IAM President Chuck White explains the decision to hold the 2020 IAM conference as a virtual event, how it will work and how much it will cost to take part.
The decision to turn the IAM Annual Meeting & Expo into a virtual event was not undertaken lightly. Though we knew it wouldn’t be an easy task, we were also keenly aware of importance of the Annual Meeting to our members - in our member surveys, nearly 50% of IAM members always give the Annual Meeting as their top reason for joining. For that reason, among others, we felt that canceling or postponing the meeting was out of the question.
It quickly became clear that an in-person event would be impractical, or even dangerous. The Annual Meeting & Expo draws representation from nearly 120 countries every year, with over 2,000 members gathering onsite. A gathering of our magnitude would be irresponsible, and safety has to come first - so, we set out to find the best alternative.
Fast forward to today: IAM has combined our decades of successful conference experience with a leading-edge software platform called Swapcard. Together, we are building a virtual conference experience that goes far beyond just an online meeting …