When WPPI announced last week that it broke all previous attendance records with 16,000 attendees for its recently concluded WPPI 2011 Convention and Trade Show, this was great news for event planners for two important reasons.
First of all, WPPI is a global trade show, hosting attendees and speakers from throughout the United States as well as from 46 foreign countries as far away as Australia, with more than 160 classes and workshops and Spanish language classes for attendees. The upward turn in attendance is consistent with all the surveys that show 2011 is going to see a significant increase in event attendance.
But more than that, WPPI represents an important vendor population in the event industry. The fact that, according to George Varanakis, WPPI's Group Publisher and Executive Vice President, “exciting new programs and energizing events provided attendees with a high level of education, business support and networking opportunities" is significant. The team work that event planners coordinate for successful events is finding new levels of professionalism as all parties raise the bar.