| Firstly I hope all of you are well, managing to cope with the changes to our working and personal lives, and staying safe.
Following the Government announcements yesterday regarding the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19), we thought it was important to update you all on plans for upcoming meetings and events.
As you may have already seen on Twitter/LinkedIn or been informed of by email, two of our upcoming regional meetings have had to be postponed/cancelled due to travel and venue restrictions. The MALG Midlands meeting which was due to take place in Birmingham on 17 March 2020 has been postponed and the Midlands Committee will be in touch concerning a new date for the meeting in due course. The MALG North West meeting due to take place on 24 March and the MALG North East & Yorkshire meeting due to take place on 23 April have unfortunately been cancelled due to venue and travel restrictions.
These developments along with official information and advice, which is now being updated daily, has prompted us to think ahead to other events we have planned in the coming weeks and months. As you all know, one of the many benefits of MALG membership is the opportunity to meet, network with, and learn from peers at our face-to-face meetings and events and we always strive to offer maximum value for our members. Our quarterly National Members Meetings in particular are very well attended and received. However, given the current advice on sensible precautions, it seems reasonable to not organise the National Members Meeting we had planned for 30 April 2020.
However, we are looking into the possibility of replacing this face-to-face meeting with a ‘virtual’ one or, indeed, more than one if there is sufficient demand. We would be keen to hear from you as to whether there is an appetite for this. We are confident that our packed programme of activity for the rest of the year will provide members with huge amounts of added value. This includes the launch of new MALG-badged Data Protection and Vulnerability Guidance currently planned for mid-June 2020 plus two more National Meetings scheduled for July 2020 and September 2020. We have been looking at holding the September meeting in one of the regions rather than London and I am delighted to confirm this will be hosted by Lowell in Leeds on 9 September. Please note this is a change from the original date of 10 September. In addition, of course, there is our annual conference in October, for which we are receiving a steady stream of ‘early bird’ bookings.
Naturally, we will be taking all decisions on future meetings based upon the recommendations of the Government and Health Authorities at the time.
We hope that you all understand the reason we’ve taken this decision and welcome any feedback from you. We’ll keep you updated on developments as and when we know more. If you’re not already, please follow us on Twitter and/or LinkedIn to be the first to get these updates.
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