While I do agree that we should have the full Board review and approve a new convention, I would still support Orlando as the site of the convention. In my mind it is only fair since they’ve been preparing for 2 years now. The next one can of course be somewhere else and I would be happy to travel to Ham-com as I do every year, or Huntsville, or HamXposition up in Mass. But I do think we are committed to Florida somewhat right now and to me it would appear to be in bad faith if we change the venue. 73 Ria N2RJ On Fri, Sep 18, 2020 at 11:08 AM John Robert Stratton <N5AUS@n5aus.com> wrote:
Barry and EC
The postponement discussed below is neither the fault of our
brethren in Florida nor that of the ARRL, but times and
circumstances have changed.
Add that we have a new CEO taking office in 10 days, that there
may be other venues with better circumstances in a year and a half
and that the League's interests may not align with a National
Convention in Florida in 2022, I suggest that the decision as to
whether to commit to a 2022 HamCation National Convention warrants
review by the full Board with the new CEO on board.
There is NO emergency or time critical requirement that compels
an immediate decision. Haste makes waste and we don't have the
resources to waste.
I suggest we defer a decision to review by A&F, the new CEO
and the Board.
______________________________________
John Robert Stratton
N5AUS
Director
West Gulf Division
Office: 512-445-6262
Cell: 512-426-2028
P.O.
Box 2232
Austin,
Texas 78768-2232
*______________________________________*
On 9/18/20 8:17 AM, Shelley, Barry,
N1VXY (CEO) wrote:
Good
Morning:
As
everyone knows, the ARRL Board approved the 2021 Orlando
HamCation as an ARRL National Convention. For the past
several weeks, ARRL staff has been in discussions with the
Orlando HamCation volunteers regarding what conditions, if
any, would need to be in place to actually conduct an
in-person event of the size and scope that would befit an
ARRL National Convention. I’ve attached a memo prepared by
our staff that discusses the factors and recommends
postponing the event, at least from our perspective.
We
heard yesterday from the HamCation Executive Board which has
agreed that the best course of action for the upcoming event
is to postpone it entirely until February 11-13, 2022. John
Knott and Michael Cauley were grateful for the effort we
made to summarize so many contributing factors that would
need to be considered. These, and some concern that they
won’t have an excellent 5-star show as their 75th
anniversary event made the decision easier. Additionally,
they have some last minute concern that their convention
services contractor may be out of business by December –
causing a last minute cancellation.
We’ve
agreed with HamCation to make a formal, joint announcement
using our respective news and media outlets on Mon, Oct 5.
In the meantime, they have some work to do to inform 30+
committee members, hotels, and other close stakeholders. We
will begin working with our hotel immediately. The
information will surely leak, but HamCation has asked our
help to keep it out of our formal news engine until we,
together, publish a joint announcement on Oct 5.
No
one is happy about the prospect of postponing the convention
but we want to be able to deliver a positive and substantial
event which does not appear possible, given the current
environment of restrictions, health officials
recommendations and people’s basic reluctance to travel and
gather, especially our community which includes a
disproportionate number of high risk individuals.
In
that regard, HamCation officials are eager to host the
National Convention in 2022 and have asked that we carry
over the sanctioning of the event to their 2022 HamCation. I
believe that is within the purview of the Executive
Committee and, given the unusual circumstances with which
we’re still dealing and the uncertainty regarding how long
these conditions will exist, I strongly recommend the
Committee take that action. If done timely, the decision can
be included in the joint announcement on October 5th.
I’ve
included both Bob Inderbitzen and Kathleen Callahan on this
email as they are the two managers most responsible for our
position and participation at the event. If you have any
questions, please include them as they are likely the one
who will have the answers.
73,
Barry,
N1VXY
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