For Immediate Release

ASQ World Conference to Highlight the Global Culture of Quality

Multiple Conferences Built Into This Year’s Event

Milwaukee, Wis., September 25, 2008 – Imagine the world without quality. Quality is important in every aspect of life all over the world. As a reflection of this global quality landscape, the American Society for Quality’s (ASQ) theme for the 2009 World Conference on Quality and Improvement is, “The Culture of Quality: Serving Customers, Organizations, and Communities.” The conference will take place May 18-20, 2009, at the Minneapolis Convention Center, in Minneapolis, Minn.

The conference content—comprised of more than 90 breakout sessions—is designed to create, promote, and grow the culture of quality on a global scale, through five focus areas: quality basics; customer service; driving quality through the organization; improved performance; and 21st century needs, competencies and issues. The conference will offer attendees the latest quality knowledge and tools through networking with quality experts, as well as opportunities to generate quality ideas through a broad range of sessions. Back by popular demand are the “After 5” sessions. These unique, interactive presentations are designed to demonstrate how quality can be incorporated into everyday life—with sessions on yoga, skincare, sushi, kitchen improvements, power tool safety and much more.

Four Conferences for the Price of One
This year’s conference offers a unique opportunity for attendees to take part in three other “mini-conferences” that will be held concurrently with the ASQ World Conference, all for one registration fee:

• Quality Institute for Healthcare (QIHC) – 12 sessions and 8 workshops available
• The Quality Institute for Software – 9 sessions available
• The Quality in Sustainability Conference – 12 sessions, 8 workshops and 1 keynote

Watch for detailed content information about breakout sessions—as well as keynote speaker information—in the next few weeks on the ASQ World Conference Web site, http://wcqi.asq.org.

About Minneapolis
Minneapolis has one of the most thriving corporate climates in the country, with 20 Fortune 500 companies headquartered there, including Target Corporation, 3M, Best Buy, General Mills and many others. It has more than 90 percent of the primary U.S. industries existing there as well. Minneapolis was also named one of “The Top 10 Greenest Cities in America” by Homestore.com, and the 11th of 50 greenest cities by Popular Science magazine. Visit www.minneapolis.org.

The American Society for Quality, www.asq.org, has been the world's leading authority on quality for more than 60 years. With more than 90,000 individual and organizational members, the professional association advances learning, quality improvement and knowledge exchange to improve business results, and to create better workplaces and communities worldwide. As a champion of the quality movement, ASQ offers technologies, concepts, tools and training to quality professionals, quality practitioners and everyday consumers, encouraging all to Make Good Great®. ASQ has been the sole administrator of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award since 1991. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., ASQ is a founding partner of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a prominent quarterly economic indicator, and also produces the Quarterly Quality Report.