Monthly Archives: December 2019

ASAE Names Future Host Cities for 2022 through 2027 ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition

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Following a competitive bidding process, ASAE announces the host cities for the 2022 through 2027 ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition. 

When selecting host cities ASAE takes into consideration the convention center facilities, hotel packages, and venue options for the evening events. Other factors include the geographic location, the commitment of the city to deliver new experiences for our attendees, the backing of the local hospitality industry, city leaders and volunteers, in addition to the engagement of the city with ASAE.

The ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition attracts thousands of association executives and hundreds of exhibitors each year. Commonly known as the “Super Bowl” of meetings, the ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition is the flagship education and exposition for associations and nonprofit organizations in the United States.

List of Future Host Cities:

  • 2022: Nashville, TN

August 20-23, 2022

Music City Center

  • 2023: Atlanta, GA (Previously announced but location moved from 2022 to 2023)

August 5-8, 2023

Georgia World Congress Center

  • 2024: Cleveland, Ohio

August 10-13, 2024

Huntington Convention Center

  • 2025: Los Angeles, CA

August 9-12 , 2025

Los Angeles Convention Center

  • 2026: Indianapolis, IN

August 15-18, 2026

Indiana Convention Center

  • 2027: Charlotte, NC

August 7-10, 2027

Charlotte Convention Center

“Congratulations to the cities selected for our 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027 ASAE Annual Meeting & Expositions. We look forward to working closely with the selected convention and visitors bureaus which includes a vast network of local and regional Societies of Association Executives (SAE), as we plan and execute the high level meetings our members expect us to deliver,” said Interim ASAE President and CEO, Susan Robertson, CAE.

Among the association executives who attend the ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition are those who select destinations for their own organization’s meetings and events. It is estimated that 20% of the delegates who attend the ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition book their own conventions in the host city within five years.

“This is our host cities chance to shine in front of an audience of association professionals that determine future meeting sites for their organizations. Once onsite, attendees will be acutely aware of everything related to the hospitality, convention facilities, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment as well as overall experience. If impressed, they will strongly consider bringing their own association meetings to these cities,” added Robertson.

The upcoming ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition venues will be a mix of cities that have hosted the Annual Meeting previously and new destinations. ASAE has held the Annual Meeting in Nashville, Atlanta and Los Angeles in 2014, 2013 and 2010 consecutively. Having held smaller programs in Cleveland, Indianapolis and Charlotte, ASAE is excited to explore new destinations by bringing the Annual Meeting & Exposition to these cities for the first time.

MEDIA CONTACT: Lauren Precker, CAE, lprecker@asaecenter.org, 202-626-2735.

About ASAE

ASAE is celebrating 100 years of making society smarter, better and safer. The Centennial anniversary represents ASAE’s role as a leader and supporter of progress and innovation in the association industry.  ASAE is a membership organization of more than 48,000 association executives and industry partners representing 7,400 organizations. Since it was established 100 years ago, its members have and continue to lead, manage, and work in or partner with organizations in more than a dozen association management disciplines, from executive management to finance to technology. With the support of the ASAE Research Foundation, a separate nonprofit entity, ASAE is the premier source of learning, knowledge, and future-oriented research for the association and nonprofit profession and provides resources, education, ideas, and advocacy to enhance the power and performance of the association and nonprofit community. Visit ASAE at asaecenter.org.

‘For 2020, we’re looking on the bright side of life’ says Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group

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“It’s been a turbulent year for the world in general and for so many of our exhibitors. In the past few years we’ve observed trends that, even though they eventually led to innovation, were essentially disruptive and extremely challenging, so coming into 2020 we’re focusing ‘on the bright side of life’.” says Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group

“This shift towards the positive has been inspired by the creativity and resilience of individuals and companies in our industry and, in the wider world – projects such as David Byrne’s ‘Reasons To Be Cheerful’, for example. So, we’ve chosen to highlight trends which we believe are going to change the world, our industry and the way we work for the better in 2020.

“These are all positive developments that we expect to see grow faster.  Some are steps in the right direction, a turnaround from years in the opposite direction, others are new ideas that can enhance our environment and our wellbeing. 

“Sustainability, health and wellness, diversity, inclusivity, collaboration, AI, VR, legacy, bleisure and mindfulness are all prominent at virtually every industry conference and in every trade publication. Campaigns to reduce food waste and single use plastics are widespread and well-established. That’s great to see.”

But what’s next? Looking to the future, here are four positive trends that the IMEX team expect – and want – to see more of in 2020 and beyond.

1. The Circular Economy

‘As an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose), in a circular economy we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life’.

WRAP, an organisation dedicated to improving resource efficiency, has clearly captured the essence of the circular economy.

‘Sustainability consciousness’ has contributed enormously to changing attitudes and behaviours for the better – stopping practices like single use plastics that harm the planet and its inhabitants; to reducing waste and encouraging recycling.

The next positive step is to create business models based on the circular economy in which the principles of zero waste, maximising product life and the reuse and recycling of materials are intrinsic to their design. 

An eye-catching story of the circular economy in practice came from the World Economic Forum with ‘Your next pair of sneakers could be made from coffee’.  It’s a great, mind-expanding example of what can be done.

How far can it go? The World Economic Forum again gave a decisive answer and captured attention worldwide with the headline ‘How the circular economy could change the world by 2030’.

2. Taking up the challenge of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

“Producing sustainable events is the only way to ensure that your business will continue to exist. It’s not an addition – it’s the only option.” 

Miguel Naranjo, program officer for the UN Framework Convention Goals, expressed this challenging opinion during a press conference at IMEX America 2019 to announce the Event Industry Council’s (EIC) Centre for Sustainable Events. The IMEX Group is one of the Centre’s sponsors.

The Centre has been created to align the industry with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are increasingly becoming the ‘point of reference’ for businesses in all industries. This major initiative by the EIC, with the support of many leading industry organisations, follows the launch of the EIC’s Sustainable Event Standards, and together they have provided a new focus and raised the profile and urgency of this topic even further.

The annual IMEX-EIC Innovation in Sustainability Award has been generating great interest and is highly effective in encouraging the industry to create and celebrate new initiatives. The deadline for submissions is 20 January 2020.

3. Health & wellbeing; more focus on mental health

The sudden unprecedented avalanche of media coverage and activity around World Mental Health Day 10 October, in the events industry and the world at large, was testimony to a paradigm shift about mental health.  

According to the Institute of Health Metrics Evaluation’s Global Burden of Disease, about 13 per cent of the global population – some 971 million people – suffer from some kind of mental disorder. According to Arianna Huffington of Thrive Global, 300 million people suffer from depression, making it ‘the world’s leading cause of disability.’ Millions more now suffer from anxiety, stress or dementia. 

The big change is first that the historic stigma attached to admitting to mental illness is being removed with so many campaigns that say ‘It’s OK not to be OK’. And second, there is more action, not only to provide greater help but also to reduce root causes. There are now many apps to help with everything from wellness to sleep quality and many employers have trained mental health first aiders who can identify and help staff. More employers are also taking steps to minimise the causes of stress and anxiety at work by, for instance, providing flexible working hours and places where staff can find peace and quiet away from their desks.

4. How AI can make travelling a more pleasant and less stressful experience

It’s no surprise that according to research from the University of Montreal commutes of 20 minutes or more can lead to chronic stress and burnout. So it’s great to find that real-time emotion detection and artificial intelligence (AI) are being used to combat stress and bring a sense of wellbeing and calm to travel environments.

First, across the Stockholm metro system, for two weeks this year, advertising space provider Clear Channel Sweden created the Emotional Art Gallery to help calm travellers. It synthesised real-time, publicly available data from Google searches, social media, news articles and traffic information to determine the mood of the city.

The data was used to select and display artwork meant to combat commuter stress and anxiety across 250 of Clear Channel’s connected screens. Six artists contributed to the exhibition, with bespoke pieces created to induce feelings of energy, love, peacefulness, calm, happiness, comfort and safety.

Emotion detection robots can be deployed for the benefit of travellers in airports as well. Istanbul New Airport is to use them to improve travellers’ experiences. Nely, a social robot from Turkey-based Human Age Technology, can provide information to travellers about traffic, gates and weather forecasts all while reading users’ emotions and reacting accordingly. The hope is that having the robot respond to emotions, interactions will be more useful and enjoyable for people and will decrease travel stress.

The idea is also being applied to car drivers. At the CES exhibition in January 2019 South Korean automotive company Kia showed its Real-time Emotion Adaptive Driving (R.E.A.D.) system designed to reduce stress levels. The system monitors the driver’s emotions using bio-signal recognition technology. The AI-based technology analyses facial expressions, heart rate and electrodermal activity to determine emotional state and then adjusts the interior of the car – such as lighting or music – to improve the driver’s state of mind.

“We’re looking forward to these trends making 2020 a year of positive changes,” Carina Bauer concludes. 

www.imexexhibitions.com

#IMEX20

ASAE Technology Exploration Conference Delivered Thought -Leaders, Live Demos and Best in Class Learning for Association Executives

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Nearly 900 association and industry professionals participated in the revitalized Technology Exploration Conference (TEC), December 3-4, and took part in over 30 high-level education sessions and the exhibit hall. The event was held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.

The final attendance was 898: Execs (Association Executives, Consultants, Speakers) 468, Exhibitors (Industry Partners, Exhibiting Booth Staff) 346, and Other (Press, Staff, and Vendors) 84. Additionally, there were 109 companies representing 150 booths that exhibited in the expo hall this year.

“The goal of the revitalized TEC conference was to provide the association community an opportunity to immerse themselves in interactive experiences designed to challenge their thinking and move their individual organizations forward,” said Susan Robertson, CAE, Interim ASAE President and CEO. “We achieved this by bringing in leaders in the technology sector for our keynote speakers, engaging with companies to provide live demos, and through learning sessions led by the best in the industry.”

Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, opened the event by outlining the impact of technology on the global economy. He also shared insights on how the association community can prepare its workforce to meet the technology demands of the future.  For the second half of his keynote, Shapiro was joined by Sherrell Dorsey, Founder and CEO of ThePLUG, for an engaging on-stage interview.  They addressed topical issues around filling the technology skills gap, and how to embrace resiliency as individuals and organizations as we become more reliant on technology.

On Wednesday, December 4, the morning keynote speaker Nicholas Thompson, Editor-in-chief of WIRED shared thoughts about the wired future and how every industry, including associations, are being transformed, but not replaced by technological advances. He encouraged organizations to evaluate components where technology has a great return and cultivate a workforce to support those areas.  Following his keynote address, Thompson was joined on stage by Julie Shoop, VP of Content Strategy & Editor-in-Chief of Associations Now at ASAE for a Q&A session that addressed trust in the technology sector, privacy concerns, and the topic of how to succeed with failure.   

ASAE offered association professionals four additional educational opportunities to explore prior to and during the event.

  • Digital Convergence —The full-day program held on Monday and supported by Community Brands, offered attendees the opportunity to hear experts from inside and outside of the association space such as Inteleos and the International Monetary Fund. They discussed what Digital Transformation means for associations beyond the buzzwords.
  • Technical Project Management – This preconference workshop provided attendees with the foundational elements for project management basics and methodologies.
  • Women Executives Forum: Retaining Human Dignity in a Technology-Driven Work Force – Addressed the importance of humanity in a successful work force as technology plays an increasing role in our lives. The Women Executives Forums are supported by Choose Chicago.
  • Next, Now! – A new addition, this program created by ASAE Alliance partners connected attendees with the latest trends and tools in the technology industry through this special track of sessions.

Next year’s conference will be December 8-9, 2020, Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.

ASAE thanks the following Alliance Partners for their continued support of the association community:

Strategic Partners

Atlanta CVB

Business Events Canada

Choose Chicago

Experience Columbus

Community Brands

Greater Fort Lauderdale Meetings
Naylor Association Solutions

Discover Puerto Rico

Corporate Partners

Visit Austin
Visit Baltimore

Caesars Entertainment
Destination Cleveland
Visit Dallas
Delcor

Fonteva

GEICO

Louisville CVB

Visit Omaha
Travel Portland

Visit Salt Lake

Visit San Jose

Event Partners
Advanced Solutions InternationalBostrom
The BroadmoorCliftonLarsonAllen
Experient
Higher Logic Manifest MemberClicks
Discover The Palm Beaches
OpenWater
SunTrust

MEDIA CONTACT: Lauren Precker, CAE, lprecker@asaecenter.org, 202-626-2735.

About ASAE

ASAE is celebrating 100 years of making society smarter, better and safer. The Centennial anniversary represents ASAE’s role as a leader and supporter of progress and innovation in the association industry.  ASAE is a membership organization of more than 48,000 association executives and industry partners representing 7,400 organizations. Since it was established 100 years ago, its members have and continue to lead, manage, and work in or partner with organizations in more than a dozen association management disciplines, from executive management to finance to technology. With the support of the ASAE Research Foundation, a separate nonprofit entity, ASAE is the premier source of learning, knowledge, and future-oriented research for the association and nonprofit profession and provides resources, education, ideas, and advocacy to enhance the power and performance of the association and nonprofit community. Visit ASAE at asaecenter.org.