Registration for the VIRTUAL IAEM 68th Annual Conference Will Be Opening Soon

“IAEM Reimagined” Virtual Event Replaces the In-Person Conference in November

July 21, 2020 (Falls Church, Va.) – Due to the continuously evolving circumstances surrounding COVID-19, the IAEM-USA Annual Conference, scheduled to be held in November in Long Beach, California, will be produced as a virtual event. IAEM members offered input for this decision by survey. Further, IAEM-USA Board carefully analyzed the current state and projections for the coronavirus pandemic.

“This was a difficult decision, but one that made sense given current events,” stated IAEM-USA President Teri Smith, CEM, CPM. “We took into consideration the various responsibilities that many of our members, speakers and attendees have related to COVID-19. Additionally, the Board acknowledged that increasing travel restrictions (state-to-state and international) created barriers for many traditional attendees to participate in-person in California this year.”

Virtual Conference – IAEM Reimagined

The 68th Annual Conference & EMEX is being reimagined as a virtual event to be held Nov. 16-18, 2020, to include all the bells and whistles of an in-person event. “Our goal is to make the IAEM 68th Annual Conference as close as we can get to our premiere in-person event,” stated Mike Gavin, Conference Committee chair. “We have much work to do to make this happen, but with the best staff and dedicated Conference Committee volunteers, I expect this event to exceed the expectations as currently envisioned.”

“While nothing can replace the live experience of a professional gathering, IAEM’s new plan will actually give attendees access to more content than they are able to attend in-person,” explained IAEM CEO Elizabeth Armstrong, MAM, CAE. “Recordings of every session after the event will allow review at each individual’s own schedule.”

IAEM has been planning for a potential change to a virtual conference and the following event details have been finalized:

• The Annual Conference will still be held November 16-18, 2020. Please continue to save those dates.
• The theme of the conference is IAEM 2020: Visioning the Future of Emergency Management.
• The schedule for the conference will remain as consistent with previous years as possible, with the addition of a COVID-19 focus throughout in the breakout, spotlight and plenary sessions.
• IAEM will continue to provide top-notch speakers with the latest information to share in emergency management and allow for extended live question and answer sessions.
• There will still be plenty of opportunities for networking with colleagues, friends and prospects in the virtual platform.
• EMEX, IAEM’s exhibit hall, will be virtual with live meeting rooms and dedicated show hours. Exhibitors will have individual branded video conference rooms, to show presentations, products and even jump into one-to-one private discussions.  
• IAEM’s EMvision Talks will still go on! This featured event has become a mainstay as it continues to engage and educate our audience.
• The Poster Showcase will be presented in the virtual platform with interactive features.
• CEUs for IAEM’s Certification program will be offered for those participating.
• Registration fees have been significantly reduced to help with the budget cuts we all are experiencing and to allow for multiple people participating from every organization.

IAEM-USA, the nation’s largest emergency management professional association, is a non-profit professional organization representing more than 5,000 emergency management and homeland security professionals for local communities, state and federal disaster officials, private sector, non-governmental organizations and others involved in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from all types of disasters including acts of terrorism. IAEM provides: access to the largest network of emergency management experts who can provide advice and assistance; the Certified Emergency Managerprogram; annual scholarships; a comprehensive monthly newsletter; and more.