Update From The MEA Chair - 14 April 2021

There is an expression comedians use which is ‘stay on the front foot'.

Basically, it means when you’re not getting the laughs you want and everything seems to be going wrong, it's important to have a positive stance and frame of mind. This shows people you are being proactive, and you are not backing away. It means you are leaning in and staying in control. However, if you do the opposite and lean onto your back foot you're in trouble because people sense you're backing away, that there’s a problem.

As an industry, more than ever, we need to be on the front foot. In our thinking, our positioning, and our actions. If as an industry we are on the back foot talking negatively and being reactive, our market will pick it up, and how can we expect to rebuild confidence? This is why is it is great to see over the past weeks more front foot commentary taking place and more positive stories of in-person events occurring.

To help, MEA will continue to drive best-practice through education, advocate the value of events, tell stories of successful events taking place, and continue fighting for our industry with our fellow associations to the Federal Government through BECA and state by state.

Remember, this is our industry, and we built it, so it is up to all of us to rebuild it. One of the best ways to do that is for each of us to stay on the front foot.