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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
A meeting to beget
more meetings
An association of associations sounds a bit like something from the department of redundancy department, but Hawaii's visitor industry can hardly wait for the group to arrive.
CORRECTION
Sunday, Aug. 17, 2003>> "TheBuzz" column on Page C1 Sunday misspelled the name of Mark Beede, executive director of the Hawaii Pacific Tennis Foundation.
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The annual meeting and exposition of the Washington, D.C.-based American Society of Association Executives is coming up Saturday through Tuesday at the Hawaii Convention Center. Its Web site says it is "dedicated to advancing the value of voluntary associations to society and supporting the professionalism of the individuals who lead them." ASAE represents nearly 10,000 associations.
"It is the superbowl of conventions," said Mark Breede, president of the Aloha Society of Association Executives. His day job is executive director of the Hawaii Pacific Tennis Foundation.
"It's not because of the number of people that are coming to this convention, because there are much more heavily attended conventions, but the people who are coming are the decision-makers for a multitude of meetings in the future," Breede said.
Hawaii will have plenty of booking competition from out-of-state exhibitors, despite the seeming uphill sell surrounded by paradise. Booth space was more than halfway sold by the end of last year's convention in Denver, he said.
Traditionally the ASAE host city will receive future bookings from 20 percent of attendees, as did Denver, according to Zenaida McLin, owner of Creative Meetings and Incentives LLC.
"We're hoping for the best year ever," she said. Denver was rolling out the red carpet and we want to showcase Hawaii as the premier destination of choice and the convention center as the premier facility of choice. We're going all-out for ASAE," she said.
McLin, former director of convention services for the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, has been contracted to support the event.
Some 3,500 conventioneers, guests and exhibitors are expected to descend on the islands. Many of them will take advantage of discounted pre- and post-conference vacation packages assembled a year and a half ago by HVCB with help from Hawaiian Airlines and 39 Hawaii hotels and resorts.
The local chapter's 108 members, their spouses, friends and vendors will be staffing 430 volunteer positions for the event and many are doubling up, Breede said. "People are really chipping in to put their best foot forward," because "these are the people who are going to control where meetings are booked for the next three to five years," he said.
One student organization withdrew last week, leaving 15 positions empty. "I sent out an e-mail and within 12 hours I had 19 people to fill the positions," Breede said.
Aloha Society member organizations include a vast array of Hawaii professionals, including emergency physicians, building owners and managers, food industry executives, teachers, visitor industry folk, retailers and beef council members.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at: eengle@starbulletin.com
