1. Register for ECA Votes election webinars

Next month, ECA is hosting a free webinar series on the 2024 election for the business events industry.

Why it matters: These 3 virtual sessions will feature election prognosticators, policy experts, and industry leaders who will go beyond the headlines to talk about how what happens at the ballot box will impact the industry in 2025 and beyond:

Tuesday, October 15 at 2:00 PM ET: 2024 election preview.
Tuesday, October 29 at 2:00 PM: Policy issues overview.
Tuesday, November 12 at 2:00 PM: Post-election recap and 2025 previews.

These webinars are part ECA Votes, our new voter registration and education initiative to help empower the industry to make its voice heard on election day.

Register for free by clicking here.

2. Support Workforce Development Month

September is Workforce Development Month, which raises awareness about the importance of a skilled workforce to growing the U.S. economy.

The big picture: Supporting the business events industry's efforts to attract, train, and retain its future workforce is one of ECA's top priorities.

You can help ECA close the skills gap and provide workers with the training and credentials they need to secure in-demand, good-paying jobs in our industry by taking action to support two of our workforce priorities on Capitol Hill:

Allowing Pell Grants to be used for high-quality, shorter-term job training programs for the first time.
Expanding 529 savings plans to cover the costs of workforce training and credentialing programs like third-party certifications.

Visit the new ECA Advocacy Network email action center to send a message to your members of Congress today.

3. ECA joins Sustainable Events Summit

On Wednesday, ECA was part of the 2nd annual Sustainable Events Summit at the Javits Center in New York City.

The bottom line: ECA's Tommy Goodwin previewed the post-election climate and sustainability policy landscape and how it might impact the industry next year.

Regardless of the election outcome, ECA urges the business events industry to double down on its sustainability efforts to ensure that we maintain control of our collective path to Net Zero.
For more details, visit the policy issues section of the ECA Votes website.

Congratulations to Martha Donato and Marty Glynn for organizing a successful event as part of Climate Week NYC!

4. Join ECA on the road this fall

ECA is hitting the road (and skies!) in the weeks ahead to be part of some of our alliance partners' big annual events.

63rd ICCA Congress: October 20-23 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
UFI Global Congress: November 20-23 in Cologne, Germany.
EDPA Access: December 3-5 in Palm Springs, California.
IAEE Expo! Expo!: December 16-19 in Los Angeles, California.

ECA looks forward to seeing all of the great industry leaders and advocates this fall across the country and around the world!

5. In case you missed it...

MeetingsNet covered the launch of the new ECA Votes initiative.
ECA co-founder Bob Priest Heck received the Gold Standard in Excellence Award at the Trade Show Executive Gold 100 Awards & Summit.

The Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA) is a coalition of leading professional, industry, and labor associations that comprise the unified advocacy voice of the business events industry.

ECA Advocacy Update is ECA's biweekly newsletter with public policy updates impacting the business events industry.