The National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) successfully held their first ever virtual Annual Conference last week.
The 2020 Annual Conference – NASAO’s 89th – was originally scheduled to take place in Greenville, SC. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the NASAO Executive Board faced the decision to cancel the event, or shift to a virtual platform.
In addition to being NASAO’s first ever online event, the three day conference made history being the first large scale conference of the national aviation associations held virtually following COVID-19. With over 500 registered attendees and 30 exhibitors, the virtual conference was also the highest attended NASAO Annual gathering in history.
In striving to be an accessible resource to the aviation community, NASAO opted to price registration at $30 and $60 for members and non-members respectively. With a lower price-point and no travel costs, State aviation staff who typically would not be able attend in person, got to take advantage of the education and networking opportunities.
“NASAO’s first priority is always to serve the needs of our members. Now more than ever, it’s important to come together. Our hope was that lower pricing would allow more of our members to benefit from the conference, and we’re happy to see that was indeed the case,” reported Greg Pecoraro, NASAO’s President & CEO.
The conference sessions addressed a variety of topics, from workforce development to the impact of COVID-19. The virtual platform remains open for a full month, so registered attendees can re-watch all the sessions, and continue to visit Exhibitor Booths.
Some of the highlight events of the conference included the Keynote session with FAA Deputy Administrator, Dan Elwell; election of the 2020-2021 NASAO Board; and the presentation of the NASAO Awards honoring state and individual contributions to aviation.
