Next Year's NSC Congress & Expo Heads West
Chicago's "big shoulders" certainly accommodated the 95th edition of the National Safety Council's Congress & Expo with best-of-the-Midwest style last week. Next year's edition will be all West as the council and its huge following of EH&S professionals head to Anaheim, Calif., for the 96th annual edition, Sept. 19-26 (with the Expo portion happening Sept. 22-24).
Anaheim, 28 miles southeast of Los Angeles and the second-largest city in Orange County, is of course world-famous as the land of Disneyland, so it's no surprise that tourism is the city's largest and most important industry. The Walt Disney Co. is by far the city's largest employer, but other attractions abound. As their clunky name indicates, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim call the city home, and Angel Stadium is within virtual throwing distance of the Anaheim Convention Center, the largest convention center on the west coast.
Lesser known but appropriate, Anaheim ranks as one of the safest cities of its size in the nation. It is one of only four U.S. cities with a specialized Tourist Oriented Policing team and, according to the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau (www.anaheimoc.org), it has become a role model for other cities and destinations around the country. Its average temperature is 70 degrees.
Earlier this month (Oct. 5), Anaheim celebrated its 150th anniversary. The first phase of a new area attraction called the Anaheim GardenWalk, a venue for outdoor shopping and dining, opens next month with the final phase scheduled for completion by May 2008, months ahead of NSC convention goers' arrival.
Looking ahead to 2009, NSC's 97th Congress & Expo will return east to Orlando, Fla., a city that also knows a thing or two about convention centers and all things Disney--and a site that longtime NSC members will know well, too. The dates for that Congress are Oct. 23-30, with the Expo taking place Oct. 26-28.