PRESIDENTIAL PERSPECTIVE Keeping the Faith for 2021 as the pandemic improved. Unfortunate- ly, that won’t be the case across the board, as we are not going to be able to hold SAFETECH 2021 in Reno, NV. Sadly, local restrictions have prevent- W ed the convention venue from meeting its obligations. It is, of course, heart- breaking news to not be able to hold SAFETECH two years in a row. We were looking forward to hosting at this new- to-us venue, the Atlantis, and seeing a different part of Reno. In better news, we’ve arranged to hold SAFETECH 2023 there, so our planning will not be for naught. We all are looking forward to next year’s SAFETECH with our return to Lexington, KY. Aſter a two-year absence for this convention, it’s going to be a heck of an event! Please mark your cal- endars now for April 4-9, 2022, and be sure to join us. Keeping an Eye on ALOA 2021 But, as it always does, the world keeps spinning. While we have the temporary bad news about SAFETECH, we have so much leſt to look forward to this year. This year’s ALOA Convention & Security Expo in Orlando is still in motion, and we have every reason to believe at the moment that we will be there July 25-31. WWW.ALOA.ORG ell, we hoped that we would be able to bring you increasingly bet- ter news this year “We all are looking forward to next year’s SAFETECH with our return to Lexington, KY. After a two-year absence for this convention, it’s going to be a heck of an event!” Florida has been one of most “open” states with the fewest lockdown restric- tions during the pandemic, and there’s no reason to believe that will change in the near future. Even more importantly, the Centers for Disease Control says that most of the U.S. population will likely be vaccinated by May, and the infection numbers have been trending down dra- matically for a while now. As of right now, the summer Olympics in Japan are still a go. Even Disney has been reopening parks on a restricted basis. We have so many check marks in our column right now where the convention is concerned. And when we are there, the staff, board and volunteers will do everything in their power to keep you safe while you take classes and browse products: social distancing, hand- sanitizing stations, encouraging mask wearing and more. Look for ALOA convention registration information in the next issue of Keynotes, and check your email inbox for more in- formation in the coming months as well. And do keep your spirits up, as things overall are looking up. It’s been a difficult year-plus, but so many things are trend- ing in the right direction right now. It’s easy to lose hope in the face of ongoing challenge and adversity, but all of this will soon pass. Until then, stay safe and well, and we’ll see you in July! Jim Wiedman, CML President ALOA Security Professionals Association, Inc. [email protected] MARCH 2021 KEYNOTES 5
