The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) expects more than 5,500 attendees to converge at the newly expanded McCormick Place Convention Center, July 26 to 30, for ASAE Chicago 1997. About 100 educational sessions, organized in 20 tracks, are scheduled for the event. Keynote speakers include Steve Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine and a former Democratic presidential candidate; Peg Neuhauser, author of the newly published Tribal Warfare in Organizations; and storyteller and philosopher Robert Fulghum. There will be only 650 exhibit booths, as there were last year, downsized from 850 in 1995 in response to members' complaints about the size of the exhibit hall, says Kenneth P. Sommer, ASAE media relations manager.

Self-directed learning groups will be offered for the first time, allowing association executives from similar fields to get together and hold programs relevant to their particular needs.

The new Hall of Leaders Wall will be unveiled, and honorees celebrated, at the Convention Liaison Council (CLC) Ninth Hall of Leaders Gala Celebration on July 27. (Bronze busts of each inductee will be on display permanently both at McCormick Place and at the first Hall of Leaders Wall in the Washington, DC Convention Center.) New recipients include Kenneth F. Hine, CAE, past president and CEO of the American Hotel & Motel Association; Bradford W. Claxton, CAE, American Academy of Dermatology; Lois Stratemeier, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; Robert E. Cumings, Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau; and Don S. Vaughn, executive vice president, corporate accounts, The Freeman Companies.

In other ASAE news: After an 11-year struggle to shield volunteers from liability lawsuits, ASAE, leader of the 300-member National Coalition for Volunteer Protection, declared victory when Congress passed the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 (H.R. 911) last month.