CONFERENCE RECAP

A NOTE

CONFERENCE RECAP

From Capturing our Vision to Changing our Vision – NADR Continues to be Resilient… My team (Julie, Jane, Deb and I) were biting our finger nails leading up to the Puerto Rico Conference. There were already a handful of people who were going to have to cancel their trip and stay home due to Coronavirus concerns. The March Board meeting was upon us and we knew we had to present the facts of the matter as plainly and unbiased as we could. It was still unbelievable to me that we were about to present information that would result in a total cancellation of our 20th Anniversary Conference & Celebration. This conference had been the main topic of conversation between us for nearly 10 months. I wish the membership at large could have been on that call! What an amazing show of responsibility and concern for the safety and well-being of our members and their families. I have taken courses on emergency response preparedness and the importance as the Executive Director (for lack of a better title) to be confident, know the chain of command, understand who on the team is permitted to speak to the media, be prepared to field calls from loved ones of conference attendees…and the teachings from these courses were swirling in my head as I listened to the discussion of the Board on that call. For once in ten years, I was actually relieved that I, in fact, had no vote. As each person was called upon to cast their vote for pressing forward with or cancelling the conference it became clearer and clearer to me, that everyone else was putting themselves in the same mental position. Ultimately, none of us could imagine a scenario where we were hosting 200+ of our colleagues, friends & NADR family, on an island, during what looked to be the beginnings of a global pandemic. NADR officially cancelled the conference on March 10th, 2020 – I believe just two days before the World Health Organization officially declared the spread of the virus a pandemic.

Pivot…

I’m swinging on the front porch of our Spring Break beach house rental not even a week later. Everything has been shut down around us and we were essentially sheltering in place. The phone rings and it’s Julie. We had received an email earlier in the day from Michael Wener talking about a “virtual” conference registration he had seen. Immediately Julie starts talking about all the ways in which this “could really work.” Right then and there the Virtual Conference Series: Changing the Vision was born. I have to say thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone involved in the planning and participation of the Virtual Conference. It surely didn’t hold a candle to sipping Pina Colada’s on the beach with all our NADR buds, but it absolutely reminded me that this is one heck of a professional organization with a spirit like none other!

It’s because of the members that this organization is what is it. Beautiful beach resort or home office desktop Zoom meeting – we are NADR! I can’t thank you all enough for that.

Until we meet again, please be well!

Eva Sirman, CAE NADR Association Manager