10. • WEC 2009 will be held in Salt Lake City, July 11-14. • WEC 2010 will go on in Vancouver, July 24-27. WEC is the largest MPI event, attracting a global audience. MeetDifferent now focuses on innovative meeting design, alternative learning strategies, and emerging technologies. The spirit of the event is to challenge conventional thinking. SuccessfulMeetings.com I January 2009 I SM I 15 http://www.SuccessfulMeetings.com

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Successful Meetings - January 2009

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