The 2014 ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition in Nashville, Tennessee, is right around the corner. But what are you going to do when you’re not attending the conference? The city has a plethora of options to keep your schedule booked for days on end, it’s just a matter of gathering your agenda before ASAE events fill your entire docket.

To walk off all of that rich Southern food, explore the city’s green spaces, which ranked among the nation’s best in a recent USA Today report. Just a few blocks from the Music City Center is the Music City Walk of Fame Park, which is appropriately beside the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, both of which are perfect spots for some pre- or post-conference exploration. And north of the Music City Center is the Tennessee State Capitol, which looks over Victory Park and the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park.

And for the less musically inclined, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts offers a more introspective slate of surrealist and animated exhibitions.

For more ideas on what to do when you’re not engaged with ASAE’s conference, Association pro Deirdre Reid has been keeping a running tally of culinary options, along with a peek into the city’s vibrant spirits scene.

The Week Ahead

August 10-16: We’ll go out on a limb and guess the Society of American Archivists will keep a pretty good record of goings-on at its annual meeting in Washington, DC. Given the record-high attendance, it looks like the group’s “Making Your Case to Attend” suggestions worked like a charm.

August 7-10: As if there were any question whether there’s truly an association for everything, the National Flute Association will hold its 42nd annual meeting in Chicago.

August 10-14: The 248th (yes, 248th!) American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition is set to begin in San Francisco, and to make the vast number of events, workshops, and locations more digestible for attendees, organizers are sending Prof. Molenium, ACS’ mascot, around the conference grounds to encourage attendees to relax, participate in giveaways, engage with the community, and, of course, take selfies.

Down the Line

September 25-27: As more and more associations get into the content game, it’s important to make sure you’re learning from the best creators of online content around: the journalistic community. This year’s annual Online News Association conference and award ceremony will take place in Chicago, but as one would expect, given the attendees, there will be plenty of ways to follow the buildup and execution of the event. Already the association has Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Tumblr, just to name a few.

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