The first ISASS board meeting, 1st Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology, was held May 3-6, 2001, Munich, Park Hilton. According to registration information, there were 301 people in attendance. Since that first meeting, ISASS conferences have grown in size and scope. Here is a look at ISASS conferences over the past 10 years:

2nd Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology May 6-8, 2002, Montpellier, France.
This event was called Spine Arthroplasty 2 Global Symposium on Intervertebral Disc Replacement and Non-Fusion Technology. The marketing piece stated: “We will present the latest developments in non-fusion technologies involving the spine. In addition the congress will provide an ideal opportunity to interface with leading authorities and spine professionals from practice, industry and development. It is especially significant and symbolic to reflect upon the latest in spine surgery in the home of the 1000 year of school of Medicine of Montpellier, the oldest medical school in continuous existence in the western world. Early registration fee 300 Euros for members 585 Euros for non members, later registration 350 Euros for non members and 635 for non members.”

3rd Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology April 30-May 2, 2003, Phoenix, Arizona.
This was the first time the conference was held in the U.S. There were 20 exhibits with an around 351 attendees. Cost to attend was $750 for ISASS members and $950 for non-members. “Conference designed for spine care professionals and will encompass non-fusion techniques and minimally invasive technology surrounding total disc replacement, nucleus replacement, dynamic Stabilization, notion preservation technologies, facet joint replacement as well as annulus and nucleus repair and regeneration.

4th Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology May 4-7, 2004, Vienna, Austria.
Called SAS4 Global Symposium on Intervertebral Disc Replacement & Non-fusion Technology. The event was hosted by Rudolf Bertagnoli, MD. There were 26 exhibitors, industry workshops were all held during the lunch hour and the round table discussions were added to the agenda. With 26 exhibitors, this conference had 850 people in attendance.

5th Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology May 3-6, 2005, New York, New York.
Called SAS5-Global Symposium on Intervertebral Disc Replacement & Non-Fusion Technology. Program Chair was Frank Cammisa, Jr., MD and the local host was Hansen Yuan, MD. This was the first time a Presidential Guest Speaker is noted—Robert Morgenthau, District Attorney of New York, as well as awards for Best Overall Paper, Best Basic Science Paper and Best Clinical Paper. There were 41 exhibitor booths and registration fees were $800 for members (they also received a CD of the meeting), $1100 for new members (included CD) and $1000 for non-members (no CD). 1,400 were in attendance with 42 exhibitor booths.

6th Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology May 9-13, 2006, Montreal, Canada.
Hallet Mathews, MD was the host of the event and Thomas Errico, MD and Larry Khoo, MD were Program Co-Chairs. The program featured 3 Symposia, 100 podium presentations and 92 posters. There were 1,500 people in attendance with 50 exhibiting companies.

7th Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology May 5-7, 2007, Berlin, Germany.
Hosted by Karin Büttner-Janz, MD, PhD with Steven Garfin, MD as Program Chair. The Presidential Guest Speaker was Robert J. Congel. 1,471 people were in attendance with 57 exhibiting companies.

1st Annual Asia Pacific Conference- APSAS Seoul, Korea January 16-18, 2008.
APSAS was the 1st regional meeting of ISASS since ISASS was founded as a special interest group devoted to motion preservation technology. Hosted by The Spine Arthropalsty Society (SAS) and The Korea Spine Arthroplasty Society (KOSAS). Congress Co-Presidents were Chong-Suh Lee, MD and Chun-Kun Park, MD, PhD. The Program featured 12 symposia, 59 podium presentations, 20 oral posters and 38 posters. There were 403 people in attendance from 27 countries.

8th Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology May 6-9, 2008, Miami, Florida.
The event was hosted by Rolando Garcia, MD, and the Program Chair was Henry Halm, MD, PhD. Attendance was 1868 with 70 exhibiting companies. There were 103 podium presentations with 256 regular posters being displayed.

9th Annual Symposium for the International Society for the Advance of Spine Surgery April 28-May 1, 2009, London, England.
This was the year the board decided to change convention rotation from Europe/North America rotation to 2 years in North America and 1 year in Europe. The host of this event was M. Krishna, MD and Program Chair was Frank Phillips, MD. The Program featured 107 podium presentations, 60 oral posters and 180 regular posters. There were 1,561 attendees along with 74 exhibiting companies.

2nd Asia Pacific Conference January 14-17, 2010, Sanya, China.
There were 433 attendees with 11 exhibitors. Two hundred, six-minute papers were selected. The Congress President was Guixing Qiu, MD, with Dewei Zou, MD as General Secretary. The Chairs of the Organizing Committee was Huilin Yang, MD and Ming Li, MD.

10th Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology April 27-30, 2010, New Orleans, Louisiana, at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
Pierce Nunley, MD, was our local host with Todd Albert, MD and Jeff Goldstein, MD as our Program Chairs. We had 78 podium presentation, 52 oral posters and 201 regular posters on display. There were 1,301 attendees.

11th Annual SAS Global Symposium on Motion Preservation Technology April 26-29, 2011, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
The event was hosted by Ali Araghi, MD and the Program Chairs were Rolando Garcia, MD and Marek Szpalski, MD. We had 162 podium presentation, 60 oral posters and 149 regular posters on display. There were 1,392 attendees.

1st SAS-TURK Conference November 10-11, 2011, Istanbul, Turkey at Koç University, School of Medicine

There were 90 delegates from 6 countries including Turkey, France, Jordan, Egypt, India, and Korea. There were 30 guest speaker presentations. The president of the meeting was Prof. Dr. Fahir Özer.

12th Annual ISASS Annual Conference March 20-23, 2012, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

The Program Chairs were Carlos Villanueva, MD, PhD, Spain and James Yue, MD, USA. More than 370 scientific papers were presented.