Throughout the pandemic, ASAE has relied on public health guidance, federal and state-by-state event restrictions and member surveys to gauge whether to move major meetings on its events calendar to virtual. Given the current pace of COVID-19 vaccine roll-out and member comfort in participating tied to whether they are vaccinated, ASAE concluded it’s not possible at this time to guarantee the success of an in-person, multi-day annual meeting and trade show in mid-August for the ASAE community.

Instead, Annual Meeting attendees can choose to participate virtually or at regional locations where smaller groups of ASAE attendees can meet face-to-face during the meeting. Hub locations have not yet been determined but ASAE anticipates that Dallas and other ASAE Alliance Partner destinations will serve as ASAE Annual Meeting hubs in August. Registration for the reconfigured 2021 Annual Meeting & Expo will open May 3 with full details.

“As has been the case throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, ASAE’s first priority in all meetings and events decisions is the safety and welfare of our participants,” said ASAE President and CEO Susan Robertson, CAE. “The ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition is the largest meeting on our calendar each year. Logistically, a lot of planning goes into every aspect of the meeting to ensure its success and, right now, there are too many variables outside our control that could impact our attendees’ meeting experience. While we’re all eager for a full-bore return to face-to-face meetings, we’re excited to create some options in August for our attendees to access top-level content virtually or reunite with their colleagues and partners in a safe, controllable environment.”

“VisitDallas and ASAE are of course mutually disappointed that we can’t convene a full, in-person Annual Meeting in Dallas and showcase the city for ASAE’s attendees, but we understand and support the decision,” said Craig T. Davis, VisitDallas President and CEO. “We look forward to participating in this year’s virtual meeting and as a host for one of the regional hub meetings, and we hope to have the opportunity to host the ASAE Annual Meeting in-person again in the near future.”

The same external factors that contributed to the decision about the 2021 Annual Meeting & Exposition have led ASAE to move other major meetings on the events calendar to virtual through the beginning of June 2021. This includes the 2021 Marketing, Membership, & Communications (MM&C) Conference, which was scheduled to take place in Washington, DC, June 2-3, 2021. Currently, Washington DC is not allowing in-person gatherings larger than 10 people, so ASAE staff is reconfiguring this meeting into a fully virtual event June 2-4, 2021. The new MMCC website and registration portal will launch at the end of April.

Consult ASAE’s online Events Calendar for information about other scheduled meetings moving to virtual before the beginning of June. 

MEDIA CONTACT: Chris Vest, CAE, 202.626.2798, cvest@asaecenter.org

 

About ASAE

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.