ESC IBS Consortium Minutes 092920

ESC IBS Consortium Minutes from September 29, 2020 Meeting was called to order at 2:02 pm Eastern Time Attendance: Dan Price Atmos Energy Chris Cole DTE Audrey Okaneku Hawaii Gas Chris Stripplehoff Municipal Gas Authority of GA Corey Minshew Southern Co Melissa Farrar Washington Gas IBS 2021: As we have discussed on previous consortium calls, both AGA and ESC have been participating in the monthly webinars that the NAHB, which is responsible for the International Business Show, has been presenting in order to keep exhibitors in the know regarding the safety protocol to be undertaken at the 2021 show. The NAHB has also been sharing the sentiments of the NAHB members that have been realized through member surveys. On the last call we noticed that more members were beginning to consider not attending the 2021 show. The percentage of those “not likely to attend” had increased while those that were “likely to attend” decreased by the same percentage. Barb conducted a survey among the kiosk vendors to find out what they thoughts were regarding physically attending the show. Surprisingly, most of the larger vendors who also have their own booth at IBS, in addition to exhibiting in the AGA booth, had already made the decision to back out of the show. We also know that most, if not all of our utility members have indefinite travel bans in place. As time has stretched on and the COVID virus is still causing illness and death around the world, both AGA and ESC came to the conclusion that it was in the best interest of our vendors and our members to not physically exhibit in 2021 even though we have paid for our booth in full. The NAHB has recognized the level of concern among exhibitors and they have agreed to allow exhibitors to “roll over” the money expended on the 2021 show to the 2022 show which also will be held in Orlando, FL. AGA spoke with legal council and we had them submit our withdrawal to the NAHB. None of the members on the call had issues with not physically attending the show. We hope that the rest of the consortium members can appreciate our concern and we look forward to working with you for the 2022 show. That show will be held February 8 – 10, 2022, in Orlando. If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me. With no additional discussion topics our call ended at 2:29 pm.