ASAE canceled its Annual Meeting & Exposition, which was scheduled for August 8-11 at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in the wake of the COVID-19 shutdown, and will instead present the meeting virtually the week of August 10.
ASAE also announced its board of directors will meet August 7 for a virtual meeting to fulfill its obligation to make decisions on issues affecting the association. ASAE was to celebrate its 100th anniversary at the meeting.
The association said it made the decision in close collaboration with MGM Resorts International, which operates Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.
“After careful discussion of every aspect of the meeting and experience with our fantastic partners at Mandalay Bay and MGM Resorts, ASAE has made the difficult decision to move the 2020 Annual Meeting & Expo to a virtual experience,” said Susan Robertson, ASAE’s president and CEO. “As excited as we were to put on a robust, memorable in-person Annual Meeting in Las Vegas this August and to celebrate ASAE’s Centennial with the association community, the public health and safety of our attendees, staff and volunteers and the MGM staff outweighed any other considerations in our collective decision-making process.”
ASAE said registration information, exact dates and industry partnership opportunities for its Virtual Annual Meeting will be shared by the first week of June.
“ASAE and MGM were beyond prepared to exceed attendee expectations for the 2020 Annual Meeting. We look forward to working with our Las Vegas partners in the future,” said Amy Ledoux, ASAE’s Chief Learning and Meetings Officer. “Shifting gears, we are now fully immersed in creating the most dynamic Virtual Annual Meeting experience for our members possible. Virtual attendees can expect the same great content that we were primed to deliver in Las Vegas, so stay tuned. We’re going to structure this reimagined experience to fit every member’s schedule and budget and there are going to be multiple options for engagement.”
ASAE is the latest in a string of major meetings associations and events that have been forced to postpone or cancel their annual events, including MPI WEC, IMEX Frankfurt, IACC and IBTM.
ASAE’s 2021 Annual Meeting is scheduled to take place August 14-17, 2021, in Dallas.
