Meeting Professionals International's (MPI) Bermuda chapter has become a "thriving'' organisation, the group's president said.

"MPI's mid-Atlantic chapter is firmly established in the Bermuda business community and the business community is taking the organisation more seriously, as an organisation that can attract business to Bermuda,'' Starla Williams said.

"I don't think that was there in the beginning.'' Efforts to set up a local chapter commenced about 18 months ago and members hosted a charter celebration at Chelston, the US Consul General's residence, last summer.

Mid-Atlantic chapter members -- there are 50 -- include meeting planners and representatives of the service industry, like hotels, florists, caterers, and destination management companies, who supply services to planners.

Its goals are to bring business to the Island, raise awareness of the meeting planning industry, and serve as networking mechanism, Ms Williams said.

"The local chapter is about actively promoting Bermuda as a meeting place,'' Ms Williams said.

On the international front, MPI has 14,200 members and 56 chapters in 45 countries. Forty chapters are US-based with the organisation's international headquarters located in Dallas.

Back in 1972, the organisation had just 150 members. Five years later the first seven chapters were set up.

Today, MPI estimates its members are part of a $3.8 billion a year industry.

Its members are responsible for about 580,000 meetings per year.

Several meeting professionals look to Bermuda as a venue, Ms Williams said.

Locally, MPI members plan about six to 25 events per year.

The most significant segment of the meeting planning business that Bermuda is targeting is the business meetings and conferences. But incentive trips -- set up by companies to reward employee performance -- remains a "vigorous'' part of Bermuda's business, Ms Williams added.

Ms Williams, also executive vice president of meeting planning firm Select Site Services, estimated "very conservatively'' that a three-day event held here for 100 people injects $200,000 into the economy. That does not include the group's hotel bill or money spent by family members along for the trip, she said.

"We find business people are bringing extended family and extending their stay.'' Currently planning a three-day reinsurance meeting in October, the Bermuda Angle, to include 100 individuals, she said that one-third are staying for the week and bringing family members.

Why meet offshore instead of in the home-based boardroom? Because businesses are "retreats away from their own backyard where they can plan strategy,'' mid-Atlantic MPI president-elect Elizabeth Ward said.

They want to take time to focus on the strategy of their companies and create an environment where executives are distanced from their desks, she said.

"Bermuda provides that environment,'' Mrs. Ward, also protocol and special events officer at the Bank of Bermuda, said.

Bermuda benefits because these visitors are "high net worth individuals with the financial means to come back to the Island on family vacations,'' she said.

"We want to play an active role in the business community.'' Mrs. Ward has overseen the Bank of Bermuda's participation at the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc.'s (RIMS) conference, and just recently set up the bank's corporate recognition ceremony for 1,400 of the financial institution's employees.

On the downside, the Bermuda chapter executives said that while the venues for events which include 20-30 people are "phenomenal,'' sites for large functions are limited. And aside from the Hamilton Princess, there are no sites for big events in Hamilton.

Another concern is slow "response time'' within the service industry and the level of services provided.

Despite these challenges, the geographic location of Bermuda will always be a huge benefit for US companies looking for a meeting location, Mrs. Ward said.

Another benefit is the Caribbean basin initiative, a US tax rule which permits US companies holding meetings in Bermuda and the Caribbean to treat the costs as if they had held the event onshore, Ms Williams said.

Since inception, the mid-Atlantic chapter has set up a $2,000 scholarship through the Bermuda College. The group also holds monthly meetings, hosts a trade show and maintains a reference library.

And the Bermuda chapter is spearheading a Caribbean Council to link Bermuda with other business centres.

Bahamian and Puerto Rican planners and suppliers have contacted the Bermuda chapter seeking advice about chapter start-up.

The next event on the MPI calender is a forum today at the Sonesta to cover current trends in the industry.

MPI president Kathleen Ratcliffe will be among the organisation's board members here for a seminar. She is vice president of sales and marketing for the Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association (BACVA) and has over 13 years of hospitality management and sales experience. She has served as BACVA director of convention marketing, director of marketing for Radisson Hotel Denver, convention sales executive for the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission and as director of the Carbondale Convention and Tourism Bureau in Illinois.