Upon the invitation of the Taiwan Convention and Exhibition Association (TCEA) and the “MEET TAIWAN” programme, PCAAE, represented by its Founder & CEO, Octavio “Bobby” Peralta, spoke at their association leaders meeting in the morning of November 15, 2019 at the newly-opened Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Hall 2 (TaiNEX 2).

The meeting was attended by a small group of a dozen TCEA board members and officers, association representatives, and external resource persons. The objective of the meeting was to explore the possibility of setting up a common platform for associations in Taiwan to learn from each other, share experiences, and network with peers as well as association executives around the world. The idea was to start the building blocks of a Taiwan Society of Association Executives (TSAE) as an education, best practice and networking organization for associations.

There are over 48,000 civil society organizations in Taiwan, of which over 42,000 of these are associations both at national and community levels in the service and advocacy sectors. There is therefore an opportunity for TSAE to take root and help further professionalize association management in Taiwan.

Mr. Peralta shared how PCAAE came about from its beginnings in 2013 to become the community of association leaders and executives in the country as well as the formation of the Asia-Pacific Federation of Association Organizations (APFAO) in 2015 to put together in one community similar associations like the PCAAE that already exist in Australia, Korea, Malaysia and India.