Many of our members have reached out to us to express concern about attending the 2020 Annual Meeting in Arlington Virginia. Our Leadership Team has been closely monitoring the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. After much consideration, and out of an abundance of caution and care for our members, we have made the difficult decision to postpone next week’s annual meeting. We are recommending that the Awards Banquet and some form of UMAC be rescheduled for General Conference in May. Our leadership team is already working on a plan and we will share that with you soon. Our attendees will be informed today.
Our team was not concerned about holding UMAC. The concern was for travel to-and-from this event in the midst of a rapidly unfolding health crisis. It seemed an unnecessary risk, particularly for those members with existing medical conditions. Some UMAC members are still planning to attend the Religious Communicators Congress. We know that RC Congress is also evaluating this situation. You encourage you to monitor the RC Congress website over the next few days.
If you were planning to attend UMAC, please take a moment to cancel your airline and hotel reservations as soon as possible.
The Leadership Team is extremely disappointed that we will not be meeting together next week. In the end, the health and well-being of our members proved the most important factor in our decision. We apologize for the inconvenience to UMCOM. Please let us know if you have further questions or need assistance. You will hear from us soon with a new plan to bring communicators together.
Thank you for understanding and God Bless.
Mark Doyal
Chair United Methodist Association of Communicators