WASHINGTON–CUNA’s Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC) will return to being an in-person event when it kicks off this weekend, with more than 4,000 people expected to be in attendance in Washington.
GAC, the largest meeting in credit unions, was conducted virtually in 2021 due to COVID, the first time in the meeting’s history it was ever conducted online. There is more than one piece of good news for GAC attendees in 2022, as it’s not just an in-person event, the District of Columbia has recently dropped its requirements that attendees show proof of vaccination in order to attend.
As CUToday.info reported here, prior to the announcement CUNA had gone to some lengths to partner with a company called Safe Expo on a digital app that would allow attendees to show they had been vaccinated via a QR code. As of press time, the District and the Walter E. Washington Convention Center were still requiring masks to be worn indoors. A decision on masks is reportedly to be made by Feb. 28. GAC officially launches Feb. 27.
This year’s event will feature sanitation stations and touchless registration.
The coronavirus will, however, continue to affect one aspect of GAC, and one of its primary reasons for being: the “Hike the Hills,” during which credit union reps meet with their respective members of Congress. While the status remains up to the respective congressional offices, most of those meetings are still expected to take place virtually.
Businesses May Have Own Requirements
CUNA also noted that while the city-wide vaccine verification requirement has been lifted, businesses may choose to continue to ask customers for vaccination verification or to adhere to mask guidelines.
As CUToday.info previously reported, CUNA had put protocols in place that required attendees to provide proof of vaccination via a third party provider it retained, Safe Expo, in order to generate a QR code that attendees would need to show in order to attend the event.
Even when the vaccine mandate was still in place, Todd Spiczenski, chief products and services officer with CUNA, told CUToday.info that attendance was largely tracking that seen in 2020, before the virus shut down many in-person events.
The ’Top Thing’
The return to meeting in person is only adding to attendance numbers, said Spizcenski.
“I think that the power of our GAC really is when we can come together and be in person,” he said. “Since we announced in early fall that we were going to do this in person, the response has been tremendous.”
Spiczenski said the exhibit hall is sold out and there is a waiting list.
“My sense is that people have always loved the keynoters and the exhibit hall and hiking the hill, whether it’s the GAC or any other event, but it’s the ability to network with peers that always ranks as the top thing that occurs at GAC and I don’t think that’s going to change at all,” Spiczenski added.
Meetings Already Underway
Many meetings among CUNA’s various committees, leagues and other groups start several days ahead of GAC and are already taking place. On Sunday at noon CUNA will host its traditional Small CU Roundtable. A general session featuring Mike Eberling will officially launch the event on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET. Ebeling, the author, philanthropist, and entrepreneur, will take the mainstage to discuss the fallacy of the “impossible,” and how to overcome it to reach true innovation, according to CUNA.
Another keynoter will be Amy Cuddy, whose TED Talk, “Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are,” is the second most-viewed TED talk of all time.
CUToday.info will have extensive coverage from the meeting throughout the week.