ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership are hoping to connect great ideas with a great many more people than usual at the upcoming 2006 Annual Meeting & Exposition, August 19-22 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Boston, MA. 

Still four weeks out, registration numbers are well ahead of the pace set by last year’s tremendously successful meeting in Nashville, which attracted over 5,300 total attendees and 2,550 total executives.

The last time ASAE was in Boston was in 1996 when the total attendance was 5,526 with 2,426 total executives.

This year a total attendance is projected to be in excess of 6,000 with 3,000 association professionals in attendance. An amazing 54% of attendees registered to date for 2006 are senior level executives, and 81% of the attendees have either final decision making authority or provide significant influence throughout the buying process.

Of those executives registered, 67% have previously attended and 27% are first time attendees with 33% indicating they hold meetings outside the United States. 

“ASAE & The Center staff have been working diligently to produce the most invigorating Annual Meeting to date and are committed to ensuring attendees will not only enjoy their time in Boston but first, and foremost, take away valuable new ideas, insight and strategies that can be applied to their own organizations,” said ASAE President & CEO John H. Graham, IV, CAE.

“We’re excited to surpass last year’s pace and look forward to connecting with old friends and new colleagues.” 

“We’ve always believed that our members are dedicated to advancing their own organizations, the association community as a whole and the global marketplace. The fact that we are experiencing such growth in attendance is a testament to the value our members find in the meeting experience and their continuing efforts to achieve success,” said Susan Sarfati, CAE, president and CEO of The Center for Association Leadership and executive vice president of ASAE. 

General session speakers including world-renowned author Jim Collins, award-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, co-founder and founding editor of Fast Company magazine, William Taylor, and a panel of unbelievable innovators will be sure to inspire and delight this year’s attendees.

For openers, the welcome reception at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts promises connections of the artistic kind, where musicians and dancers will materialize and savory cuisine will be presented – all with the highly acclaimed Americans in Paris exhibit serving as one of many glorious backdrops.

And to celebrate the four day connection experience, a spectacular closing concert featuring the world-famous Boston Pops will unfold under the stars and on the waterfront at Boston’s gorgeous Bank of America Pavilion.