This new program will help some of the meetings industry’s best advocates raise their voices in Washington, D.C. Photo: Adobe Stock
On August 5, the Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance, a coalition of leading industry associations that provides a unified public-policy voice for the business and professional events industry, announced the ECA Ambassadors Circle. The new program will provide a select group of leaders with advanced advocacy training and specialized year-round programming as well as new opportunities to amplify the meetings industry’s voice.
The first Ambassadors Circle includes 28 industry leaders who have already proven their commitment to advocacy and public policy engagement and will play a key role in advancing ECA’s advocacy efforts. “The future of our industry will be shaped by decisions made in Washington, D.C., and in state capitals across the country,” Fernando Fischer, President, Americas, for RX and Chair of the ECA Board of Directors, said in a press release. “The ECA Ambassadors Circle will give our most committed advocates the tools, access, and year-round opportunities to help ensure those decisions reflect the importance of business and professional events. It is exactly the kind of deeper industry engagement that ECA 2.0 is all about.”
Members of the first group of ECA Ambassadors represent a healthy cross-section of the business events industry, with representation from associations, DMOs, event-production companies, hotels and resorts, and meeting venues. This blend of expertise is critical for sharing the message that meetings are an essential part of the hospitality sector and the broader economy. “Advocacy has been one of the most humbling and rewarding parts of my career,” Marc Ghafoori, senior vice president, client experience at HERITAGE, told Convene.
“The Ambassadors Circle is a chance to make that work year-round instead of one great day on the Hill. I’m hoping to come away with additional tools, deeper relationships with the people doing this work across the industry, and better ways to show others that advocacy belongs to everyone in business events, at all experience levels. At the end of the day, if it helps bring a few more first-timers to Legislative Action Day next year, that alone will make it tremendously worth it,” he said.
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Stalwart Industry Stewards
The Ambassadors Circle represents a step toward ECA’s vision to more closely connect events-industry stakeholders to lawmakers and other hospitality industry stakeholders through ECA 2.0, a campaign to double down on advocacy in Washington, D.C. and beyond that kicked off in May at the Society of Independent Show Organizers Leadership Conference. ECA President and CEO Tommy Goodwin, who joined ECA at its founding in 2021, is helping ECA 2.0 take shape.
The inaugural ECA Ambassadors Circle brings together some of the keenest minds in the business events industry. “Each of these leaders has already demonstrated a steadfast commitment to ensuring that our industry is heard by policymakers. Their participation in the ECA Ambassadors Circle will help ECA amplify the case for policies that strengthen the industry’s ability to create new jobs, reduce economic uncertainty, safeguard affordability, and ensure that the U.S. remains the premier global destination for business and professional events going forward,” Goodwin said in the press release that revealed the 28 new ambassadors.
In addition to access to specialized advocate education and professional-development opportunities, Ambassadors Circle members will enjoy VIP access at select ECA events and invitations to private roundtables with policymakers.
Kate Mulcrone is Convene’s digital managing editor.
