Attendance at Solar Power 2006 was record-breaking: The number of exhibitors grew by 300 percent and the number of attendees by 700 percent from the previous year. The conference was the largest solar event in U.S. history, attracting 8,500 attendees, according to Julia Judd, SEPA's executive director. It brought together visionaries, innovators, and capital sources.

"San Jose worked so well for a tech conference like ours. The solar power industry is growing extremely fast and has been compared to the explosive growth of the Internet industry. The Silicon Valley is a hotbed of activity," Judd said, adding that among the many audience members were investors and entrepreneurs from the Valley.

A highlight of the conference was an evening networking reception held in the Tech Museum of Innovation, another perfect tie-in to the conference's theme. Hands-on interactive exhibits fittingly included "Green By Design." The SEPA group (about 3,000 attendees) took over the entire museum, interacting with robots, checking out jetpack and roller coaster simulations, and taking a trip over the surface of Mars.

Although the focus of the conference was business, another popular social event was "Celebrating Solar Innovation," a wine and food pairing reception featuring wines from vineyards that have installed solar photovoltaics on their facilities. There were also tours of local solar installations.

The conference got "staggering" media coverage from Fortune, The Economist, and Los Angeles Times, Judd said, and became even more of a media event when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger arrived to speak to the group on the last day. Gov. Schwarzenegger was a question mark until two days out. "The convention center staff couldn't have been more helpful with the logistics issues that arose surrounding Schwarzenegger's speech. Sessions had to be moved around to make room for his security contingency and for the media," she said.

Another popular speaker was Sun Microsystems founder Vinod Khosla, considered by many to be the No. 1 venture capitalist in the world.

The theme of innovation was carried through in the conference's online marketing, trade publications, and by forming relationships with partnering associations. The San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau helped SEPA connect with other associations with constituencies they were trying to reach. For example, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG) became a partner. Many engineering managers and facility managers from the SVLG were contacted who would be interested in solar energy and its benefits to their facilities. There were approximately 30 partners in total. "This was the first time we made partnering a key marketing strategy and it was extremely successful," Judd said.

SEPA is looking to return to San Jose in 2009 - although, when it was first announced that the 2006 conference would be held here, many were less than excited. "We heard from many that this is a city they would not visit on their own," Judd said. "But once they got there, people raved about the walkability of the city, the diverse offerings of restaurants and bars around the convention center, and the number of things to see and do."

Andrea Doyle is Convene's senior writer. This Extraordinary Meetings column was sponsored by the San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau, www.sanjose.org.