As you already know, the Summer Institute in Atlanta has been cancelled out of concern for attendees’ health and safety with respect to the coronavirus pandemic. No decision has been made regarding Evaluation 2020 to be held at the end of October in Portland, Oregon. There are a number of options being considered by AEA staff and Board members. Anisha Lewis, AEA Executive Director, recently provided a update of the current state of affairs with respect to planning around the conference in the April, 2020 AEA Newsletter (see link below). In addition, AEA President Aimee White issued a statement about the current situation (see link below).
We understand that this is a very uncertain time for all of us. It is difficult to know what the state of affairs will be in October in terms of travel, large gatherings, and any possible resurgence of the virus. As you will read in Anisha Lewis’ statement, cancelling a conference as large as ours will incur significant penalties running in excess of $450,000. Rest assured that the staff are working very hard to plan out options concerning the conference, but it is unlikely that we will have a certain resolution on this until much later this summer. For now, we must all be patient and wait for updates. Thank you all for your understanding during this very difficult period in our lives.