One measure of success is the revenue generated by conventions. "If you build it, they will come," has been borne out many times over since Monona Terrace began accepting convention bookings. They come for the facility's proximity to the lake with the convenience of a downtown site, for the cultural significance, and sometimes because until now there hasn't been an appropriate meeting space in Madison. The Land Trust Alliance in Washington D.C. is delighted to be holding its annual National Land Trust Rally in Madison next year, hosted by Gathering Waters, a Madison-based group that works with land trusts in Wisconsin. "We love the fact that it's downtown and not on a suburban strip," says Andrea Freeman, LTA's director of training and conferences. "The scale of the city was right for us, and to have the Rally within walking distance of hotels, the university, stores, museums, the Capitol -- it's so convenient." The Rally requires meeting space for 20 concurrent sessions as well as room for a plenary session of 1,500. Freeman, who visited Madison often during her graduate work at Stevens Point, says it wasn't hard to make the case for Madison. Next summer, the American Society of Plant Physiologists will hold its annual convention here, drawing 1,200 members from every continent except Antarctica. "There's a lot of flexibility to the meeting space, there's Internet access, and everyone's heard of Frank Lloyd Wright," says Susan Chambers, director of finance and administration for the group. "The fact that Madison is a university town is another draw, since our members are scientists." The UW-Madison has one of the first Sea Grant programs in the country, but the annual meeting of the Sea Grant Association hasn't met in Madison in decades. This year, thanks to Monona Terrace, they'll meet on the shores of Lake Monona to kick off an 18-month celebration of their 30th anniversary. For information on scheduling an event, meeting, seminar or conference at Monona Terrace, call (608) 261-4000. For scheduling a state, national or international convention, call the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau at (608) 255-2537 or (800) 373-6376.