Message from President Emily Coughlin and CEO Dean Martinez Regarding 2021 In-Person Programs

February 5, 2021

Dear DRI Members, Leaders, and Friends,

We hope you and your families are all well and safe.

We, and the DRI Executive Committee, would like to give you a COVID-19 update on DRI and its 2021 in-person programming. We are thrilled to report that DRI remains vibrant, and with you, we have been more innovative and engaged as a community than we could ever have imagined a year ago. However, during this continuing time of uncertainty, we are all looking forward to the day when we can see each other, our DRI family, in person again. DRI is committed to bringing all of its membership community back together in person, but we will not do so unless it is determined to be safe by public health authorities.

These are challenging times and there is no precedent for making decisions or a playbook for responding to them. We are an organization of lawyers; we are not and do not pretend to be public health experts. We are doing our best to follow the science, local, state, and federal guidelines to make sound decisions to protect the health and safety of our DRI family. We remain hopeful that the current rollout of vaccinations will move us a step closer to returning to in-person meetings nationwide, but the timing of that remains in flux.

In the meantime, in order to honor our commitment to you, our members, we also need to hear from you regarding the best way DRI can serve the interests for our membership during these trying times. As a result, we have sent, and we will continue to send, surveys to you from time to time for a “gut check” on whether you can or would consider attending in-person events currently scheduled for 2021 so that we can adjust our resources as an organization and continue serving your needs. We want the gut check because in some instances, even if public health officials deem it safe, there may be business restrictions or hesitancy to travel. Thus, we will continue to monitor all available information, guidelines, and mandates on COVID precautions, and the survey results to best serve you. For purposes of consistency, our current plan is to make a final decision about upcoming programs no later than 60 days prior to an event, taking into account all relevant considerations. We will continue to issue frequent updates like this one in an attempt to keep you as informed as possible. Please monitor our emails and website for updates.

Like you, we are eager to connect with our DRI family in person at meetings, over coffee, a meal, or at one of DRI’s epic networking receptions! We will do so when the time is right. Thank you for your patience, understanding, cooperation, and all that you do for DRI.

Warm regards,