Spring Conference Cancelled in Response to COVID-19 Health Concerns

March 10, 2020

Dear Port CEOs and Spring Conference registrants,

Earlier today the Executive Committee of AAPA convened via conference call to discuss the outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the context of next week’s Spring Conference and Spring Fly-In in Washington, D.C.

As we are all learning in this public health crisis, the news cycle is relentless with its focus on the virus, and the narrative is changing rapidly and escalating in its seriousness.

While our Spring Conference and Spring Fly-In are relatively modest in scale (+/- 100 people), they nonetheless represent a convening of people from throughout the country, with the vast majority traveling to D.C. by air. Despite an increase in new registrations early last week, that trend came to an abrupt halt late last week through today, as cancellations for both the conference and hotel rooms have been increasing rapidly.

Accordingly, the Executive Committee has concluded that AAPA should do its part in helping authorities ‘get on top’ of the situation by cancelling this year’s Spring Conference. In addition, we recognize that a number of our members are actively working with public health officials on protocols and prevention locally and must prioritize these activities over travel.

It is disappointing to cancel, particularly since we had planned for an excellent program for our members. It’s also a financial hardship for AAPA, since we are unlikely to recoup our sunken costs from the hosting hotel. These concerns, however, pale in comparison to the importance of keeping people healthy and assisting authorities in their efforts to contain the virus and get the necessary care and attention to those who need it.

To assist us with the cash flow impacts of the cancellation, AAPA is requesting that all paid registrants accept a credit in the dollar amount of the registration fee. This credit may be used by any staff person of the registrant’s organization and may be applied to the registration fee associated with another seminar or event hosted by AAPA, including the AAPA Annual Convention. The credit should be used at a seminar or event within the next year. This would reduce the financial impact of cancelling the event, while still assuring that AAPA members get value for their money spent.

A couple of important points relative to this cancellation:

• The Association will conduct necessary governance meetings virtually next week on March 17-18 (the same dates as the cancelled Spring Conference). The Executive Committee, Legislative Policy Council and Board of Directors will all convene via virtual meeting, as will a Port Directors Only meeting. These meetings will occur between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. Eastern time on March 17-18. If you are a member of these groups, you will receive calendar invitations with virtual meeting information within the next 24-48 hours.
• You are responsible for cancelling your own hotel room if you have not done so already. You must cancel directly with the Grand Hyatt at (202) 582-1234 by Thursday, March 12, to avoid any cancellation penalties on your end. Hyatt has announced that guests with prepaid reservations who have decided not to travel may opt to receive 10,000 World of Hyatt Bonus Points compensation in lieu of their stay to use toward future travel at any of Hyatt’s 900+ hotels across 17 brands globally. For full details and to make arrangements, guests can call one of Hyatt’s Global Contact Centers or email Hyatt at worldofhyatt@hyatt.com. For interested non-members, colleagues will be able to quickly assist with enrolling the guest into World of Hyatt and creating a World of Hyatt account to deposit the points.

In addition to the above, AAPA is working to reschedule the Finance Seminar, currently scheduled for April 15-16 in Seattle. New dates will be announced soon.

Thank you for your support and cooperation. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Meredith Martino
Vice President of Member Engagement
American Association of Port Authorities

D: 703-706-4718 | C: 703-254-7103
E: mmartino@aapa-ports.org

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