As we start another week under lockdown orders and social distancing guidelines, we once send our best wishes and hopes that you are staying healthy and well.
On Friday, we used the occasion of our 5th Virtual Coffee to announce that INUSA20, currently scheduled for September 17-20 in Cleveland, will be postponed. While it was a difficult decision to make, considering how much we all enjoy this annual event, we know it was the right one as nothing is more important than the health and safety of all of our members.
All is not lost, however! In deciding to postpone a physical conference, the Board of Irish Network USA voted unanimously to host a virtual conference that brings the best parts of our time together online and streaming right to where our members and friends are.
In the coming weeks please watch for more emails from us as we want each of you to craft this virtual gathering. How would you like the agenda to look, what can we do to make our time “together” most valuable, and how can we best meet our platform of keeping the “Global Irish” connected through business, culture, education, and sports?
On the same call, for the first time, we invited attendees to engage in “virtual speed networking” and asked everyone to help us guide our agenda for the coming weeks. We are grateful for all of your contributions and plan to put them into action. Included in them was:
- Launch a campaign to collect best practices for staying connected during COVID-19 and use that for future breakout discussions on future INUSA Virtual Coffees.
- Create a post coronavirus bucket list. What are our top priorities as restrictions are eased and gatherings become acceptable again?
- Ensuring zoom etiquette and security. Encouraging attendees to enable their cameras, and at all times requiring attendees to be identifiable by name.
- Inviting more speakers that are writers and/or musicians to help them promote their work at a time when they can’t be in front of an audience.
- “Happy Hour” gatherings. Just chatting, no work talk!
- Inviting more speakers that can offer a global perspective.
- As always, we welcome your additional thoughts, comments, and suggestions, and look forward to welcoming you to this Friday’s coffee!
