CDSA

COVID-19 Statement to All MESA Communities

Over the past six weeks we have closely monitored the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as it has spread throughout the world. The cancelation of Mobile World Congress in February, along with our CDSA co-located event, increased our scrutiny and we’ve watched as our members and content advisors have adjusted to the impact across our industry and the global economy.

With the cancelation of the NAB Show in April, we have canceled the Cybersecurity & Content Protection Summit that was to be held on Saturday, April 18. We have arranged for the TPN Workshop (to be held that morning) to become a “virtual” event and are making similar arrangements for our Take the DAM(n) Tour on April 19 and 20. Our “MESA Las Vegas” member networking reception (April 20) has similarly been canceled.

Expect another update at the beginning of April where we will provide further guidance on the next Los Angeles event(s) planned for late-May (around HITS on May 27).

Beyond our quarterly community events, I would also like to take a moment to highlight the opportunity we have as an industry to transform and innovate when faced with an acute, unforeseen challenge. I announced last week on stage that our HITS program will focus on increasing our ability to have teams work remotely and virtualize aspects of our productions. Along those lines, our first MESA member webinar on the subject is hosted tomorrow, March 11 (register here) that is both timely and speaks to our industry’s growing need for secure remote collaboration.

We’ve made huge leaps into cloud adoption and this international health concern may be a catalyst for us to encourage a fresh look at remote workflows, teams and collaborative opportunities. This is also a good time for companies to reassess their strategy and implementation of business continuity and disaster recovery plans. All of this is secondary to the health and safety of your family, relatives, friends and loved ones.

A community relies on our constituents through times of uncertainty. To be clear, MESA is taking this very seriously and is working to ensure the continuity of our media, events, committees and association activities. I wanted to share our continued commitment to you, our global community of customers and partners, in providing a safe environment for collaboration across all of our member companies.

Guy Finley, President, MESA