Do you know what it means to miss new orleans?" is an old Louis Armstrong favorite. These days, that tune has a whole new meaning. Since Katrina's devastation, associations across the board are planning or sticking with planned upcoming meetings and conventions here so they won't be missing - or missing out on the recovery of - the Big Easy. One such group is PCMA, which announced last month that it will be holding its annual meeting in New Orleans in 2009. "We believe that New Orleans will be open for business sooner rather than later, but 2009 was the first year we have not contracted for our meeting," said Deborah Sexton, PCMA president and CEO. "We support our partners in New Orleans 110 percent and there is no better way to demonstrate this than by having our annual meeting here."

Planners report that although they are thrilled to support the city in its time of need, the decision to bring their people here was not one taken lightly.

They have been reassured by the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau (NOMCVB) that the areas visited by meeting attendees and tourists - including the French Quarter, Warehouse District, Central Business District, and Garden District - sustained the least amount of damage and are making a great deal of progress every day to return to life, pre-Katrina.

"The parts of the city frequented by meeting attendees are ready to host successful meetings. All we need now are the tourists and attendees," said Donna Karl, CMP, vice president of client relations for NOMCVB. "Several hotels never closed and many hotels have been open since shortly after the storm, more than 650 restaurants are open, nightclubs and live bands have been up and running for quite some time," she said.

The city's first huge post-Katrina convention will take place in late June when the American Library Association (ALA) brings its 2006 annual conference to town with approximately 20,000 attendees. "If we truly care about the residents of New Orleans, the best thing that the association and its members can do is to go to New Orleans and lead the reconstruction by example," said Michael Gorman, ALA president. "Our conference will help to provide the jobs and tax revenues needed if residents are to re-establish their lives and for the city to fully restore services, including library services."

The group will need 8,000 hotel rooms. Not a problem, as most hotels in the city are now open. The Marriott Hotels of New Orleans was the first collection of hotels to open post-Katrina to non-relief guests, said Char Schroeder, area director, public relations, Marriott Hotels of New Orleans.

Other hotels followed suit. Currently, the majority of hotels are sold out for Mardi Gras and the city's next major event, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, will likely sell out as well.

By June, all restoration work at the Morial Convention Center is expected to be complete and will be ready to once again welcome citywide convention business. Restoration work includes permanent roof repairs, skylight glass replacement, and 88,000 square yards of custom designed carpet. The center will also have a new interior and exterior color palate.

President Bush visited the city last month and was impressed with recovery efforts. "I will tell you the contrast between when I was last here [October] and today is pretty dramatic," he said.