It is mid-September. The 2021 AASV Annual Meeting, to be held in San Francisco, California, is approximately 6 months away. Currently, San Francisco is prevented from holding large gatherings due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and wildfires are fouling the air to the point that residents are being urged to stay indoors. Our ability to hold a traditional in-person meeting in late February or early March certainly seems in jeopardy.
I have been in negotiations with the San Francisco Marriott Marquis regarding the status of the meeting since late July. To date, I do not have a resolution to those discussions. The Marriott is not yet ready to concede that they will not be able to hold our meeting as contracted. They have indicated that, if we cancel the meeting at this point, AASV would be subject to significant financial penalties as defined by the terms of the contract. It should be noted that there is also a clause in the contract that stipulates that should the hotel not be able to hold the meeting as contracted they would be in violation of the contract and subject to penalties as well. In addition, there is a force majeure clause that allows for a no-fault cancellation of the meeting in case certain catastrophic events prevent either party from complying with the terms of the contract. So, as I write this, the format of the meeting (ie, in-person, virtual, or hybrid) is still undecided.
I recently conducted a survey of the membership to gauge your opinion of holding an in-person meeting under the current COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing guidelines. There was a tremendous response to the survey with almost 600 members providing their thoughts. The first thing this tells me is that members value the Annual Meeting enough to take the time to provide us opinions and help us work through our options. Thanks for taking the time to respond.
The results of the survey indicate that 52% of the respondents would not attend an in-person meeting under the current conditions. Of course, that means 48% of the respondents would attend. I was greatly encouraged, however, to see that 80% of the respondents would participate in the Annual Meeting if held virtually. Visit aasv.org/members/only/2021survey.pdf to see the complete results of the survey.
Many other groups (eg, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the United States Animal Health Association, the Allen Leman Swine Conference, etc) have decided to transition their meetings to a virtual format. A few, such as the American Association of Bovine Practitioners, are offering a hybrid format with a traditional in-person meeting and livestreaming the sessions for remote participation. The AASV is actively exploring all options. Obviously, however, the need to record and livestream all presentations along with virtual design and access adds additional cost to an already expensive meeting.
While I will continue to work with the hotel, Marriott Global, and our legal advisors, one thing is certain: we will hold the 52nd AASV Annual Meeting. The AASV staff, leadership, and program committee are moving forward with the planning necessary to bring you a great lineup of speakers and topics for the meeting. We are planning to provide remote access to the workshops, scientific sessions, poster sessions, exhibitor booths, and member recognition events that we all look forward to as part of our Annual Meeting. So, now what we need is you.
I encourage you to register for the meeting and participate in whatever format is offered and with which you are comfortable. The association needs your support. The profit we make from the Annual Meeting is one of three revenue streams supporting the AASV’s annual operating expenses. The other two are the annual dues and the revenue generated from selling advertising space in the Journal of Swine Health and Production and the AASV e-Letter. The costs for putting on a traditional convention continue to rise. The registration fee you pay along with the generous support of our allied industries through sponsorships and technical table registrations are what pay for the meeting and provide any operating profits going forward. So, I hope that you will continue to find value in the Annual Meeting and register. In addition, please thank our allied industry partners for their continued support and visit their exhibitor offerings to show that their participation is recognized and brings value to the meeting as well. If it were not for their support, we could not put on the quality of the meeting we do without significantly raising registration fees.
Thanks to each of you for your continued support of the association and I look forward to spending some time with you in person or virtually during the 52nd AASV Annual Meeting February 27 – March 2, 2021. Come join us! We will do our best to make it educational, inspirational and, gosh darn it, a little fun.
Harry Snelson, DVM
Executive Director