BEA Cancels April 18-21 Las Vegas Convention

The Broadcast Education Association announced Wednesday that due to the ongoing and rapidly developing events and concerns related to the coronavirus it is canceling BEA’s 65th annual convention in Las Vegas scheduled for April 18-21. It said:

“It has been heart wrenching to work through the multiple scenarios regarding the outcome, and we thank you all for your patience.

“We are making our decision today based on the fact that the effects of the virus have escalated severely over the past few days. As all of your schools and campuses have been monitoring the fallout from the virus, none of us are sure what the full impact will be. Schools and businesses are moving to suspend or restrict all domestic travel and colleges and universities are shifting to teaching classes virtually for extended periods of time.

“We value our BEA members and their desire to network and share information. A lot of people have expended great effort into planning and supporting the convention. The BEA Board, division leadership, session organizers, researchers, creative scholars, moderators, panelists, students, sponsors, and staff have spent a considerable amount of time preparing for BEA2020, and we’re now working on ways to bring its value to you in alternative ways soon to be announced.

“As of today, we are shifting all of our energy and resources to continuing to develop back-up programming options that will likely feature some combination of virtual and/or physical events or meetings. We’re also working on FAQs that should address concerns and questions you have. We hope you will be excited and eager to participate in these once our plans are announced, but understand if time and circumstances don’t allow it.

“Regarding registration fees, we are looking at a number of options, based on our “plan B” contingencies. However, we will provide a full refund to those who request it. We ask for your patience and that you give us a couple of weeks to continue to put some things in place, and track the effects of COVID-19, before you make the decision to ask for a full refund. Also know that we are planning to refund all undergraduate, graduate and spouse/guest registrations over the next few weeks.

“Development of “plan B” and the issuing of refunds is complicated by the fact that we are also in the process of moving our offices. As many of you know, BEA’s offices are located in NAB’s Building. NAB (and the BEA staff) were preparing for a move to NAB’s new building at the end of the month. However, because of the risk of a more serious COVID-19 outbreak, NAB has decided to accelerate their move to Thursday, March 19. As we do our final purging and packing, we once again ask that you be patient with us as we work through all these details. Thank you for all your understanding and support.

“We apologize for all the inconvenience that this causes. We know the coronavirus impacts so many of you beyond your involvement with BEA and our hearts are with all of you as you make your own tough choices and have to change plans. We’ll be thinking about you as we all work to get past this.”