In an indication that business events are currently enjoying solid momentum, American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) drew 5,070 attendees, including 2,900 association leaders and planners, to its 2024 annual meeting, held Aug. 10-13 at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland. That was 2.4% higher than the 2023 event at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
On August 12, ASAE hosted a press conference for industry and local reporters, highlighting the $6 million in economic impact the meeting generated for Cleveland. The data served as a preamble to the announcement of the results of a national research initiative called “The Power of Associations.”
“This new study quantifies the power of associations to drive the American economy and generate opportunity through good jobs with competitive pay, events that support local businesses and substantial tax payments to all levels of government,” said Michelle Mason, ASAE president and CEO.
The association partnered with Oxford Economics to survey 20,000 associations for the report. In addition to its broader findings (for example, national and regional associations directly support 1.1 million jobs), the study highlights the impact of association events on the U.S. economy.
That’s right: More than 272,000 association events annually attract nearly 52 million attendees and generate about $43 billion in spending, a significant portion of the roughly $110 billion spent on meetings, conventions and exhibitions in the United States, according to the Coalition “Meetings Mean Business”.
ASAE’s full research report is available here.
Tax changes coming?
Mary Kate Cunningham, ASAE’s senior vice president of public policy, stressed at the press conference that “some tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of 2025 could have a significant impact on how nonprofits are treated” if Congress doesn’t vote to keep them intact for 2026 and beyond. In fact, “this is the most serious threat we’ve seen in the last 50 years.”
Accordingly, “ASAE seeks to build a broad coalition of associations across the country to get the message across to lawmakers in Washington, D.C., about the impact associations have on the American workforce.”
Cunningham added that more details about the initiative will be released in the coming weeks.
This article was originally published in our sister publication, MeetingsNet.
Main image: ASAE President and CEO Michelle Mason addresses industry media and host city business news reporters at the ASAE Annual Meeting in Cleveland.
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