Hi All,
While the 2020 CYA All Stars Conference is still some months away we'd like to update you with what we are putting in place to help you plan for July.
We're keeping our venue (for now) and date
While our new least favourite friend has just been declared a pandemic, we're going to hold on to the venue and date at this stage. We will continue to monitor things, with a final decision being made closer to the date of the conference — because let's be honest, the in-person networking is a large part of the experience and fun of attending CYA. Should we be able to keep the conference at TAFE, we will do the live streaming for presenters and attendees that cannot get to Brisbane. We are anticipating that there may be a few changes to the program where the professional's circumstances prevent them from either being onsite or online. Hopefully, they will not have too great an impact on the conference. We will also make a decision on the networking dinners closer to the time.
We are currently in contact will all the presenters, editors and agents to arrange to have the sessions run online where necessary. So far, the response has been very positive. This will enable those presenters and attendees who are not able to travel to Brisbane or those who have a concern about attending in person, to join in as we live stream the sessions. When either the editor or the attendee can’t travel, editor session and bootcamps will also go ahead via video call or phone where possible; however, we may change the format of the bootcamps to make the experience easier to coordinate. At this point, we do not intend to record the sessions for general distribution, so it will be very important that you have a reliable internet connection if you want to join in online.
UPDATE
We'll make a final decision on 1 May as to whether we’re going fully online, or will do a hybrid onsite and online event. Attendees will have another 2 weeks to make a decision - so you’ll need to let us know by 14 May.
If we need to cancel the venue and move the whole weekend online, we are expecting there to be a reduction in the overall cost to us. If this does turn out to be the case, we will be reducing this year’s conference costs. We will issue a reimbursement for any reduction in price to those who have already paid, once we know what the new numbers are and will send out details as soon as we have the answer.
But I’ve already paid and don’t want to do it online!
Fear not. If you have already paid, or are paying via a payment plan, and are not able to join us online or in-person, we will refund you the full amount. No one saw this coming, and it's no-ones fault (that we know of….).
I wasn't coming to the conference but would like to join in online
and we’d love to have you join us. As soon as we’ve re-done the costing, we'll be putting up a booking for online-only attendance. Well, that's it for now, we'll be in contact with you frequently over the next couple of weeks to keep you up-to-date with the progress of things.
Please stay safe and remember, tinned food tastes better than toilet paper. Lastly, don't forget that all the competitions close midnight AEST, 04 April 2020. Get your entries in early to avoid the stress of a last-minute rush.
And always remember, you’re all stars.
Tina and the team
UPDATE
We'll make a final decision on 1 May as to whether we’re going fully online, or will do a hybrid onsite and online event. Attendees will have another 2 weeks to make a decision - so you’ll need to let us know by 14 May.