Due to continued concerns for the health and safety of all members, volunteer leaders, staff, and other stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic, NSPE decided today that the 2021 Professional Engineers Conference, originally scheduled for Philadelphia, will be held virtually from August 4–6.
This decision was not made lightly. After great thought and careful consideration, given the current pace of COVID-19 vaccine roll-out and member comfort in participating tied to whether they are vaccinated, NSPE concluded it’s not possible at this time to guarantee the success of an in-person, multiday annual meeting in early August.
As the next step, NSPE’s marketing team will begin work on a communication to all members that will explain the change and the value they will receive by attending the virtual conference. The communication is planned for next week.
PECon, as in 2020, will be held in conjunction with the celebration of PE Day on August 4. As we learned last year, the virtual program better allows attendees to participate according to their schedules. It also is easily accessible and affordable due to the elimination of travel costs and reduction in registration fees, while still providing exceptional content with the opportunity for networking and connection with colleagues and friends around the country.
This year’s conference will focus on Leadership and Innovation and will include:
- 10 education sessions, at various times of day, empowering attendees to take in more of the content they desire.
- Recording of all sessions to make them available for on-demand viewing.
- Morning networking discussions with peers by region and areas of practice, geared to increase dialogue and member engagement.
- End-of-the-day roundtable discussions, allowing in depth Q&A with speakers and discussion with other attendees.
While this is disappointing—both for NSPE and its members, and for our scheduled 2021 host city Philadelphia—we are shifting all efforts to ensuring that this conference delivers the best content and experiences possible for our many stakeholders.
As details are confirmed, they will be posted on the conference website.
Thank you for your understanding and for being part of the NSPE community. We hope to see you at the Virtual 2021 Professional Engineers Conference and at future in-person events when it’s fully safe for us all to convene!