As a coalition of professional, industry, and labor associations within the business-event industry, the Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance engages state and federal officials to encourage them to boost the economic impact of business events through tax policy and other legislation.
For instance, more than 130 business-event industry leaders from 25 states and abroad met in late May with policymakers on Capitol Hill for ECA’s annual Legislative Action Day. The group was focused on two public-policy priorities: helping to attract and train the industry’s next-generation workforce, and reducing visa wait times for international exhibitors and attendees seeking to attend U.S. shows.
Now, ECA has unveiled a new tool that allows event organizers to help deliver more of their messages to legislators: the ECA Advocacy Network. With this tool, organizers “don’t have to go to Washington, D.C., or to state capitals to be part of the action,” says Tommy Goodwin, vice president of ECA.
ECA Advocacy Network provides organizers with three programs that can get their voices heard by elected officials. Two are web-based initiatives, while one involves in-person interaction with officials:
- ECA Action Center lets organizers contact their members of Congress and other officials about ECA’s public policy priorities directly from the ECA website with a few clicks.
- The Social Influencer Program encourages organizers to engage on social media to educate their network, the general public, and public policymakers on ECA’s top issues and important advocacy opportunities.
- The Show Floor Program brings policymakers to trade shows and conferences across the United States to show them firsthand how the business-events industry engages various businesses and has a significant direct impact in local and state economies. The program will assist event organizers in setting up and conducting these interactions for maximum impact.
The new network “will let anyone who wants to advocate on behalf of the industry to get involved wherever they are: at home, in the office, or even on the show floor,” notes Goodwin.
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