BUSINESS Navigating the COVID-19 Minefield our members (personally and/or in their business) encountered a similar feeling of almost being overwhelmed by wave aſter wave of seemingly insurmountable challenges and uncertainty! SAFETECH – April 2020 The first event casualty from this curse was our annual SAFETECH event, which includes educational classes and a tradeshow. ALOA members are not necessarily members of SAVTA (Safe & Vault Technicians Association), which is one of four ALOA SPAI divisions and includes several thousand members. Conversely, SAVTA members are not necessarily ALOA general members; although many are. We are proud to say that this highly qualified group includes some of the world’s best safe crackers (literally), including those employed by various government agencies with familiar three-letter acronyms. You know, the guys that can’t give you a business card or, sometimes, even a real name. ALOA Convention – July 2020 in Kansas City The second torpedo hit our annual ALOA Convention and Se- curity Expo, which was scheduled to begin July 20 in Kansas City (as we discuss this, it’s OK to hum “Going to Kansas City. Kansas City, here I come!”). This venue was somewhat reluc- tantly selected from a long list of one, although we had history in that city many years ago. With a brand-new hotel and ap- pealing convention center location, we were really looking for- ward to holding our event in this non-traditional Midwestern city. Rather than repeat the drama, suffice it to say that this one was a real cliffhanger... and they still have our deposit money. Security Leaders – November 2020 in Memphis Our third event casualty was our Security Leaders event, which focuses on education and networking for security business owners and managers. Unlike our traditional education, which tends to be technical in nature, this event is all about how to run your business successfully. It’s a much smaller niche and a wonderful opportunity where attendees can learn from in- dustry experts and their industry colleagues. We’ve had three of these (in Puerto Rico, Albuquerque and San Diego) and continue to adjust the format based upon attendees’ feedback. (This is where I leaned to spell Albuquerque!) Those who at- tend report high levels of satisfaction and said they felt that their time and investment yielded valuable returns. Check it out next time we schedule one. You’ll likely get a spectacular return on your investment! 20 KEYNOTES JULY/AUGUST 2021 Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we were on an 18-month event cycle and scheduled for November 2020 in Memphis at none other than the Guest House at Graceland, where Elvis never entirely leaves the building. Earlier in our minefield journey, as our first and second quarter event plans began to crash and burn, we held out hope (perhaps naively) that this later Novem- ber 2020 date might offer some protection. Who said we were a bunch of pessimists? However, as time went on, the dreaded curse tightened its grip and, eventually, even wearing one mask was not enough. Probably the worst part was that all this grief became increas- ingly and widely politicized… just what we needed! So, yes, you guessed it: We had to pull the plug on this event also, but we elected to make this decision early in the game. This par- ticular venue contract was more flexible, and we opted not to reschedule at a later date. Actually, there wasn’t much postur- ing by this hotel. Hope “Da King” was not upset! Feel free to hum a few bars of “Love Me Tender.” Payroll Protection Program (PPP) No, PPP has nothing to do with incontinence, prostrates or adult diapers! As the U.S. and global economies continued to be hit by more torpedoes, the situation seemed to deteriorate almost weekly, with various sources fueling the fire. Then, a very strange thing happened in a mythical place called the U.S. Congress. Yes, our elected officials actually took a break from their favorite sports (bickering, self-enrichment and power grabbing), to send help to individuals and businesses that were adversely impacted by the pandemic. Maybe Santa will bring me that red Ferrari Testarossa aſter all! One such form of assistance was the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), but you may not be aware that ALOA SPAI did not qualify for the first round of relief. That was because our Texas not-for-profit corporation is a 501(c)(6), which is a membership organization rather than a typical donation- driven not-for-profit, charitable entity. You can imagine our dismay when this latest gut punch felt like it was delivered directly to our solar plexus. Fortunately, “government wisdom” (which is definitely an oxymoron) prevailed, and subsequently, PPP relief was expanded to include our type of nonprofit. Welcoming this new lifeline, we fought our way through the incred- ibly complicated and fluid paperwork process and even- tually received a substantial low-interest loan that could potentially be forgiven if we used it to keep employees on the payroll. This certainly helped, but it offered only tem- porary, limited relief! WWW.ALOA.ORG
