Anchorage Attracts Off-Season Convention Attendees.

What does Anchorage have in common with Honolulu, New Orleans and San Diego? Answer: It is a popular destination for conventions--in the winter.

"Eighty-one percent of our convention business occurs between fall and spring," declares Joy Maples, director of communications for the Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau. With hotel space virtually unavailable during the summer, a growing number of national and international professional, technological and trade conventions occur during what the visitor industry refers to as "off-season," which Maples prefers to call the "Fall/Winter/Spring" season.

Many organizations award convention sites through a highly competitive bid process. While ACVB staff provide the facts, figures, costs, promotional literature--and don moose costumes at convention booths--residents and former visitors have the enthusiasm to convince their colleagues and associates to come North during the coldest time of the year.

Alaskans "don't apologize for the winter weather. They say 'Yes it's cold and it's wonderful!'" says Maples. ACVB is excited by the diverse conferences scheduled. In fact, Maples reports that ACVB is scheduling conventions into May 2006.

Upcoming Conventions

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Photovoltaic Consultants Society: Many have not heard of Photovoltaics, also known as PV; they have heard of solar energy. As retired NASA PV engineer Moe Forestieri, a consultant and administrative assistant to the PVCS, explains, "Photovoltaic is a technical term for solar cell, a device that converts light into electricity. Solar cells in combination with rechargeable batteries have been used as a primary power source in almost every unmanned satellite, the American Skylab Space Station, Russian MIR and the new International Space Station.

IEEE conferences, held in the United States and around the world, have joined scientists, engineers, inventors and business people in promoting use of this technology in terrestrial applications. The IEEEPVCS will hold its 28th annual international conference in Anchorage Sept. 17 to Sept. 22.

Plans to hold the conference in Anchorage began four years ago when Forestieri, an Ohio resident, visited his son who worked at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Alaska's landscape, recreational opportunities and the warm hospitality displayed by ACVB and Hilton staff during a familiarization trip convinced the conference organizers to select Anchorage as this year's venue.

There has been an enthusiastic response from the society's members. "This is the largest number of (technological) papers to be presented at the conference. With 480 speakers coming, plus others who are not presenting, but interested, we expect between 700 individuals to 800 individuals to attend," says Professor Ajeet Rohatgi, regents professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and director of the PV Center. In addition 50 companies to 60 companies will exhibit PV products.

Rohatgi says Photovoltaic systems offer numerous possible applications for rural Alaska. A public exhibition and special workshop sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the State of Alaska will explore the use of renewable energy systems in Alaska.

The agenda includes tutorials, contests for students and the presentation of the internationally prestigious William R. Cherry Award, which recognizes technological innovation. However, these world-renowned scientists will leave time for fun. Conference organizers arranged a pre-conference cruise to Alaska from Vancouver. A 5K Photovoltaic Fun Run is conference tradition. Also, there will be a sunset dinner train ride along Turnagain Arm. Rohatgi cheerfully reports, "I'm going crazy!" between finalizing conference preparations and deciding which day-cruise to take.

Household Goods Forwarders Association of America: Household Goods Forwarders Association members pack, load and forward household goods and personal effects around the world. From Sept. 30 to Oct 5, a record 1,600 attendees will converge on Anchorage.

"We've been to Orlando, Honolulu, Washington DC and Nashville two or three times and we wanted something different," said Alaska resident Pete Sorenson, association member and president of Worldwide Movers Inc. "Initially there was some opposition (to Alaska as a site) because traditionally there is a golf day, depending on weather."

But the membership agreed that "the temperature inside the Hilton in Houston is the same as it is in the Hilton in Anchorage," he said. According to Sorenson, the convention's main goal is networking to foster better understanding between the members' counterparts overseas.

"If you are moving someone to a foreign country, there is a huge amount of trust. I need to be able to trust my counterparts in other countries, that they will take care of my customers on the receiving end." The association will have the longest train ride the Alaska Railroad has ever put together for a function.

Left Coast Crime: "Left Coast Crime is a 'fan' convention; it allows readers to talk with their favorite authors," says local author Dana Stabenow. "Writers find they sell more books in Alaska than almost anywhere else. Alaskans are serious readers."

Frustrated with preferential treatment afforded to mystery writers from east of the Mississippi, Barbara Peters, a mystery bookstore owner in Scottsdale, AZ, founded Left Coast Crime conference for mystery writers in Western cities. The Anchorage chapter of Sisters in Crime, mystery book devotees and some authors took it a step further.

With Stabenow and another local author, Megan Rust, on the steering committee, ACVB and the Hilton Hotel pitched Anchorage as the site for the February 2001 convention--and won.

Featured guests are New York Times best-selling author Michael Connelly and British author Lindsey Davis. Stabenow is particularly excited about large grants from Cook Inlet Regional Corp. and Southcentral Foundation, which will sponsor 50 authors to travel to rural Alaska to visit schools and libraries. Connelly will travel to Bethel and author J.A. Jance to Sitka.

"Some children raised in the Bush have never met an author before. I was born and raised in Seldovia. If I had met authors when I was a kid, I would have become an author sooner," says Stabenow. Conference planners anticipate 750 attendees. Says Stabenow, "The ripple effects won't stop. Writers will write about Alaska and spread the word. This is good for tourism."

National Association of Women in Construction: NAWIC is an umbrella association of women who are in the construction business or who own businesses in construction related fields.

In September 2001, the 45-year-old organization will hold its annual convention in Anchorage. "In the 1980s, there was concern about the expense, distance and time traveling to Alaska. But when I was a national officer, other members saw me traveling to meetings and realized it was not cost-prohibitive," explains Evelyn Clark, past national president and a business development manager for Coffman Engineers.

Clark attributes the award to the enthusiastic presentation by ACVB and Hilton Hotel representatives, along with NAWIC's local chapter president. "Raffle baskets with Alaska trinkets raised funds for the local scholarship fund and kept Alaska in everyone's minds," says Clark. She echoed the sentiment of other committee chairs and officers: bringing conventions to Anchorage fulfills numerous organizational goals. Not only are business people proud to showcase Anchorage and the state, but hosting the convention affords opportunities for professional development, networking, community outreach/consumer education and assurance of a future work force through the community's school children.