Hello Fellow Planetarians,
On behalf of SEPA Council and this year’s conference host, Adam Thanz, I am writing to announce that SEPA-MAPS-WAC 2021 at Bays Mountain Park is unfortunately postponed until 2023. This hard decision was made after considering a variety of factors, including the need for travel budget recovery time, restrictions on international travel (which affects vendor support), the uncertain timeline of the vaccine rollout and participation, and the fact that the CDC is still discouraging meetings and gatherings where social distancing is not possible. We believe that this combination of factors will diminish attendance to the point that the meeting, which has been structured with a large expected attendance in mind, will not be financially viable.
We understand that the wait for a conference update has been frustrating. In assessing the constantly evolving situation, we also provided the officers of MAPS and the Western Alliance regions (GPPA, PPA, RMPA, and SWAP) an opportunity to provide input, as this is their regions’ conference too. We waited as long as we could to make a final call in order to have the most recent information available to shape our decision. While no one can predict the future, at this time conditions just do not look favorable for an in-person meeting as soon as this June.
While vaccines are rolling out, they are doing so at different speeds throughout the country and the world. We cannot assume that everyone will be vaccinated by mid-June. There is absolutely no way to provide for social distancing during any part of this meeting. Attendees would be right next to each other for presentations, dome demos and meals, eating of course with masks off.
Like so many of you, we are disappointed that we cannot convene at Bays Mountain and be together in person this year. However, it would be irresponsible to hold a large meeting in which we cannot guarantee the safety of our delegates. It would also be financially reckless to hold a meeting with a potentially much smaller number of attendees and vendors.
On a more positive note, Adam has worked with the conference venue, MeadowView, to reschedule the conference for June 20-24, 2023. All of the special features of the conference will still occur, including the pre-conference, day-long workshops and extended low hotel rate for a two-week window. The event is the same week in June as this year’s conference, and this avoids conflicting with IPS 2022 next year. By 2023, we should be significantly more clear of the pandemic and financial pit the world is trying to climb out of and thus be able to enjoy each other’s company more fully. Adam has gone above and beyond planning a truly amazing meeting for all of us, and it will only be even more phenomenal now that he has two more years to fine-tune things.
Together with Adam, Council is working toward having some sort of virtual meeting this summer. Stay tuned for related announcements in the weeks ahead. Until then, stay safe, stay sane (or at least the fun kind of insane), and stay awesome!
Sincerely,
Liz Klimek
President, Southeastern Planetarium Association