Due to the possibility of inclement weather, tonight’s President’s Welcome Reception at 8 p.m. has been moved from the Cloister Gardens to the Almalfi Room and Terrace in the Yacht Club.

FPRA’s 71st Annual Conference will take place Aug. 9-12 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Fla. The hotel has a rich and colorful history. Among the highlights:

1926 – On February 6, 1926, the Ritz-Carlton Cloister Inn opens as the most expensive 100-room hotel of its day. The hotel was built at a cost of $1.25 million.

1940 – The U.S. Army used the club as barracks during World War II. Touted by officials as “the most elegant barracks in history,” it housed soldiers during the Boca Raton Army Air Field’s operation.

1969 - Opening the Boca Raton Club Tower in 1969, the building is still considerably taller than any other building in southern Palm Beach County.

Boca Raton is named after the Spanish phrase “boca de ratones,” meaning “rat’s mouth,” a term used by seamen to describe a hidden rock that a ship cable might rub against.

According to Forbes, Boca Raton has three of the ten most expensive gated communities in the U.S. The Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club holds the #1 spot, The Sanctuary takes #6, and Le Lac takes the #8 spot.

According to MessageLabs (an email security vendor), Boca Raton is the “spam capital of the world”, being the source of a surprisingly high fraction of all e-mail spam generated worldwide, which is not surprising given the area’s appeal, the personal fortunes of typical spammers, and the area’s notorious past as a favorite of organized crime.

In case you haven’t had an opportunity to check out the Boca Raton Resort & Club restaurant menus, I present the Pirate’s Treasure, from the Serendipty 3 restaurant. It includes 10 scoops of ice cream, blackout cake, cheesecake, waffle cone, bananas, caramel, marshmallow & strawberry toppings, hot fudge, rainbow sprinkles, nuts, cherries, freshly whipped cream, chocolate shavings and a treasure chest full of surprises, according to the menu! All this for the low, low price of $125 plus tax and gratuity… please let me know what time dessert is!

On Monday of this year’s conference, you can toast to the Multilogue with your “Tweet-tini” at the Social Media Social.  Join your host Kidd Public Relations at the Spanish Terrace from 5 to 6 p.m., for cocktails and appetizers prior to the Florida Public Relation’s Education Foundation Scholarship Fundraiser.  Bring Smart devices and follow @KiddGroup for clues and quips leading to prizes during the event!

The first 60 guests will receive a complimentary beverage ticket.

If you are not registered for conference yet click here.

This year’s conference attendees will all receive a 24 oz. stainless steel sports bottle – a safer alternative to plastic. The bottle is environmentally friendly (no plastic bottles in the dump) and toxin free. The bottles are made from at least 50% recycled content and are 100% recyclable. Most shops sell a refillable sports bottle that is constructed from plastic. The problem is that regular plastic drinking bottles leech dangerous chemicals into your beverage. A stainless steel water bottle is toxin-free and doesn’t affect the taste of the beverage stored in it.

When someone is ready to get rid of the stainless steel bottle, it can simply be tossed into the recycling bin with other metal products and melted down to make a future product.

These water bottles are provided by the Kissimmee Utility Authority to help us keep our FPRA Annual Conference as “green” as possible.