This year AASFE convenes its annual conference in Houston, an energetic and diverse city with outstanding cultural arts, a worldly culinary scene, dynamic entertainment and jaw-dropping shopping opportunities.

Our programming is world-class, too, including a special collaboration between AASFE and the Association of Food Journalists, which also is holding its conference in Houston. Both groups will meet for sessions Friday, Oct. 17, including a luncheon address by Judith Jones, the legendary editor who discovered Julia Child and who is responsible for the American publication of The Diary of Anne Frank.

AFJ members will join us at the Hotel ZaZa for Show & Tell (which I hear is legendary among some other feature folks). Rob King, editor in chief of ESPN.com, will talk Friday about managing your career in a dramatically changing environment. We hope to close the afternoon with a session on wine tasting led by AFJ food and wine writers before we head out for a night on the town.

Houston sprawls across a lot of territory, literally and figuratively. Within its 632 square you'll find the Johnson Space Center, the Menil Collection, Minute Maid Park, the Galleria and other top attractions. But there's also room for the quirky and distinctly Houston: the Art Car Museum, the Beer Can House (50,000 cans!) and the National Museum of Funeral History.

Houston also has impressive green spaces, and The Houston Chronicle's Diane Cowen has put us in the middle of its most inviting. Our conference hotel, the Hotel ZaZa, overlooks the lush Hermann Park in Houston's Museum District. Step out ZaZa's door and you are in a beautiful area of parks and fountains to walk, jog or explore 18 museums, 11 of which are free.

Houston's light-rail line runs by the hotel, so you're a buck and a few minutes from downtown clubs and attractions. ZaZa also provides complimentary shuttle service to the Galleria shopping area.

A last word or two about the ZaZa. It is the hotel in Houston, a splashy, theatrical boutique property with excellent meeting services as well. It's on Conde Nast Traveler's hot list of boutique hotels, and Forbes.com named it one of the 10 best business hotels in the world. ZaZa amenities include flat-screen plasma TVs and free wireless service in guest rooms, and a full-service spa and outdoor pool, but no resort fee.

So to summarize: We're meeting in a top hotel on a well-located oasis in the country's fourth largest city for inventive programming that will help us navigate the changes surging through the industry.

Please join us.

Mary Lou Nolan
AASFE President
Assistant Managing Editor/Features
The Kansas City Star