by Tommy Goodwin, Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance
Each May, the Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA) brings the business events industry together in Washington, DC for Legislative Action Day. This year, more than 130 industry leaders and advocates from 25 states met with their members of Congress as part of the largest industry gathering on Capitol Hill ever!
During these meetings, they talked about some of the most pressing policy issues facing our sector today including expanding access to government programs that will help attract and train the industry’s future workforce and restoring visa interview wait times to pre-pandemic levels.
For ECA, Legislative Action Day is an opportunity for the industry to come together and share its stories. While ECA is your voice in Washington, DC 365 days a year, nobody can tell the story of how the industry drives economic growth, supports job creation, and empowers small businesses every day like the hard-working men and women who create magic on the show floor.
What about the folks who fly in from across the country for Legislative Action Day? Why does it matter to them? Why are they passionate advocates for our industry?
With the help of CNTV, ECA asked some of this year’s participants why they take time out of their busy schedules for a day of advocacy on Capitol Hill. Here’s what they had to say:
“We are still in year four of recovery after our near-extinction event: the pandemic. I was a small business owner based in Orlando, Florida, and I wasn’t sure that we were going to make it through. So, I learned about Legislative Action Day… and got deeply into advocacy at that point. You realize, once you see how decisions are made and resources get allocated, it is really important to be able to come up in person and talk to our elected officials.”
– Chris Griffin, President and Chief Executive Officer, CrewXP and President, Experiential Designers & Producers Association
“The squeaky wheel gets noticed, so it’s important for us to be here and be in front of them. Especially for me, I’m not in advocacy full time. So, to be able to give some context and storytelling, really brings to life the issues that they’re hearing about but maybe don’t necessarily have someone on the ground who can tell the stories and help connect the dots for the Congressman.”
– Megan Martin, CMP, DES, MPA, Principal, Technology Enablement & Innovation, EMC Meetings & Events
“Truly, our presence here makes a difference. In the past, I had a call from a Congressional staffer that said, ‘The member was going to move this [legislation] out of committee for a vote.’ That vote made it to the floor, and now it’s law. We make a difference!”
– Rich Stone, Chief Executive Officer, 3e by EXPOCAD®
“If you walk into a lot of these offices, people don’t really know what we do for a living. They take for granted that you just walk into a meeting space and things are just there… and how many mouths the industry feeds and how many different trades [are involved]. A day like today really allows us to make sure that they know there’s a community and an industry that’s dependent upon their voice.”
– Mac Campbell, CVE, Executive Director, Baltimore Convention Center
