Friday, October 4, 2013

Government Shutdown Challenging

By Cindy Kreifels, Groundwater Foundation Executive Vice President
 
This week has been more than a little crazy with the Foundation’s National Conference just a little more than a week away.  The many details are mounting and all of the materials needed to be shipped to the hotel this week.   And, then to top it all off, the government shuts down. 

I have read numerous articles about how this shutdown is impacting different groups of people.  I guess we are just one more casualty.  Okay casualty may be too strong of word.  But the shutdown is definitely impacting the conference as well.  So far I have one speaker who cannot make it (unless the government reopens prior to the conference) and another speaker whose Visa may or may not have been processed prior to the shutdown.  Therefore, we must plan for ways to fill those openings just in case.  So among all the normal challenges of pulling together a conference, the government shutdown has added new challenges.  No, they are not insurmountable, and surely not as problematic as many others that have come up, but just one more thing to tackle.

Enough said - my final thought is this; let’s make it a great conference with or without an active government.  There is still time for you to come to the conference.  Register online at http://www.groundwater.org/get-informed/opportunities/conference.html.  We’d love to see you there!!

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