Why ASAE Chose Salt Lake to Host Great Ideas the Next Three Years

May 14, 2019
Salt Lake City

American Society of Association Executives enjoyed Salt Lake City so much during its annual conference in 2016, it has selected the destination as its host city for its Great Ideas Conference in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

A flagship event for association professionals around the world, ASAE’s Great Ideas Conference will bring together 500 attendees in a retreat-like setting at The Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. The first iteration of the event here will take place March 1-3, 2020.

“The Great Ideas Conference raises the collective capacity for innovation in the association community and associations become stronger, more resilient and have a greater impact on society,” said ASAE president and CEO John H. Graham IV.

He continued, “As an ASAE corporate partner, Visit Salt Lake is a vital force behind the new ASAE Innovation Launchpad held each January, so growing our relationship by collaborating on Great Ideas is a natural next step.”

As a destination, Salt Lake City has been cultivating a perception shift among meeting planners and leisure guests alike over the last several years. For example, it now offers more than a dozen local breweries in the downtown area. And adding to its credit as business hub, Salt Lake International Airport is undergoing a $3.6 billion transformation that is set to open next fall.  

“We won the bid to host this prestigious conference due in large part of our community’s well-earned reputation as an innovative, forward-thinking destination,” said Scott Beck, Visit Salt Lake’s president and CEO.

He continued, “Salt Lake epitomizes the Great Ideas Conference’s reason for being—a community that connects and collaborates—and welcoming its attendees to our destination over a three-year period will undoubtedly have a significant impact on future business for the Salt Palace Convention Center, hotels and other Salt Lake County businesses.”

The full agenda for Great Ideas 2020 has not yet been announced, though plenty of recently added entertainment venues would be great options for off-site events for this group or any others meeting in Salt Lake. CVB officials recommend The Tasting Room (a former tire factory turned event venue), Sky SLC (a music venue with a rooftop patio and retractable glass roof) and T.F. Brewing (which brings in local food trucks for events).

Photo credit: Austen Diamond Photography for Visit Salt Lake

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