First and foremost, I sincerely hope that all of our members and their families and friends have been spared the COVID-19 virus and are following the protocols suggested by the authorities in whatever part of the Canada and the world that you might reside. These are truly difficult times and frankly we are in uncharted waters with this pandemic as each day brings new and unprecedented restrictions on our freedom of movement.

Freedom of movement is an axiomatic essential for both our industry and media members and the restrictions will have a significant economic impact on all of us. Just as each day brings its share of bad news, so there are some rays of hope. It appears that the spread of the virus is under control in China and there are unverified reports of a breakthrough on the vaccine front. However, we must face the reality of the situation in Canada today which is that we have no idea how long the restrictions will be in place or how long it will be before the virus is contained.

With those thoughts in mind, your Board, the Conference Committee and the City of Greater Sudbury are examining all options regarding the 2020 conference. At this point it would be irresponsible to say that it will proceed but cancelling would have a substantial negative impact on TMAC and many of its members. The organization relies upon the conference as its main source of revenue and for our members the Media Marketplace is one of the most important events of the year.

There is also the legal requirement to hold an Annual General Meeting every year which cannot be ignored. A decision will be made soon whether to postpone. The Board is meeting next Wednesday with that as the major item on the agenda. However, before an irreversible decision is made, I welcome any input from our members. This is not a decision to be taken lightly and the Board needs as much information as possible. We also welcome any thoughts on how to lessen the economic impact of COVID-19 on our organization and our members. We are looking into whether or not there might be any type of assistance in either existing programs or the recently announced aid program from the Federal government.

We will continue to keep you updated as events unfold. In the meantime, please send your thoughts to me at daledunlop25@gmail.com and Elizabeth at elizabethkerr@travelmedia.ca.

We will get through this and in the event there is no face-to-face conference this year, we have already started investigating options for which we will be seeking your feedback and support.