ASSP’s Response to COVID-19 and Preparing for the Future

As you all know, the health and well-being of our members, event attendees, instructors, speakers and staff is our top priority. We have now postponed all ASSP in-person education events through June 30 and when possible shifted to virtual events.

All ASSP committee meetings are being held virtually and ASSP’s professional staff has transitioned to a remote working environment.

Thank you for your support in providing members content and resources through this extraordinary time.  Continue to use and share the latest resources.

Safety 2020 Virtual

As you are aware, we made the difficult decision to shift Safety 2020 from an in-person event to an online experience. The progression of the pandemic made it clear that this shift was the most prudent course of action.

We look forward to you joining us for this unique learning experience on June 23-25 for Safety 2020: Virtual. We’ve put together a program with 60 education sessions, three general sessions and two plenary sessions.  Although it will different than what most of us have come to know as PDC, attendees will still experience the high-quality professional content they expect from ASSP.  While we certainly wish we would be seeing you in Orlando this year, Safety 2020: Virtual will provide great value. Attendees will:

• Earn 4 times the CEUs – up to 6.5 total
• Engage with speakers in Q&A sessions
• Meet virtually with exhibitors bringing the latest in safety innovation
• Network with fellow attendees via in-session chat

Ancillary Events

We recognize that award ceremonies, lunches, receptions and other special gatherings are an important part of our experience at our annual conference.

For Safety 2020: Virtual, we are focused on delivering 3 days of valuable continuing safety education programming.  And we are exploring other ways to recognize our members, honor award recipients and provide networking opportunities for our various member communities throughout the year.

House of Delegates

There will be a virtual House of Delegates with new business being conducted via e-ballot. Voting packages and details on the virtual House of Delegates will be shared mid-May. The virtual HOD will be not in conjunction with Safety 2020: Virtual, but we plan to deliver it during June.

The house of delegates will be asked to vote on the following bylaws revisions,

1. Compliance Updates, as advised by ASSP Legal Counsel:
   • Revised bylaws language bringing ASSP in to compliance with IL state law, for non-officer board members and allows the board of directors to remove elected positions not on the board. 
   • Bylaws language clean-up, clarifying that practice specialty and common interest group administrators shall not serve more than one full term in the same office, consistent with all other elected officers and current procedure.
   • Bylaws language clean-up for consistency, adjusting the public director term to a one three year term.
   • Bylaws language clean-up, adding Senior Vice president as ex-officio to councils and board committees.  Brining consistency across all councils and board committees.
2. Revisions to Council on Practices and Standards, as recommended by the Council on Practices and Standards:
   • Revise bylaws language to enable the vice chair to be an administrator or immediate past administrator.
   • Move the standards development committee to be a Board Standing committee.
3. Revise bylaws language, removing the professional member requirement for the elected positions of regional vice president, area director, practice specialty/common interest group administrator, and practice specialty/common interest group assistant administrator.

Any questions on these new business items can be directed to governance@assp.org.

Chapter Recognition

Recognizing the achievements of our communities in their work to provide value to members is an important part of what we do to honor the contributions of our volunteer leaders. Staff will be working with leaders on a special Recognition edition of this Chapter Leader Update in June. We’ll also be looking at ways we can celebrate our member communities during the Leadership Conference this fall.

Leadership Conference and Future Safety Leaders Conference

Committees for the 2020 Leadership Conference and Future Safety Leaders Conference have started to plan these events. Last week, we spoke with them to share that while do not yet know how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact both events, we anticipate that it will affect them both. We informed them they may be asked to quickly adjust plans. And we noted that staff has developed business continuity plans to guide critical decisions regarding ASSP business and operations, including these conferences. This includes exploring virtual enhancements, scaling size, cancelling or postponing, or shifting to a virtual event while still delivering a quality attendee experience.

Both planning committees indicated they would support the direction ASSP decides to take. We thanked them and also want to thank each of you in advance for your support, flexibility and continued dedication to creating great and safe conference experiences.

We appreciate your flexibility and support during these extraordinary times.