2021 NTA Annual Conference Goes Virtual

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Fellow NTA Members, 

 

I am writing today to let you know that the 2021 November NTA Annual Conference will be changed from an in-person conference to a virtual conference. I send this note with considerable sadness because I know that our membership has expressed a strong desire to hold an in-person conference. However, I am of the firm belief that going to an online conference is in the best interests of all of us. 

 

The reasons for this change are several.

 

Barring an unexpected improvement in public health conditions, if an in-person conference were to occur, we would not be able to engage safely in many of the (necessarily unmasked) activities that distinguish an in-person from an online conference, such as large lunch gatherings for keynote presentations, informal conversations between sessions, and cocktail receptions. We have also heard from many of the keynotes and plenary panelists that they would be unwilling or reluctant to attend the conference in-person.  We expect that most international attendees and many government employees will be prohibited from attending an in-person gathering, and we do not wish to exclude these groups from participating. Many program attendees with unvaccinated children have expressed reluctance to attend an in-person gathering, and we also do not wish to exclude this group from participating. Finally, most of the other fall/winter conferences that our members attend have either moved online or have been postponed until the spring.

 

Because of all these reasons, we will convene again this year in a virtual manner. The conference will take place on the Zoom platform, and registration rates will again be heavily discounted for virtual participation. By visiting the conference page you’ll find links to register for the conference, for the online program, detailing all the conference sessions and their scheduled dates and times, as well as the Schedule at a Glance and plenary session and special event information. Please note that, because of the large number of sessions we are featuring at this year’s conference, changing session dates/times will not be possible. 

 

I want to thank the conference Program Co-chairs, Jacob Goldin, Tatiana Homonoff, and Alex Rees-Jones, for working through the monumentally challenging details of planning this conference. They still have much work ahead of them, but I know that they will deliver to all of you an excellent conference – regardless of the specific medium by which the conference will be held. I also want to thank April Davis and Tara Sheehan of the National Tax Association for their truly extraordinary efforts in planning the conference and in moving the conference online. I know that the conference is in wonderful hands.  

 

Looking ahead, we will have the Annual Conference in Detroit in 2024 instead. And we hope to hold next year’s Annual Conference in person next November 2022 in Miami, FL – fingers crossed! 

 

I hope to see many of you online this coming November. Thank you, as always, for your continued support of the National Tax Association. 

        

Best regards,

 

Jim Alm

President, National Tax Association