by Janet Dickelman
On October 13th, ACB’s board of directors voted unanimously to hold our 2021 convention virtually rather than in person. This decision was made with much forethought to ensure everyone’s health and safety during the continuing coronavirus pandemic. It was decided not to delay this decision to give ample notice to the hotel and allow ACB to plan the best ever virtual conference for our attendees. Convention dates are Friday, July 23rd through Friday, July 30th.
Based on the results from the 2020 convention survey, and many discussions with various groups, we are instituting some changes and keeping many things we initiated in 2020.
Back by popular demand, we will have an audio-described virtual tour channel.
We will have our virtual exhibit hall. In addition to vendor presentations, we are working on having vendor contact in real time.
We will continue to stream afternoon programming, but in 2021 we should be able to stream more concurrent programs. I’ve been asked to work with our special-interest affiliates and committees to try and spread out programming throughout the convention. This will enable attendees to attend more sessions. We are working to have video available for afternoon sessions.
Based on several suggestions, we will have a Zoom hospitality room open throughout the convention for visiting and networking.
As we did this year, our opening general session will be held Sunday evening, July 25th, with morning sessions Monday through Friday. We will begin morning sessions at 11 a.m. Eastern time (8 a.m. Pacific time). We will continue to pre-record segments such as ACB Angels, scholarship winners, and DKM and JPMorgan Chase leadership presentations.
Discussions are being held on how to conduct ACB business during our virtual convention. We are also examining ways for virtual voting to occur.
Afternoon programming will begin at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time (11:30 a.m. Pacific time).
Evening programming will include the auction, banquet, and the Friends-in-Art Showcase; on other evenings we will hold ACB prime time programming on topics of interest to our attendees.
We will continue to read the daily newspaper each morning and host a morning welcome show prior to general session. There will also be the connection show immediately following general session, and a wrap-up show each evening following the prime-time broadcast.
Staying in Touch
Once again, this year the conference and convention announce list will be filled with information. To subscribe to the list, send a blank e-mail to [email protected]. If you received updates for the 2020 convention, you do not need to subscribe to the list.
This year’s holiday season will be very different with social distancing. Even if you can’t be with family and friends, may the spirit of the season remain in your heart.
I welcome your comments and suggestions as we plan our 60th ACB convention. Feel free to contact me (651) 428-5059 or via e-mail, [email protected].