Host City New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial welcomed attending mayors to New Orleans during Friday’s plenary session and again with a special video presentation on Saturday.

Morial thanked Conference President and Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini, Vice President and Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, Advisory Board Chair and Boise Mayor H. Brent Coles, and Executive Director J. Thomas Cochran for their time, work, and money which was essential to making the 67th Annual Conference a success.

Consistently referring to New Orleans as a "comeback city", Morial cited the past problems of public safety and crime, police corruption and brutality, depressed economics, and a loss of civic commitment as all having been overcome. As a result of Morial’s leadership, the city has seen a sixty-percent drop in the crime rate, and "innovative new efforts to rebuild housing and bring people back into the city" have resulted in ten thousand new homeowners in the last 4 years. Also featured in the video, and as a result of Morial’s actions, were a new public facility built with community development block grant (CDBG) money, and an old cotton mill renovated as a brownfields development site.

Preceded by a live Jazz band playing "When the Saints Come Marching In", the video presentation showed why New Orleans traditionally has been associated with its famous music, food, and culture. The video featured this year’s Mardi Gras celebration, Jackson and Congo Squares, and the city’s symbols, including the streetcar, the riverboat, the white pillar house, the Jazz band, and a Degas painting. Mayor Morial and Conference Executive Director Cochran also hosted their own cooking show and prepared gumbo, a New Orleans specialty "representing the cultural mix" of the city.