Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 10/99) - Conferences are a mixture of business and pleasure that mean good things for city businesses.

"There's no question these conferences bring a lot of brand-new money in town," said councillor Bob Brooks.

Brooks was among the members of council who supported two new initiatives that will increase the city's attractiveness to conference organizers.

Though it has yet to be built, all approvals have been given for construction of a Super 8 hotel near Old Airport Road. Once built, the hotel will qualify the city for the next level of competition for business conferences.

"The Super 8 is a very important piece of the puzzle," said Brooks.

The 80 rooms the Super 8 is to include would push the city over the 500- room mark. That's a benchmark for conference organizers. Right now, though it has about 440 rooms in total, the city is not considered for conferences that need any more than 350 rooms, the next lowest benchmark organizers use.

The twin gym is the capital project the city supported with approvals and $1.4 million in cash. Catholic school officials promoted the gym as a multi-purpose facility ideal for trade shows and conferences.

Once completed in 2001, the gym will provide standing room for 3,960, seating for 2,100 or allow enough space for 1,065 people seated at tables.

Those kinds of developments are music to the ears of conference organizers like Darlene Mandeville, owner/operator of Prestige Planning.

Mandeville said the city's ability to accommodate guests is one of the concerns voiced by organizations and associations considering visiting Yellowknife.