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Dear Conservation Leaders,
Earlier this week, the NACD Executive Board made the difficult decision to move NACD’s 75th Annual Meeting to a completely virtual format.
The 2021 Annual Meeting will be held online Feb. 1-10 through NACD’s virtual meeting hub and will celebrate the theme “NACD’s 75th Anniversary: A Diamond out of the Dust”.
Although we are all disappointed not to be meeting face-to-face in New Orleans, where we could greet our fellow members of the conservation family with handshakes and hugs, the safety of our members, our partners and our staff remains NACD’s top priority.
With our 75th anniversary, we are looking to the future, and we see this virtual meeting format as an opportunity. In 2020, as an organization, we’ve had no choice but to adapt and to challenge ourselves to take on the onus of examining ways to improve our diversity, equity and inclusivity. Moving the annual meeting to a virtual format will reduce the cost of participation for meeting attendees. It will allow more flexibility in attendance, as meeting-goers will be able to network and view breakout sessions and leadership-oriented speakers from the comfort of their own homes and offices. And we believe by providing a more accessible meeting, we have an opportunity to reach more of our 17,000 conservation district officials and a greater range of conservationists – in age, experience and geography – than ever before.
We’re looking forward to hosting a more innovative meeting than ever before – and what more fitting time than our 75th Anniversary – with the same quality of breakout session presentations, informative symposia and inspiring speakers as you’ve come to expect when you attend an NACD Annual Meeting in person.
Please stay tuned to your email for updates – registration and our virtual meeting hub will be launching in the near future. If you have any questions or comments about the virtual annual meeting process, please contact events@nacdnet.org.
Thank you for all that you do for locally-led conservation,
Your NACD Team
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