WASHINGTON — Last week, 3,100 meeting and industry professionals gathered to attend two ASAE events: Springtime Expo, May 14–15 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC, and ASAE Foundation’s Annual Springtime DC Golf & Tennis Invitational, May 16.

The Springtime Expo’s total number of participants included 1,475 attendees and 1,432 exhibiting personnel with 368 companies, occupying 478 booths on the show floor. 

New this year, ASAE delivered a Meetings & Event Technology Boot Camp on May 14-15. The one and half-day program focused on how to use social media, mobile and digital technology to enhance meetings and events by being more strategic and learning new ways to engage attendees. 

A new planning tool that ASAE named, Map your Day, allowed planners to select companies they wanted to visit, followed by customized list of those companies in chronological order with a map highlighting their location. In return, exhibitors got a sneak peak at the planners who were coming by to visit before the show started. A total of 150 planners used this new feature and made more than 2,600 bookmarks. Of the 368 exhibiting companies this year, 340 received at least one bookmark.

On Thursday morning, attendees participated in learning labs and Deep Dive sessions that provided an opportunity for meeting planners and exhibitors to share challenges, ideas and successes around a variety of topics including how meeting planners’ roles are changing, leadership, the future of meetings, new ways to market events and meetings, and technology event sustainability.  

During the Closing General Session, ASAE introduced a new format to Springtime called, “Meetings Ignite,” which featured seven presentations from association and industry professionals that touched on a variety of industry topics. ASAE’s President and CEO John H. Graham IV, FASAE, CAE provided the opening remarks and discussed how the meeting industry impacts the economy and encouraged attendees to be an advocate for the profession.

“Attendees enjoyed the education sessions because they learned new strategies and tactics they could take back and implement into their organization. The Expo floor was packed with engaging conversations, the exhibitors enjoyed networking with all the buyers, and meeting planners discovered new tools they could us for their future meetings,” said Graham.

On Friday, the ASAE Foundation hosted its 32nd Annual Springtime DC Golf & Tennis Invitational, an award-winning green event for Corporate Social Responsibility, at Lansdowne Resort. Due to the weather, ASAE Foundation had to cancel the golf tournament for more than 200 participants, but participants still partook in the wine tours, spa and golf clinic events. The ASAE Foundation would like to thank their presenting sponsors: Choose Chicago and San Jose CVB, and major event supporters Tampa CVB and Lansdowne Resort for their renewed support for the event.

Next year’s date for ASAE’s Springtime Expo is Thursday, April 9, and the Annual Springtime DC Invitational Golf and Tennis Tournament is Friday, April 10.

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

Strategic Partners
Business Events Canada
Detroit Metro CVB
Fort Worth CVB
Marriott International
Mexico Tourism Board
Personify
Reno Tahoe USA

Corporate Partners
Affinity Center International
Atlanta CVB
Visit Baltimore
Boxwood
CliftonLarsonAllen
Dallas CVB
GEICO
Louisville CVB
Omaha CVB
Visit Salt Lake
Meet In Washington State

Event Partners
BrightKey
The Broadmoor
DelCor
Dubai Association Center
Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB
Hong Kong Tourism Board
Johnson Lambert LLP/Veris Consulting
Meet In Minnesota
New Orleans CVB and New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
Omni Hotels and Resorts
PBD Worldwide
Meet Puerto Rico
Richmond Region Tourism

MEDIA CONTACT: Sabrina Kidwai, APR, CAE, skidwai@asaecenter.org, 202-326-9505.

About ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership
ASAE is a membership organization of more than 21,000 association executives and industry partners representing 10,000 organizations. Its members manage leading trade associations, individual membership societies and voluntary organizations across the United States and in nearly 50 countries around the world. With support of the ASAE 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. For more information about ASAE, visit www.asaecenter.org.

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