CHICAGO, IL, March 12, 2008 -- The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) is excited to announce the sites for its 2011 and 2012 Annual Meetings. The MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV, will host the 2011 Annual Meeting and San Diego, CA, will host the 2012 Annual Meeting.

The Annual Meeting will take place in Las Vegas Jan. 9th- 12th, 2011.

"We are excited to be welcoming PCMA to Las Vegas in 2011, and we look forward to showing all of the attendees why Las Vegas is the No. 1 convention destination," said Rossi Ralenkotter, President and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "When PCMA delegates begin arriving in 2011, they will have a completely new destination to experience, with several new resorts, restaurants and other amenities being added between now and then."

The San Diego meeting will take place Jan. 8th - 11th, 2012.

"On behalf of the San Diego Convention Center Corporation, we are honored PCMA has selected San Diego to host its 2012 Annual Meeting," said San Diego Convention Center Corporation President and CEO Carol Wallace. "The Convention Center has doubled in size since hosting PCMA in 1996, and San Diego has added thousands of new hotel rooms, restaurants, shops and major attractions, including Petco Park, Children's Museum, and Midway Museum-all within walking distance of the Convention Center. We are thrilled to be hosting this event, which allows us to showcase our world-class facility and hospitality to the top meeting professionals in the industry."

"We are thrilled to be partnering with the San Diego Convention Center Corporation to host the 2012 PCMA Annual Meeting," added David Peckinpaugh, CMP, President and CEO of the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau. "It has been too long since we last welcomed PCMA to our fair city. We are extremely excited to be able to showcase all that is new-and will be new-in the destination to this esteemed group of meeting professionals."

Each year, the PCMA Annual Meeting attracts more than 3,000 attendees. At the 2008 PCMA Annual Meeting in Seattle, PCMA set a new attendance record. The meeting is touted as one of the industry's most comprehensive educational and networking events. The economic impact of the PCMA Annual Meeting is traditionally felt for years in the host city, as PCMA members often return to host cities for their future meetings.

For more information about PCMA and the PCMA Annual Meeting, visit www.pcma.org

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The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) is the professional resource and premier educator for the meetings and convention industry. Founded in 1957, PCMA represents the interests of meeting management executives from associations, non-profit organizations, corporations, independent meeting planning companies, and multi-management firms who recognize the importance of meetings to their organization. PCMA empowers members with the tools they need to succeed as meeting professionals and to promote the value of the industry to their organizations and the general public. Headquartered in Chicago, PCMA has 16 chapters throughout the United States and Canada. For additional information, please visit the PCMA Web site at www.pcma.org

The role of the PCMA Education Foundation is to support the mission of the PCMA through fundraising and grant giving focused on education and research that will benefit the meetings and conventions industry. Established in 1985, the Foundation supports educational programs to improve professionalism in the meetings industry and to provide a university-level meeting management curriculum. The Foundation funds educational programs for meeting managers, hotels, convention and visitors bureaus, and other members of the meetings industry. It also conducts ongoing research of industry issues and concerns. The Foundation continually funds new programs to encourage the highest levels of professionalism in the meetings industry.