 San Diego appears to be an exceptional draw for the ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership. The 2008 Annual Meeting and Exposition, hosted by the San Diego Convention Center, August 16-19, attracted 6,266 participants, which not only surpassed the number of attendees from 1999, the last time ASAE & The Center held an annual meeting in San Diego, but the 2008 national convention ranks as one of the highest attended meetings in the organizations’ history.
"The 2008 Annual Meeting & Exposition was a huge success on all fronts," said John H. Graham IV, CAE, President  and CEO, ASAE & The Center. "We created an excellent experience for ASAE & The Center members, industry partners, exhibitors and guests, and received overwhelmingly positive messages from folks who attended the event."
 Attendee breakdown for the convention, according to the ASAE & The Center, was 3,124 association executives and meeting planners, 2,302 exhibitors and 840 other participants, including guests, spouses, press, volunteers, vendors and staff.
The organizations that sent meeting planners to the annual ASAE & The Center convention included nearly most category of ASAE. An estimated 49 percent of executives represented professional societies, 35 percent represented trade associations, 11 percent represented association management companies and 4 percent represented  philanthropic organizations.
The 2008 event also recorded the highest number of booths at any ASAE & The Center  Expo—924, with 566 companies exhibiting. The ratio at the expo hall was 58 percent of buyers (association staff/meeting planners) to 42 percent sellers (industry partners, including destinations, meeting venues and product & services).
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San Diego proved to a versatile destination for the range of networking events and education sessions crucial to the success of the ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership’s Annual Meeting &  Exposition in addition to a full program of Learning Labs, Thought Leader sessions and at the Association Solutions Marketplace, other events included Opening Celebration at Embarcadero Park on San Diego Bay, ASAE & The Center’s Food & Wine Classic, a top chef reception aboard the USS Midway, and the closing Block Party in the Gas Lamp District. The opening reception will showcase a sampling of San Diego’s Old Town, the birthplace of California, and provide an opportunity to mingle with colleagues in an enticing and interactive setting.
The Annual Meeting’s opening session focused on embracing diversity in the association community, featuring an town meeting like format facilitated by Cokie and Steve Roberts, journalists and contributors to ABC, National Public   Radio, the New York Times and U.S. News and World Report.
The 2008 event also featured Learning Labs tailored to best communicate information crucial to association success. In addition to traditional learning sessions, attendees attended the program’s book club discussions and conversations around social responsibility and participated in sessions geared to philanthropic organizations. A new social media lab was opened throughout the event with sessions running continuously on implementing social   media tools and practices.
"From the education to the exhibit hall to the social events to the networking, this meeting was an outstanding accomplishment filled with energy and excitement," added Graham.
The ASAE & The Center’s 2008 Annual Meeting & Exposition was also the setting for giving out the Associations Make a Better World Awards. Established in 2002, the award recognize associations that engage in  compelling programs and activities that benefit communities in the United States and internationally in two categories: U.S./Developed Nations and Developing Nations. Winners of this year award  included: American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society, Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection, and the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia & the Pacific. "This is an outstanding group of associations that strive to improve the health of our communities, both in the United States as well as abroad. These associations prove that our greater association community can be successful in answering the challenges we face on a local, regional and global scale."
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