Hey cavers -
If you're curious about this year's NSS Convention, please read this and share with your grottos. It contains information you need to know... This information is also available on our website at http://nss2021.caves.org It's definitely been a long year of playing "what if", and we're not out of this pile of breakdown yet. But, for now, there appears to be light at the end of the passage. As of today, here's where things stand... Every 4 years, the International Union of Speleology (UIS) hosts an international conference on caving (the ICS). The National Speleological Society is a member of this global organization, and as a matter of protocol, we avoid scheduling our national conventions on the same dates as the international congress. The UIS international event is currently set for July 26-30 in France. The production team for this year's NSS Convention in Weed, California has been trying to move our event to later in the summer. This would give us a bit more time to allow the world to get back on its feet with respect to the pandemic. Unfortunately, the only other dates our host college could offer us are the exact same dates as the ICS conference in France. The UIS held a meeting last Friday to discuss postponing the ICS to next year. International travel is expected to remain complicated for some time yet, and we're told the UIS is leaning towards postponing the ICS. While I was hoping they would decide that question at their meeting, it was tabled until their next meeting in March. This leaves the 2021 NSS Convention in a strange position. As of today, the 2021 NSS Convention is set for June 28-July 2 in Weed, California. BUT... IF the UIS postpones the ICS congress, we plan to move the NSS Convention to take those dates later in the summer. That extra month might be the "magic bullet" we need to hold a safe convention in California. We're hopeful that Covid-19 transmission rates will be controlled by the end of June, but having an extra month would be our better choice. Only time will answer that question. If the UIS does not postpone, we plan to move forward with our current June dates in Weed and make a determination in late April about the overall feasibility of holding a live event or taking it virtual. This is not the situation we want to be in right now. But, as you all know, this has been a difficult time for the world in general. We're encouraged by the fact that cavers are a tough crowd and can roll with these uncertainties. Rest assured that scientific facts and medical realities will guide us in resolving these questions as soon as possible. We have no intention of holding a live event if it remains unsafe to do so, but we want to give the world every chance to recover before making any final decisions. I wish I could have shared better news, but we won't have solid details for a few weeks yet. We certainly hope to welcome you to the "first convention of the post-apocalypse" this summer in Weed, California! Let's keep in touch. Sincere regards, Matt Bowers Chair, 2021 NSS Convention Weed, California matt.bow...@caves.org http://nss2021.caves.org The decision timeline looks like this: There are 2 scenarios here... If the convention sticks with the June 28-July 3 dates, we will make a live vs. virtual decision in late April. If the convention can successfully move to July 24-31, the live vs. virtual decision will be in late May. Both of these decision dates will still give our caver guests almost 2 months to make alternate plans or cancel any travel reservations. Please visit our website for up-to-date details on our Covid-19 strategy if we have a live event. http://nss2021.caves.org -- To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to varlist-g+unsubscr...@vt.edu.
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