More credit union conferences are being indefinitely postponed as a result of the ongoing spread of the coronavirus.
The NACUSO annual event was set to take place next month at the Disney resort in Orlando, but Jack Antonini, president and CEO of the group, said Tuesday in an email the organization was attempting to work with Disney to find a replacement date later in the year.
All Disney parks have been closed since March 12 and on March 16 the company closed all of its Orlando hotels through the end of this month.
“We are working through the challenges of protecting the safety and health of our attendees while minimizing the huge liability that goes along with cancelling or postponing a conference,” a statement on NACUSO’s website read. “Rest assured that safety and health concerns of our attendees are NACUSO’s number one priority, so we know that postponing our conference will be the responsible option. We have been in contact with Disney since late February and continue to work with them on the logistics.”
Antonini said NACUSO is currently exploring alternative dates sometime this fall.
The Credit Union National Association on Wednesday also announced it was cancelling all of its events through May 15, including multiple conferences for various CUNA Councils, a small credit union strategic planning workshop and more. The trade group has not yet announced new dates for those events.
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Meanwhile, the CU Cannabiz Conference, the first-ever show focused specifically on cannabis banking for credit unions, has been cancelled. Originally scheduled for early April in Chicago, a note on the event’s website said conference organizers “have determined that it is now impossible to conduct the event because of a variety of circumstances all related to the virus outbreak in the United States.”
Organizers went on to say part of the decision was based on the conference hotel not providing adequate information on how they would ensure guests’ safety, along with airlines reducing travel and word from many attendees and exhibitors that they had been placed under travel restrictions.
“We thank you for your support and believe very strongly this is an important topic for discussion in the credit union community,” organizers wrote. “Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the time to have that discussion.”
At least seven other large
This story has been updated to reflect additional cancellations.
