Dear Officers, Directors and Vice Directors, We have reached an agreement with the Orlando Amateur Radio Club to hold an ARRL National Convention at Orlando HamCation® in February 2021. This is in response to and completes the Board’s directive at Minute 37 of the January, 2019 meeting. Please do not share or announce the agreement. We will prepare a joint press release with Orlando HamCation for dissemination by early October. As defined in the Rules and Regulations Concerning ARRL Hamfests and Conventions, the program of the National Convention will be prepared for approval by the Executive Committee -- and most likely sometime in 2020. And, here's some background: The Rules and Regulations Concerning ARRL Hamfests and Conventions calls for the "program of every such (National) convention shall be subject to the approval of the Executive Committee." The agreement Bob NQ1R negotiated with Orlando HamCation is more of a framework. Not a program. The program will be developed and committed in 2020. During Dave Sumner's tenure, the Board would sometimes sanction a convention without engaging staff. Barry Shelly tried something new with the last National (2019 Dayton Hamvention), by including a provision in the Board's motion authorizing staff to negotiate the terms of a National Convention with the hosting organization. Here's the resolution from January's Board meeting: Be it resolved that on this day January 18th, 2019, the Board of Directors of the ARRL authorizes the headquarters staff to enter negotiations with the Orlando Amateur Radio Club to host the ARRL National Convention in conjunction with Orlando HamCation® in February 2021. 73, Howard -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org