Who's coming to town? Highlights of Indiana meetings and conventions this year.

• Author: Held, Shari
• Position: MEETING & CONVENTIONS

GAMERS, QUILTERS, musicians, scientists and egg artisans are all coming to venues around the state this year. Here's a look at some of the larger and more interesting Indiana meetings and conventions.

The Centre, Evansville.

The $40 million Centre is a no-smoking facility that features a 38,000-square-foot fully carpeted, column-free Exhibition Hall, a ballroom equipped with infra-red hearing assistance technology and multi-tiered auditorium. With 280,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, the Centre can accommodate meetings and conventions of nearly any size. Throughout 2006, aesthetic and functional enhancements will be made to the facility.

March 12-17 the focus will be on shoes. The Shoe Carnival, headquartered in Evansville, will hold its annual Shoe Carnival National Sales Meeting and Managers Meeting. Approximately 500 will learn the latest information concerning their company and the industry. On Monday the 13th, the hot, new product lines from vendors will be on display.

Jehovah's Witness from Kentucky (April 8-9) and Indiana (April 22-23) will flock to Evansville for their respective regional meetings. Several hundred are expected to attend each meeting. May 1-5 nearly 1,200 Apostolic World Christian Fellowship members will be in Evansville for a four-day evangelical gathering that will be video-conference worldwide.

Approximately 600 women will converge at the Centre October 12 for The Women's Event, educational sessions for personal and professional growth, sponsored by the Evansville Courier & Press. The featured speaker will be national broadcaster Soledad O'Brien, anchor of CNN's American Morning show.

Coming in November, the Centre auditorium will be filled with approximately 2,500 attendees from the Tri-State area as the Taste of Home Cooking School brings its show to Evansville. Attendees will see recipe demonstrations, learn time-saving cooking tips and find the latest and greatest cooking aides from 60-plus vendors.

Bloomington/Monroe County Convention Center, Bloomington.

Located in the heart of Bloomington and hosting more than 1,000 events per year, the Bloomington Convention Center has approximately 21,000 square feet of meeting space and specializes in meetings and small conferences of 300 people or less. The Courtyard by Marriott, with 117 rooms, is directly connected to the center. This year all meeting rooms include free wireless Internet and phone services. Catering and audio-visual requirements can be...