Sunny San Diego and its world-class convention center were exactly what the doctors ordered when nearly 29,000 attendees from around the globe gathered here for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 2007 Annual Meeting February 14-18.
This was the Academy's first-ever annual meeting in San Diego and while other parts of the U.S. battled record snowfall and frigid temperatures, AAOS attendees basked in our city’s gloriously predictable sunshine. Daily temperatures soared into the low 80s, prompting our visitors to make the most of San Diego’s spectacular waterfront setting, pedestrian friendly downtown and vibrant outdoor dining scene.
Founded in 1933, AAOS is the pre-eminent provider of musculoskeletal education to orthopaedic surgeons and others worldwide. The Academy initially passed on San Diego as a potential site because the Convention Center’s original 1.7 million-square-foot building could not accommodate their projected attendance levels. But AAOS officials reconsidered when the Convention Center expanded to 2.6 million square feet in 2001.
“We were very excited. We saw the expansion as a way of finessing our event,” said Susan McSorley, the Academy’s Director of Convention and Meeting Services.
The AAOS annual meeting occupied San Diego’s entire bayside building - more than a half-million square feet of exhibit space and 200,000 square feet of meeting space. Exhibits, including a surgical tent previously used in Iraq, extended into the Convention Center’s beautifully landscaped, two-acre outdoor Plaza Park - one of the countless perks of holding an event in warm, sunny San Diego in the midst of winter.
The San Diego Convention Center is renowned for its award-winning “total service philosophy” and our entire team was primed and ready for the AAOS event. Centerplate, our exclusive in-house caterer, prepared an array of culinary delights and all three Starbucks were running at lightening speed, pumping out nearly 40,000 beverages over the five-day show, ranging from hot lattes to frosty Frappacinos and everything in between.
The Convention Center’s trademark white-gloved door greeters were stationed throughout the building, providing directions and other helpful information. And our seasoned professionals in the Restaurant Booth were busy serving up suggestions and assisting with reservations so attendees could more easily explore San Diego’s unique dining scene.
From downtown San Diego up the coast to La Jolla and all points in between, hotels rolled out the welcome mat for AAOS attendees. The total supply of first-class hotel rooms within walking distance of the Convention Center is rapidly nearing 11,000 and is expected to surpass that when the new Hilton San Diego Convention Center Hotel opens in fall 2008. But to accommodate a crowd of nearly 29,000 international attendees, AAOS had an official room block of 15,500 rooms in 62 hotels extending from downtown San Diego to La Jolla.
The Academy’s five-day convention and tradeshow included educational seminars and scientific symposiums on such leading-edge topics as gene therapy, advanced orthopaedic treatments for injured military, gender issues in orthopaedic care, pain management and total knee replacement surgery. In addition to more than 450 technical exhibits, the meeting featured scientific exhibits – interactive demonstrations using audio-visual and other enhancements to illustrate complex orthopaedic studies and procedures.
When AAOS attendees were not inside our world-class Convention Center, they’ve were out and about experiencing the very best our beautiful destination had to offer. Some 650 special events and activities were planned throughout the entire San Diego region, including Playground Build 2007. In support of this award-winning safe, accessible playground building program, a coalition of orthopaedic surgeons and their families, orthopaedic industry partners and related organizations volunteered one day of their stay to constructing a safe and wheelchair-accessible play structure in a neighborhood park in Chula Vista.
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In recognition of San Diego’s strong military connections, a number of AAOS events saluted the military beginning with the February 14 opening ceremony featuring a 35-piece Marine Corp band. Among the other highlights were daily tours of the USNS Mercy, a 1,000-bed naval hospital ship whose homeport is San Diego and the AAOS President’s Reception aboard the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum where a team of 19 Navy SEALs staged a mock invasion.
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