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ASBPA’s 2020 National Coastal Summit is moving to an online-only platform this year due to the challenging situation of coronavirus (COVID-19) facing the nation.
With increasing travel and meeting restrictions and the growing number of infected people in the DC-area, we have determined that we cannot hold a safe, high-quality National Coastal Summit in person in Washington, DC, this month. While we are disappointed not to see attendees in person in March, we believe that shifting to a web-based format will allow us to present a program with excellent speakers (who otherwise might not have been able to attend), phone meetings with agencies that would have been canceled in person, and information that will help you when meeting with your decision-makers in the district or in Washington in the future.
Most important, the online Coastal Summit will also allow everyone to participate without traveling, and unnecessarily exposing us all to potential health risks.
We are still working on the exact details of shifting to an online Coastal Summit, but we wanted to let everyone know about this decision as soon as possible, so you can adjust your travel plans and (hopefully!) take advantage of the lenient reimbursement policies many airlines and hotels are currently offering. In the meantime, this is what we can share:
The Coastal Summit Program:
The National Coastal Summit will take place as a Zoom meeting, to allow as much interaction as possible (and as the platform and time permits). Attendees will log on via their computer (or also have a call-in option), and be able to ask questions and participate through an online chat or by voice. The Summit will tentatively occur at the following times (all times Eastern):
- Tuesday, March 24, 1pm – ~5:15pm: Conference Program
- Wednesday, March 25, ~8:30am – 11:30 am: Conference Program
- Wednesday, March 25, Afternoon (TBD) – telephone or online “Advocacy Visits” with federal agencies
- Thursday, March 26, Morning – TBD, we are looking into consolidating Thursday’s program into Tuesday and Wednesday.
Unfortunately, we will of course have to cancel Wednesday evening’s “Coastal Celebration on Capitol Hill”.
We ask you to bear with us as we confirm speakers and potentially re-order the program. The latest program will be available online: https://asbpa.org/conferences/2020-coastal-summit-program/; and we will send out a final program with Webinar/Call information as soon as we have everything finalized.
Attendance:
We believe the online Coastal Summit will still be a terrific event, with great educational material and opportunities to virtually interact with key coastal decision-makers in DC. We will also be providing a special “Advocacy Toolkit” for all attendees who stay registered to help you prepare for future meetings with members of congress or federal agencies. However, we understand that the change to online may cause you to re-consider your participation, and the lack of in-person networking can somewhat diminish the in-person value of the Coastal Summit.
As such, we’ll be offering all registrants the following options:
- Cancel through March 18; minus a $50 deposit; (Unfortunately, changing plans at this late date still leaves us with significant sunk costs, so we are maintaining our cancellation fee.)
- Stay registered for the event, and request a refund of $150; (We will provide a link to request the refund in a future email.)
- Stay registered at full cost, and we’ll provide a receipt indicating $150 was a donation and is a tax-deductible charitable contribution.(Some attendees have already indicated they would be willing to pay the full cost to help support the organization, and we are incredibly grateful for their generosity!)
Speakers:
An ASBPA staff member and/or Summit co-chair will call each speaker individually this week to confirm they can participate via the online-platform and confirm their presentation time (or propose a new one if necessary).
Sponsors:
An ASBPA staff member will call each sponsor individually this week to discuss if they’d like to maintain their sponsorship and what additional benefits we may be able to provide through the online Coastal Summit. (We do understand that many of the marketing benefits of sponsorship come from having roomful of coastal professionals and prospective clients).
ASBPA Board Members:
ASBPA’s board meeting will also be held online from 9-11 am Eastern on Tuesday, March 24th. More to come soon.
We have a lot to still figure out, and appreciate your patience as we sort out possible changes to the program, solve the technical challenges of a producing an online Coastal Summit, and reach out to each and every speaker and sponsor.
If you have URGENT questions, let us know, but we will be getting back to you soon with more information.
Thanks and regards,
Kate & Ken Gooderham, Managing Directors, managing@asbpa.org;
Derek Brockbank, Executive Director; derek.brockbank@asbpa.org;
Tony Pratt, President