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12The Palais des congrès de Montréal’s bold new vision set the tone for a year packed with events and innovation. Venue operations between April 1st, 2018 and March 31, 2019 generated economic spinoffs estimated at more than $215,000,000 for Montréal and the province of Québec—a remarkable 11% gain on the annual average recorded since the facility’s expansion in 2002. Over the course of the fiscal year, 353 events brought in a record 909,000 attendees, who booked more than 142,000 hotel nights in Greater Montréal. This new attendance record is 2.8% higher than the previous one, while the number of hotel nights number is a 17.4% increase over last year.
“The Palais’s outstanding performance for 2018–2019 is due to the incredible work of our staff and key suppliers—Capital Traiteur, Freeman Audio Visual, GES, GDI, and Bee-Clean—as well as industry partners such as Tourisme Montréal, our Ambassadors, and Association des hôtels du grand Montréal,” said Robert Mercure, CEO of the Palais des congrès de Montréal. “Montréal has real drawing power and we are proud to offer a venue that is perfectly suited to large business gatherings,” he added.
The Palais: A vehicle for local creativity and convention centre of the future
Its eye firmly set on creating exciting, unforgettable experiences for convention-goers, the Palais founded its new vision on the creativity and know-how Montréal is famous for. The year was marked by partnerships with local startups and new initiatives designed to breathe life into the Palais’s public spaces.
“This industry is extremely competitive. So to exceed our clients’ expectations we’ve introduced a whole series of innovative ideas to help position us as a leading global player while showing off our fine city,” added Mercure. “The Palais is a true showcase for Montréal’s creativity. We want to make this the new standard for the future,” he said.
Host of major conventions
In all, 36 national and international conventions were held at the Palais this year. Some of the most notable include:
| Conventions | Number of attendees | Economic benefits |
| Thirty-second Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems | Nearly 9,000 | $6.0 million |
| 22nd Annual RoboCup International Symposium | 4 000 | $11.9 million |
| American Society for Bone & Mineral Research Annual Meeting | 3 000 | $7.7 million |
| 29th International Congress of Applied Psychology | 3 000 | $7.5 million |
| 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems | 3 000 | $6.4 million |
Substantial contributions from our Ambassadors
Many of the conferences held at the Palais in 2018–2019 were made possible through the invaluable support of Ambassadors Club members. They include:
| Conventions | Ambassador(s) |
| International Society for Cellular Therapy 2018 Annual Meeting | Dr. Denis-Claude Roy |
| Global Power & Propulsion Society Conference – GPPS 2018 | Prof. Hany Moustapha |
| 4th World Conference on Marine Biodiversity | Prof. Philippe Archambault |
| 22nd Annual RoboCup International Symposium | Ms. Sara Iatauro |
| 2018 World Congress of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability | Hon. Denis Coderre |
| 29th International Congress of Applied Psychology | Dr. Karen R. Cohen |
| 18th International Biotechnology Symposium and Exhibition | Prof. Nicolas Moitessier |
| XXI World Congress of Medical & Clinical Hypnosis | Mr. Michel Landry Dr. Claude Verreault |
| 9th International Congress on Glaucoma Surgery | Dr. Ali Hafez |
| 11th World Stroke Congress | Dr. Sylvain Lanthier Dr. Alexander Thiel |
Together the events our eminent Ambassadors helped secure generated nearly $35,000,000 in economic spinoffs for Montréal and Québec.
Focus on sustainability
The Palais’s social and environmental commitments were at the forefront this past fiscal year, and promise to have a noteworthy impact on both the Palais and, more importantly, the planet. The Palais recently announced it was adopting the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as an international framework to guide its actions. Some of its most recent environmental initiatives of note are:
- Achieving carbon neutrality for the building, establishing the Palais as one of the first convention centres in the Americas to make such a commitment
- Offsetting greenhouse gas emissions associated with sales representative travel
- Supporting the Scol’ERE carbon exchange and its awareness activities in Montréal primary schools
- Creating the Sustainable Development Innovation Committee with experts from ten Québec universities
- Announcing an innovative carbon offset program that will soon be available to Palais clients looking to reduce their attendees’ environmental footprint
New heights of client satisfaction
The Palais, with the support of its official and exclusive suppliers, set new records for service quality this year, making the finalist selection for the prestigious AIPC Apex Award recognizing the convention centre with the highest client rating. The venue’s outstanding 92% satisfaction rating was its strongest score in the past decade.