Q: Why is this year’s meeting virtual? A: A virtual meeting was necessary this year due to the COVID crisis. To date Rhode Island is restricting public gatherings to 125 people, with social distancing, and has not announced an estimated end date for these restrictions. Additionally, the primary hotels are not taking reservations due to the impact of COVID on their operations, and the convention center is operating as a field hospital and is not slated to be returned to normal operations until sometime in 2021. The bottom line is that our contracted space will not be available for the meeting. Q: If the meeting is virtual, why is there a registration fee? A. Although some costs will be reduced for the 2020 Annual Meeting there are still significant and new expenses to provide a professional meeting that includes a virtual exhibit hall, networking opportunities, along with synchronous and asynchronous program elements. Additionally it is important to keep in mind that income from the annual meeting does more than just pay for the meeting. It also appropriately contributes to the overall Society budget. We do anticipate that the savings in travel, lodging, and other expenses will yield a significant net savings for attendees and will allow many who might not ordinarily be able to travel to the meeting to attend. Additionally the advance registration rate will be kept in place for the remainder of the registration period. Please check back. As details for the 2020 meeting are finalized additional information will be posted here. Updated July 24, 2020 |
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