I have been struggling with writing our own COVID-19 dissertation in light of the fact that you have likely received emails on the Corona Virus from every conceivable source including schools, restaurants, accountants, lawyers, airlines, hotels, and trade associations. They all say pretty much the same thing—wash your hands, keep your distance, etc. We have nothing to add to keep you safe as we’ve all been reading and watching the same things.
The reason I’m writing this email is let you know how our team is continuing to service the association. Five years ago, we made a large investment in our remote technology that allows our staff to access our association management system from anywhere in the world from any device. Last year we upgraded our ERP (accounting system) to SAGE 100 cloud. We made these changes to make access to our association management systems easier from trade shows and conventions and to the ERP to protect our critical data. Because we made these changes, the association staff has all the tools necessary to work from home. Beginning on March 16, I made the decision to close our offices because most of the staff had traveled several times during the past two weeks, including to CONEXPO.
I assure you that your entire association staff is hard at work continuing to service the association. As you may know, the board made the decision to postpone our annual convention to the Fall, and we believe that we will be out from under the travel restrictions and heightened threat of COVID-19 in time to produce a first-class Annual Convention. The 2020 Convention will be held at the planned site of the 2020 Mid-Year Meeting, Trump International Hotel Washington DC, October 6 - 11, 2020. We look forward to seeing you in the fall and are here to service members as usual in the meantime.
