Viva Las Safety
Leading up to its 100th anniversary celebration in 2011, the American Society of Safety Engineers keeps raising the ante for its annual Professional Development Conference & Expo, already one of the strongest U.S. safety shows in existence. When it last rolled into Las Vegas, four years ago, the conference set an attendance record, with precisely 3,807 safety, health, and environmental professionals from across the globe converging for the proffered educational and networking opportunities ensconced amidst the glitz, glamour, and miles of neon.
Since then, the operation has only grown. The 2006 version of the event in Seattle set a new attendance record of 3,857, and last year's gathering in Orlando broke new ground both for the number of exhibitors (about 400) and the amount of exposition square feet sold (57,950). This year, the society once again is set to convene at the expansive Las Vegas Convention Center June 9-12. Given the current state of the SH&E field, the importance of this transitional year for its regulatory agencies, and the luminaries enlisted on the Safety 2008 roster, the odds of ASSE continuing its winning streak in this "bright light city" are good.
Next year, the conference moves to San Antonio, Texas (June 28-July 1), and in 2010 it will be held in Baltimore (June 13-16) before returning home to Chicago in 2011 (June 12-15) for ASSE's centennial celebration.