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An informal poll conducted by the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) confirmed what many meeting planners already know about San Diego. Our mild winter weather is one of the top reasons attendees are thrilled to come to annual meetings, events, congresses or conventions at the award-winning San Diego Convention Center. And it was one of the reasons for SCCM's record-breaking attendance at our facility last month. While much of the country was covered in snow, delegates in San Diego enjoyed temperatures in the mid- to high-70s during their stay.
 "Thirty percent of the participants in our opening plenary session said they were here to get away from the snow and cold. San Diego is a very attractive destination," says Jim Flanigan, SCCM's director of marketing. "The fact that this was SCCM's 40th anniversary, the excitement around the evening we had on the USS Midway, as well as a strong scientific program all contributed to our success this year."
SCCM has never had more than 6,000 attend their annual congress. In San Diego in January 2011, that number grew to 6,280. The San Diego Convention Center is proud to be ranked the number one destination among healthcare meeting planners. Flanigan says he understands why.
"San Diego is a great convention city because of the convenience of travel from the hotel to the Convention Center, the close proximity of the hotels, and, if the streams of our attendees are any indication, the great weather and the Gaslamp," says Flanigan.
"We had a number of people comment about the greeters always pointing them in the right direction and our exhibitors were happy they were able to work with a center whose staff really know what they are doing," he added.
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