I hope you, your staff, members and family are well and safe during these uncertain and somewhat surreal times. 

Firstly, an update to our members regarding the AuSAE Conference and Exhibition (ACE) 2020 and our face to face events. The current environment is changing every day, and like all organisations across Australia, AuSAE is closely monitoring the developments and advice provided by World, Federal and State government authorities to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our community and our staff.

After much consideration from the AuSAE Board and key stakeholders, we wish to advise that we will postpone ACE 2020 due to be held March 31 – April 2. We will also postpone all other face to face events in the AuSAE calendar until 31 May 2020.

Regarding ACE 2020, we are disappointed that we need to make this decision however, the safety of our members, community and Australia is our main concern and first responsibility during this time. We have not made this decision lightly as this is our largest event in the AuSAE calendar and provides considerable and crucial income to the ongoing viability of the association. We hope you will continue to support the postponed event. AuSAE is working with our key partners and our ACE venue partner and will provide an update in the next few days regarding the new dates for ACE 2020.

During this time of significant uncertainty, AuSAE will be here for you - our members. Whilst we understand you are absolutely stretched in trying to support your own Industries and Professions at this time, we are committed to continuing to deliver options for you to access information and provide forums for discussions to help you do this and to help support your own businesses. In the coming days, AuSAE will touch base regarding online learning options and virtual event engagement opportunities.

We realise you have also been inundated with offers of products and services and we want to assure you AuSAE is working very closely with all our current partners to provide resources that both assist and support you. We thank our partners for their pledged support now and into the future.

In the meantime, we have collated some current resources that you may find immediately useful:

• The Governance Institute is hosting a webinar on Thursday 19 March 2020 on “Coronavirus – evolving Business impact and continuity planning” To register please click here
• AuSAE Alliance Partner, FCB Group has written the following advice article “The Employer Battles of the Coronavirus”. To read this please click here.
• In response to the cancellation of many in-person events due to coronavirus (COVID-19), Higher Logic is offering Event Engagement to assist organisations in driving engagement and connection around virtual events. To find out more about this please click here.
• AuSAE members are reminded that you are all members of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and have access to all virtual events, resources and on-line community access. They have also collated many resources and materials in relation to COVID-19. On Friday they are running a webcast on , “Remote Work During COVID-19: Human Resource and Technology Considerations”, to learn about key considerations for managing your staff and technology needs through the COVID-19 crisis.

Last week, on behalf of members I wrote a letter to the Treasurer asking that not-for-profit Associations are not excluded from any government assistance designed to stem the economic fallout resulting from COVID-19. The letter can be found here. You are welcome to share this with your local member of parliament and communicate the impact on your own association. I am very conscious that our Associations are vulnerable during this time, especially in relation to lost revenue through events and will work with you to advocate whatever way we can to highlight and support this.

Every day is changing, and it is a challenging time for you and the entire AuSAE community, we will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and we will provide regular updates and build our online capacity in order to support you during the coming weeks and months.

Thank you for all your heartfelt support for AuSAE and for each other. It is in times like this that we come together, that relationships cultivated over time become the foundations for what will support our recovery.

In this spirit I would like to extend an invitation to you all to join us for a virtual coffee on Friday morning, 10 am (EST) and let us know how you are going. I will open up my zoom “door” and hope to provide a platform for us to talk about the key challenges you are facing right now and how we can best support you so you can continue to provide support and leadership to your members. Register to join us here.

We are here for you and will be reaching out in the coming weeks to personally check in. Please feel free to contact the AuSAE team on the details below if we can help in anyway.

Toni Brearley, CEO: 0458 000 155
Kerrie Green, Director Member Experience: 0400 198 928
Abby Fields, Partnerships Manager: 0438 064 569

Warm regards
Toni