Hey Live Events Community,

The month of March is always a time to reflect and remember what transpired in the world around this time in 2020, a moment in history that changed our industry and lives forever. However, it's not all PTSD I feel; I also lean back into memories of tremendous leadership I witnessed throughout the devastation in the many colleagues in our industry who drove us to persevere and overcome. Even my short list of those people would be too long to mention in this short note I want to send, but know that not a day goes by that I am not thankful and inspired by the memories of your efforts that still continue to this day in so many cases.

The Live Events Coalition was at the center of so many efforts and has left a lasting impact, which makes me smile greatly when thinking of how the mere words of this petition played a small role in igniting those efforts. The LEC still has a core leadership team and is involved behind the scenes, seeing how we can best serve the greater Live Events community in our passion for advocacy and continue the legacy of the impact all our voices were able to achieve. Next year, I hope to have some updates for you on what that looks like, so stay tuned.

I want to take a moment to recognize what I feel is some of the most important work happening behind the scenes in our industry right now, and that is the efforts of the Exhibitions and Events Workforce Development Federation (www.ee-wdf.org). What they are working on is seeing amazing progress in creating not just more continued visibility for our hidden industry, but also in actually securing federal DOL funding that is strengthening our industry's future and current workforce. I encourage everyone in the live events industry to connect with them and sign up for their monthly newsletter (What's Up Wednesday), which you can do at this link: Connect with Exhibitions & Events Workforce Development Federation.

I want to keep this message brief so I can't go in-depth into all they're working on, but you really need to connect and get to know them.

In closing, as always, I want to thank all of you who four years ago took the time to read and sign the petition, call your legislators, and volunteer your time and resources to save our industry and give us a voice. I think far into the future, we will look back at movements like this that formed in the midst of chaos resulted in an amazing transformational impact on the trajectory of our industry and craft, as for the first time the grassroots day in, day out Live Events Profs began to have an asserted voice in our industry and nation's leadership. This is something I see very evidently in organizations like the Exhibitions & Events Workforce Development Federation and other similar orgs and efforts.

Wishing all of you continued recovery and success, we did it, we are here, and we are headed back to great heights together as an industry.

Yours Truly in Flight Cases, Cable Bridges, Centerpieces, and Gaff Tape,

Isaac Rothwell