 While You Are Here
 Why do we always meet in New Orleans? New Orleans was the hometown of our founder, Jim Blanchard, and he wanted the Conference to be held in the city that he loved. Jim cherished the traditions and unique culture of this great city — the "city that care forgot" — and he wanted to share this special place with our attendees. Let’s face it, there is literally no other city in North America even remotely like New Orleans.
Take the French Quarter for example. Walking down its cobblestone streets during breaks in the Conference schedule, you’ll feel like you’ve stepped back into history — and sense the romantic pulse of this favorite haunt of such intrepids as the Marquis de Lafayette, Andrew Jackson and Jean Lafitte. Visit the St. Louis Cathedral on Chartres Street, one of the oldest cathedrals in the country, and enjoy the fortune tellers, musicians, artists, performers, magicians and others who perform daily at Jackson Square in front of the Cathedral.
 New Orleans has a great nightlife, and you can find anything from quiet, romantic bars and cozy pubs to venues offering the best in traditional jazz, brass and blues, lively zydeco and even good ole rock 'n' roll.
In the Quarter, you may want to try the House of Blues at 225 Decatur Street, 504-529-2583; Preservation Hall at 726 St. Peter Street, 504-522-2841; or Snug Harbor at 626 Frenchmen Street, 504-949-0696. Outside the Quarter, in uptown New Orleans, Tipitina's at 501 Napoleon Avenue, 504-895-8477, is the place to go for late-night fun.
 If you'd like to listen to authentic New Orleans music and want to dance the night away, one of the best local dance bars offering Cajun and zydeco music is the Maple Leaf Bar, 8316 Oak Street, 504-866-9369. Another place you may want to try for Cajun music is Mulate's, 201 Julia Street, 504-522-1492. Located across the street from the Riverwalk, this restaurant and bar offers dancing and live music straight from Acadiana.
Around St. Charles and Julia streets, you'll find the relatively new Warehouse Arts District, containing contemporary art galleries. Exhibits range from Southern folk art to experimental sculpture. Here you'll find the Contemporary Arts Center, 900 Camp Street, 504-523-1216, as well as the New Orleans School of Glassworks and Printmaking Studio, 727 Magazine Street, 504-529-7277.
New Orleans is home to many museums, including the Confederate Museum at 929 Camp Street, 504-523-4522, the oldest museum in the state, housing an extensive collection of Civil War records and artifacts, and the National D-Day Museum, 945 Magazine Street in the Warehouse District, 504-527-6012.
If you love antiques, you’ll find dozens of really unique shops to choose from — including James Cohen Guns & Coins, Dixon & Dixon or M.S. Rau Antiques on Royal Street, which specialize in items from the antebellum period, just to name a few.
 Then there's the more recent additions to this great city such as the one-of a kind Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art.
More?
OK, there’s wildly fun Cajun dance halls, the Riverwalk complex with hundreds of interesting and brand-name shops, and "Plantation Alley," where you can take a leisurely tour of one of the most well-preserved symbols of the Old South.
 Take a bayou tour by airboat, or a lazy walk through the Garden District (where you might bump into resident celebrities Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie or actor John Goodman). Plan ahead and squeeze in a cooking class at the renowned New Orleans School of Cooking, or jump on a street car for a tour of St. Charles Avenue. You'll breeze through uptown New Orleans, and see the extraordinary structures representing French, Italian, Spanish and American architecture. The street car route passes Audubon Park, which is across from Tulane and Loyola universities. The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the architect who designed Central Park in New York. It contains countless stables, lagoons and statues, as does the Audubon Zoo, named for famed wildlife artist John James Audubon, and one of the finest zoos in the country.
 If fine dining is your focus, make a reservation to dine at Commander’s Palace or one of the other exquisite New Orleans Restaurants. Or, pull up a chair at one of the cozy tile-lined oyster bars tucked away on magnolia lined streets. And, of course, you’ll want to drop in at the world famous Café du Monde where you can eat a beignet and sip some of the world’s best coffee while the "ol’ muddy" — the Mississippi River — rolls on by. New Orleans has it all — and then some!
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