Canadians searching for the best place to live may benefit from "insider views" offered by convention centres, particularly those outside major cities. These facilities are ambassadors for the communities they serve and exist to communicate the advantages of their location, location, location.

Planning and attending conferences outside your municipality or province may prove to be a great way to discover new places to work and live.

Convention and tourism centres promote their communities to organizations across the country and around the world, so they are very clear about what their location has to offer. The types of meetings they attract can reflect local industry and business patterns, but the event schedule may also indicate tourism attraction for the area. In smaller centres, community facilities often do double duty when its time to host larger meetings and everyone pitches in.

"Some people come up for a visit or a short time and end up living here and making a home for their families," said Melissa Perkins, Convention/Tourism Manager for the Town of Inuvik in the Northwest Territories (NWT). "Inuvik is kind of far away, but it is somewhere. People come in from fly-in-only communities for groceries and while they are here use the facilities. Inuvik is the government centre, so there are a lot of departmental and government meetings ... . The other side that appeals to people is the NWT -- there is a lot of untamed land a short drive out of town or down the Dempster Highway [to Dawson City]."

Inuvik, which means "place of the people," earns its title as "Land of the Midnight Sun and Gateway to the Beaufort-Delta" from its location 2 degrees above the Arctic Circle on the Mackenzie River and Delta. Inuvik is the homeland of the Inuvialuit, Gwich'in and other aboriginal peoples and cultures. Situated near the Richardson Mountains, between treeless tundra and northern boreal forest, this northern community is a short flight from the Arctic Ocean.

Perkins, who relocated from Regina, Saskatchewan, when her husband was offered a federal government posting, did not really know what to expect when she arrived four years ago. They have both been delighted with what they discovered.

"We are up here above the Arctic Circle and it is isolated, but [everyone is] making sure we have quality of life -- it is those things people put an emphasis on," said Perkins explaining she and her husband found many opportunities for professional and personal development at work and within the town of 3500. Perkins serves on committees and boards for the fire department, parks and arts community. Among the many facilities to enjoy are Inuvik's Community Greenhouse and a new aquatic centre, which features squash courts, a rock wall, a lane pool and a 24-hour fitness centre.

"Despite what time of year it is, what people think is 'igloos'," said Perkins. "Winter is cold, but Inuvik is a tiny version of a city. You'll see people dress for practicality, not fashion, with parkas and boots, but the cold people expect, since it is the Arctic. In the summer, people are surprised -- it can get close to 30°C. And there's the 24 hour daylight. The sun never goes down; it just rotates around the sky. Then around December, we have a period of 30 days without sun. It's not dark, but more like a very, very overcast day, so those things change the routine. The sun returns and we have the Sunrise Festival in January. No matter how cold it is, people gather their children and come out and watch the activities, the fireworks -- the sun."

Inuvik has hosted a variety of significant meetings including a visit from then Prime Minister Paul Martin. Most noteworthy is the largest annual northern conference -- The Inuvik Petroleum Show +, which brings in more than 800 professionals from the oil industry and related sectors across North America. The Show also draws an additional 600 visitors.

Inuvik's Midnight Sun Rec Centre becomes 'conference central' while the hockey and curling rinks host the trade show. The community hall provides additional meeting room space.

"It is the most amazing thing, the entire community does come together and share that northern hospitality," said Perkins. "Finding [hotel] beds for 800 people is not easy, but the people come together and, in the last few years, we have a few new hotels. It's hotels, apartments, bed and breakfasts, and oil/gas companies which have camps they offer for accommodation. Some [attendees] come and camp with their families. The community comes together to pull off The Petroleum Show."

Perkins recalls that the first thing she noticed on arrival in Inuvik was how clean and refreshing the air was. From the startling Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), colourful stilted housing and winter ice roads over frozen rivers to permafrost and a chance to dip your toes in the Arctic Ocean, there's a lot to discover in the Northwest Territories -- and the rest of Canada, for that matter. Why not use your next meeting as a starting point for broadening your horizons?