EACA News
EACA at Together Again Expo. On Friday, July 24 the EACA will be exhibiting at the Together Again Expo.
Together Again Expo is billed as an industry event that will deliver safety, hope, and a positive path forward for live events. Live event industry leaders, innovators, and professionals will join in community to showcase new strategies and tools to navigate how live events can be hosted safely and responsibly.
Produced by Alliance Exposition, Together Again Live takes place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando on July 24. EACA is in full support of this event and has signed on as a sponsor to assist show management with the pre-event vetting of EACs with our EAC registration service and the at-event health screening of all labor during check-in.
All trade show industry professionals are interested to know when and how the events industry will get back on track. Together Again Expo will be a showcase, for all concerned, on how our industry can do just that. Informed by the safety guidelines established by the CDC, GBAC and the GoLiveTogether Task Force, Together Again Live, which will be both a physical and virtual event, will provide insights and information on the tools and technologies that can be implemented to safely re-open our industry. For more info on attending or exhibiting go to www.togetheragainexpo.com
2020 Randy Scheduled for September 28. The RSMGC Board of Directors have issued a “Save the Date” notice for the 2020 RSMGC, a/k/a The Randy. This year’s event will be held at Berkeley Hills Country Club on Monday, September 28. Additional information about the 2020 Randy in the time of COVID will be made available soon.
EACA Webcast Program. The EACA is webcasting weekly panel discussions continue with industry leaders on the Impact of COVID-19 on the Events Industry. These programs take place every Friday at 1pm ET, 12pm CT and 10am PT. All programs are live-streamed on the EACA Facebook page for those who want to attend live. All programs are also recorded and posted to the EACA web site. For more information on upcoming programs see the EACA Events Calendar.
Titles of some past programs are:
- Maintaining Employee Morale
- Organizer’s Plans for the Future
- PPP Clarifications
- Generating PR for the Events Industry
- Impact of COVID-19 on Pension Liability
- And, more
EACA Member Request
This pandemic has created the greatest challenge to our industry and your company in anyone’s experience or memory. If there is a silver lining it is that this is the first time in our memory when every single industry stakeholder is on the same side, and we are all doing whatever can be done for the safe and responsible re-opening of exhibitions and events. To that end, the EACA would like to ask for your support to ensure that the interests of all our members are well represented and are included in the strategic direction of lobbying and PR efforts that are being made.
There are 2 major initiatives underway that we believe will generate the most impact on the health and elected officials that hold the keys to when our industry can re-open. Both are in need of funding and require our support to participate in the strategic decision making process that guides their lobbying and PR efforts.
- Go Live Together Task Force – The GLT has been active in pulling together an industry Task Force which includes every major trade show industry association. Their plan includes the hiring of a Washington DC lobby firm to seek additional relief and stimulus for all companies and trade show professionals who are suffering under the impact of COVID-19. They also plan to utilize funds for a PR campaign in targeted trade show cities. Their goal is to raise $500k for this purpose. Minimum donations required to participate on the Steering Committee is $25k. At present they have already received the following contributions:
- T3 Expo Lobbying Efforts- Independent of GLT, T3 Expo, a general service contractor headquartered in New England, has undertaken their own lobbying efforts that are specifically targeted toward generating additional relief for trade show contractors and service companies as part of the Payroll Protection Program. Their Chief Development Officer, Tim Heffernan, is a former Washington DC lobbyist and has essentially been in the room with the congressional committees that created the CARES Act and PPP. In fact, he participated in some of the writing of that legislation and has his fingers on the pulse of what is happening next. While T3 Expo hasn’t made any specific requests for funding we know they are going it alone and could use the help.
Please know that your donation is totally voluntary and if you are not able to donate at this time we completely understand. But if you are able to help us get the representation that all our members need we will be very grateful.
I have attached a payment form that you can use to make the donation and to specify where you want the funds to go.
Thanks to those members who have already supported this effort:
– AD-EX Int’l
– Corporate Events New England
– Crew XP
– Eagle Management
– Elite Tradeshow Services
– Laborinc.ca
– Nth Degree
– Renaissance Management
– Sho-Link
– Up & Down, Inc.
– Willwork
Industry News
COVID Impact on Exhibitions is Accelerating Says CEIR <TSNN> During its June 30 webinar, “June 2020 Update on Impact of COVID-19 on U.S. B2B Exhibition Organizations,” the Center for Exhibition Industry Research released the results of its latest poll that tracks the coronavirus’s effect on the U.S. B2B exhibition industry.
According to CEIR Vice President of Research Nancy Drapeau, the top two reasons for these postponements and cancellations speak to the chaos of the current situation in the U.S. “Seventy-four percent of those forced to cancel say the lack of clarity in knowing whether large group meetings will be allowed to take place at the scheduled time due to state and local lockdown orders prompted them to this decision,” she explained. IMTS, which was scheduled to take place in Chicago, is a prime example of this. Sixty-nine percent of organizers attribute the persistence of corporate no-travel policies and the impact they might have on participation levels as a reason for foregoing a 2020 in-person event, Drapeau said.
State-by-State Re-Open Plans. The folks at Northstar Meetings Group have created an online resource for state-by-state event re-opening plans. Click on the link provided to check the latest re-opening information in your state.
Las Vegas Convention Center Loop on Track to Open January 2021 <TSNN> Construction on Las Vegas Convention Center’s new underground transportation system, the Convention Center Loop, hit a milestone last month when Elon Musk’s The Boring Company completed excavation on the second of two 4,500-foot vehicular tunnels. Once completed, the Convention Center Loop will allow attendees to travel beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center — which runs 2 miles from end to end — free of charge in high-speed, autonomous electric vehicles.
IAEE Task Force’s Essential Considerations for Re-Opening Events. On June 5, IAEE released its Essential Considerations for Safely Re-Opening Exhibitions and Events. This document was the result of a collaborative effort of an industry Task Force that included EACA, EDPA, ESCA, IAVM, SISO, and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. These suggested guidelines were also greatly informed by the work of the CDC and the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) and their scientists and epidemiologists.