ASAE’s Annual Meeting & Exposition, held Aug. 12-15 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, drew more than 4,600 association professionals for its weighty lineup of education, networking and an exhibit floor that is the envy of many other meetings industry associations, but a major social issue that affects association members provided the major highlight.
President & CEO John Graham IV said that ASAE had received information that Texas’ controversial “bathroom bill,” officially known as Senate Bill 3, which aims to restrict transgender people’s access to certain public restrooms, would likely not pass in the Texas legislature.
“We’ve received information that [the bill] is not going to leave committee, so it will not go to conference in the Senate, so that is good,” Graham said, adding that the state’s legislature still had a few days to reverse course, which it did not. “We do not believe that anybody can be denied public accommodation. We will continue to fight against any legislation in any state that tries to do that.”
ASAE’s 2017 annual drew approximately 2,484 association executives, 1,758 exhibitors and 395 companies represented in 676 booths. Check out the Toronto section in our October issue for a full accounting.
