Analysis of Academic Association Conferences George G. Fenich, PhD School of Hospitality Leadership, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC USA fenichg@ecu.edu Lisa Y. Thomas, PhD School of Hospitality Leadership, DePaul University, Chicago, IL USA   Amanda Cecil, PhD Dept. of Tourism, Conventions and Event Management, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, USA

Introduction Previous research relating to an academic association’s annual conferences is sparse. More insight is needed to gain a full understanding of this important segment of the event management industry. Annual conferences are a key revenue generator for academic associations.

Research Objectives This study aims to better understand academic association’s annual conferences. In particular the specific research objective is to identify where global academic associations hold their annual conferences; in a single country, a rotation between several countries and/or regions, or a truly global rotation.

Method The research team undertook a broad search to identify ‘associations’ whose members are primarily from academe / faculty. Thirty-one ‘associations’ were reviewed from a variety of academic disciplines. Research was conducted to ascertain the characteristics of their meetings, conferences and conventions over the past three to five years. Investigations were done both on their websites and via direct contact.

Results (1) Most associations are not willing to move their annual conference outside the continent where they are located, if a majority of their membership resides in that home continent. (2) For those global associations (where the membership represents 20+ countries), they do seem to rotate the location of their annual conference - but do NOT take it outside the ‘home continent’ every year. Some noted their annual conference is held out of the continent every three or five years. It appears if an association wants to be perceived as global, their events need to be global as well.

Results 3) Additionally, it appears a key to those associations taking their events outside their home continent is to have a strong university partner. It is assumed this is critical for logistics and marketing purposes. Many associations noted they tried to host their annual conference out of the continent where they are housed and it did not work.   (4) A similar academic association to the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (ICHRIE), the International Society of Travel and Tourism Educators (ISTT), recently announced that their annual conference will be held in Hangzhou, China on October 12 - 14, 2016

THE END