Vancouver tops the world

Vancouver has the world's best convention centre, according to the International Association of Congress Centres (AIPC), which gathered recently in Singapore to hand out its biannual awards. The ecologically progressive Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre (which we wrote about in May) was selected from a field of 18 finalists that had qualified to compete for the sought-after recognition.

The Exhibitor Online reports AIPC President Edgar Hirt as saying, "This year’s Award is of particular significance for two reasons. First, it covers the period of the past two years, since it is now a biannual award out of respect for the investment of time it requires from the centre clients whose assessments form the basis for the evaluation. Secondly, this is the first time in the history of the AIPC Apex Award that it has been won by a previous AIPC Apex Award winner. We therefore want to particularly commend the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre for what is an unprecedented achievement." Vancouver also won in 2002. Raise the roof.

The achievement may be "unprecedented," but the Exhibitor article doesn't go into specific reasons why Vancouver was chosen over the others. Nor has the AIPC website yet been updated, although the awards are three weeks past. All they tell us is that winners are selected on the basis of "a comprehensive performance and customer satisfaction analysis," which sounds like something you read on a customer comment card at Wendy's, not that we go there.

I mean, it has to have something to do with the humongous green roof, right?