I want to take this opportunity to thank the Conference Committee, our Conference Sponsors, the Department of Workforce Development and their Adult Ed Team, Neil & Amy Richmund with ConnetAble, Blue Chip and their team, Hope Training Academy, the Presenters of all the sessions, Dr. Lori DeSautels, Steve Haffner, Jim Ansaldo, Brad Tassell, and the attendees.

I hope you agree this was a very unusual year.

First, we were dealing with all the Pandemic issues, which meant extra patience with hotel staff at check-in, understanding with no maid service, and wearing masks in the conference center for the good of the community.

Second, it was the first time we tried a Hybrid component. There were many components to making the Hybrid happen:

ConnectAble, Neil, and crew for the virtual. iaace.com platform (In-Kind Sponsor

Hope Training Academy for the Jolt Video and presentation software (In-Kind Sponsor)

Blue Chip Technology Crew for the microphones in all rooms, internet connection, and the keynote room. (sponsored by DWD)

Presenters both in-person and virtual, for learning to present with new software and hybrid style.

Volunteer Facilitators for learning on the spot and handling the issues as they arose.

IAACE, Jenn, and the Conference Committee for all the planning and onsite assistance

They all deserve appreciation for the time and talent they invested to make the hybrid component happen.  Did we have some issues? Yes, we did.  Was it any one person or component’s fault? Nope! We all performed to the best of our ability and knowledge with the time and talents we had. Did we learn? Oh boy, you bet, we did a lot of learning on the spot! Thanks to each of them we have recordings to review and upload into the virtual.iaace.com platform.  That is only a part of the work that has to be completed in order for all ticket holders to watch the professional development on-demand with the platform. We are working hard on this component and I explain all of the above to help you understand they there is no magic wand or a band of elves to get it done, just a group of volunteers and a staff of one to get it done for you as soon as possible.  We ask for your patience and please know we will announce via email and on the website when the hybrid sessions are ready for ticket holders to view on demand.

Virtual-only ticket holders – Thank you to each of you that followed all the emailed directions and participated in the sessions, took the time to chat in the sessions when there were issues.  We appreciate your patience and diligence. We also offer an apology for it not going as we hoped- perfectly! We would like to invite you to join Jenn either on her weekly chat on Thursday, October 14 at 10:30 am Eastern or Friday, October 15 at 11:30 am Eastern for a chance to win a $25 gift card.  We know that you would have been in person if it wasn’t such an unusual year so please join us for a chance to win a prize as a token of our appreciation.

All ticket holders- we will open up membership to the Virtual Institute sessions to all Fall Conference ticket holders so that you have access to the Professional Development while you wait patiently for the quality sessions to be uploaded.  To view, these sign in to the virtual.iaace.com platform and go to the Virtual Institute Replays link that is in the top right corner of your screen or browser window. If you need assistance, utilize the chat button in the bottom right corner.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see some of you on Zoom for a chance to win (virtual-only tickets).

In case you missed it a recap of the award winners is available at https://iaace.com/2021-iaace-award-winners/ or a blog page at https://iaace.com/2021/10/congratulations-to-2021-award-winners/.