Survey - Can There Be a 2021 WCTA Conference & Trade Show?

COVID-19 has forced cancellation of countless meetings and events since the state of emergency declaration in March.  BC has executed a phased plan that allows mass gatherings only if a coronavirus vaccine is widely available or so called ‘community immunity’ is achieved.  With that, our next Conference and Trade Show, scheduled to take place Feb 9-11, 2021 in Penticton, may not be allowed to proceed.  

Even if mass gathering rules do permit larger events by next February, we wonder how many turf management professionals and industry suppliers/service providers would be interested in attending.  While some industry groups are quickly transitioning to online events and education, we also wonder how WCTA members would feel about any major changes to key programming and services delivery, such as a move to virtual education and trade show events.  There’s also the matter of production lead time – it takes about 6 months to organize our show!  

Directors feel strongly that any major changes to our association’s operation must be subject to member feedback.  We ask that you click on the following link to complete the very brief survey (10 questions – 3 minutes) by noon on Friday, August 21st. 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NNHQ387  

Member input is critically needed to help shape our association’s and the turf industry’s future.  Please take a couple minutes to help steer us in the right direction! 

UPDATE

Dozens of WCTA members have already provided thoughts on our conference survey, thank-you for your feedback!  Here’s some of what we’re hearing so far (unedited): 

As you said, it takes a lot of time and work to put it together and it could be a waste of time if Covid trends continue. 

those individuals who have a compromised immune system or underlying health issue should self isolate and the rest of "healthy" society should get on with business as best as possible with good hygiene and masks in crowded places. 

I would like to see the conference go forward, but only if there's full participation by members and vendors. It's understandable that there may be some that won't feel comfortable gathering by that time and if that's the case, may be preferable to look at online options. 

*Current gatherings of 100 indoors are allowed. With sessions using that as a cap for live session events, we should be able to continue with the educational programme 

It would be sad to commit funds and all the lead time efforts to only have it disallowed by possible restrictions at the time? 

I won’t go out of my bubble until there is a vaccine. I’m in the older age group and can not risk contacting the virus 

all depends on the vaccine and or COVID numbers at the time. I understand the clock is ticking when it comes to planning an event like this so perhaps it would be best to postpone the event for before flat out cancelling it. 

Unless restrictions are lifted?? 

If nothing changes between now and then, the conference should be cancelled. 

It depends on any spike in the virus. We would like to attend but we are very concerned. 

Given the lack of understanding and misinformation regarding the virus, it would be unwise to proceed. I feel this is an opportunity for the entire industry to re-evaluate the conferences, tradeshows and revenue streams for organizations that support the industry. 
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Editor’s note:
*as of August 7, the limit to mass gathering in BC remains at 50 people.