ASAE: An observation
I wonder if it struck anyone else as odd that the sessions, even those marked as M&E Day offerings, had very little to do with meeting planning specifically (they tend so far to cover general topics, like leadership and teamwork, which could apply to any segment of the association business, or even the corporate world), but I’d guess at least 95 percent of the exhibitors were meetings-related in some way (CVBs, hotels, etc.).
Seems like a bit of a disconnect to me—I know ASAE and The Center are mainly focused on association execs, but if they believe they’ll be interested in meetings destinations on the show floor, one would think they’d also want some sessions specific to meetings. The up side is that the sessions I’ve attended, even if they don’t draw the line to meetings per se, offer lots of good info planners who want to be more strategic and get that elusive “seat at the table” should know about. It would be good, though, to at least mention how they could use those leadership or team-building skills within the meetings job environment. The sessions I’ve attended could have been a part of any management seminar series, corporate or association. Not that they’re not good; just not very targeted to this particular market.
asae2007
August 14th, 2007 at 9:55 am
Good observation Sue. I’m guessing it was done fairly intentionally, perhaps believing this is part of the meetings “space” that ASAE & The Center can own given what other folks like MPI and PCMA offer at their conferences.
The Thought Leaders are somewhat similar … all outside the world of associations and with messages you could hear at any conference. But what they are saying is very useful when thinking about associations work.
August 14th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
I agree. In fact, I just went to a great thought-leader session that absolutely could have some meetings implications. I’ll need a little time to draw the parallels, though.
August 15th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Wow! Next time at ASAE I’m going to follow you around. You seem to find where to get something out of it. I did not attend it this year. Last year, I was very disappointed with the program offerings and the way the general sessions were run. Thanks for the reporting and the perspective!
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