Letter from the President and CEO

We’re Back…or nearly. Our team is really pleased to see the revival in all our events this year. Both the Chief Executive Summit and Women’s Summits were up over 25% from last year. And registrations for the upcoming Symposium in Kansas City are already up over 21% from our Fort Worth event in 2022. Over 840 sports and tourism professionals are currently signed up. Historically, we have a couple of dozen sign-ups near the deadline. But the bottom line is we are very excited to get back to this level of attendance. The general session speakers are very engaging and thought-provoking, and community-based education programs are wrapped up.

Our national Awards program is back in full force this year. We had 75+ entries for our newly designed categories. The review team headed up by Jason Gewirtz had difficulty selecting winners in all categories as the entries were outstanding.

Currently, we have 255 first-timers – a record but predictable with the numerous changes that occurred because of COVID. As a seasoned symposium veteran, you have an opportunity to welcome the next regime of sports tourism professionals. We will be inducting 4 well-deserved honorees into our Hall of Fame – thank you to Hill Carrow and his team for their great work.

Finally, we will launch the tourism industry’s first member engagement recognition badging program. This program, years in the making, is one program that will be installed under my tenure that I am most excited about. More on this soon!

Our friends and partners at the U.S. Center for Safesport just released their April newsletter. You’ll find tools and tips to help teams and families make sport settings safer -- check it out!

If you or your team is not yet safesport trained, join the U.S. Center for Safesport on their mission to deliver more than 5 million trainings by the end of the year. Training is all online and will teach you the skills you need to put an end to abuse and misconduct in sport.

Sports ETA considers safety in sport and abuse awareness and prevention a priority for all our member organizations and everyone who plays a role in sport. Our members enjoy a 10% discount on SafeSportTM Trained online course. Learn more HERE

I’m looking forward to seeing you all next week in Kansas City!

THINK BIG!

Al Kidd President and CEO