For the safety and general well-being of all, during the course of conference weekend, we’ll be requiring that masks be worn by conferees inside all ground floor level areas–SCWC meeting spaces, lobby, bar, restaurant–as well as inside elevators. I’m told the Marriott Mission Valley staff will also be masked.
As with our September, 2021 in-person event, additional measures we’ve taken include keeping conference attendance at half it’s pre-pandemic capacity; utilizing the largest breakout rooms available to us; removing at least the first row of 8’ roundtables from workshop leaders and keynote speakers to put as much distance between them and conferees; and keeping doors open to better ventilate rooms.
Given the attendance of most workshops, and the halved capacity slated for San Diego, the ballroom that seats our general sessions, such as introductions, guest speakers, agents panel and banquet, will be setup with fewer tables, distanced farther apart than in normal circumstances, as well as with fewer seats available at each, in effort to keep everyone as comfortably distanced as they wish to be.
While risk of exposure to the current COVID omicron variant contagion is expected to drop significantly going into February, the SCWC staff maintains that we’d all be better off sticking to what worked so well for us in Irvine. And we had a great Irvine conference!
All that said, the deadline for discounted pre-registration is fast approaching. Mask up for the task and join us. Your work is worth it.