Toronto Hosts Four-Day "Live Audition" for Future Meetings and Conventions

More than 4,500 executives to attend the American Society of Association Executives Annual Meeting

TORONTO (August 11, 2017) This weekend, Toronto is hosting a major international conference that is a four-day “live audition” to host future conferences and events when the ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership’s ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition descends upon the city. The annual event, billed as the “Super Bowl of Conventions,” is attended by more than 4,500 association executives and industry partners – many who lead organizations that also hold meetings and conferences each year.

“Having this level of executive leadership in Toronto for ASAE speaks volumes about what Toronto has to offer and how well our hospitality community rallies together to host an exceptional conference,” said Johanne Bélanger, President and CEO of Tourism Toronto. “Every major city wants to host ASAE – and with good reason. Delegates are here for the important content of the conference, and many are also scouting Toronto as a possible location for a future convention.”

This year, Toronto and the surrounding region will host hundreds of events and conventions, bringing in more than 600,000 visitors to the city. More and more, U.S. associations and businesses are choosing Toronto to host conferences and events, especially when looking to broaden internationally, and that means big business; the economic impact for all Toronto meetings for 2016 was $3.1 billion. The economic impact of hosting ASAE in Toronto this week alone is forecast to be $16 million.

“Thousands of association professionals and industry partners will unite in Toronto this week for our flagship event that brings together association leaders,” said John H. Graham IV,CAE, President and CEO of ASAE. “This is our fourth time in Toronto, and we couldn’t be more excited to be back.”

The four day ASAE conference is the premier education and exposition event for associations and nonprofit organization executives and was last in Toronto in 2009. Previous to that, Toronto hosted the conference in 1988 and 1952.

“Toronto has been preparing for this conference for several years now,” said Johanne Bélanger. “This conference, and the numerous meetings and events that come into the city, impact a surprising range of businesses. From taking taxis, to taking in live sports, entertainment or theatre, as well as using audiovisual, staging and transit companies, events like these are a powerful economic driver for Toronto.”

The ASAE conference runs from August 12-15 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

ABOUT TOURISM TORONTO

Tourism Toronto is an industry association, with more than 1,000 member businesses, and the official destination marketing organization for Toronto, “Canada’s Downtown.” With sales and marketing programs in key markets around the world, Tourism Toronto promotes the Toronto region as a remarkable destination for tourists, convention delegates and business travelers. Tourism Toronto operates in partnership with the Greater Toronto Hotel Association and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. For more information please visit SeeTorontoNow.com.

ABOUT ASAE

ASAE is a membership organization of more than 35,000 association executives and industry partners representing more than 7,400 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.