INTERNATIONAL – PCMA COLUMN
LOOKING WITH FRESH EYES How this Association held a 300-Person Event - Safely - in June in Florida Author: Michelle Russell, editor in chief of Convene.
The Georgia Motor Trucking Association (GMTA) rolled into
policies prohibiting corporate travel at this time. This was
Florida and accomplished what most associations have
confirmed by responses to pre- and post-event surveys.
been unable to do since the beginning of this year: it held a 300-attendee, in-person meeting – safely – from 21 to 23
At a time when most associations have cancelled, postponed
June at the Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island. GMTA’s Annual
or moved their 2020 events online in the wake of COVID-19,
Convention usually attracts twice that number of attendees.
Crowell went in another direction. It is not that the association
Ed Crowell, the association’s President and CEO, attributed
was averse to digital platforms but, he said, for this event, ‘it
the lower attendance rate less to concerns of attendees and
was almost always a go/no-go decision for us – a decision
sponsors for their health and safety than to their companies’
of whether we could do it for “real” – as in face to face – as
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| Sept 2020
