We recently caught up with Roger Rickard of Voices in Advocacy during the IMEX America show in Las Vegas.  We talked at length about voting and it's importance to the nation as well as to our industry.

Roger publishes a great blog about politics and advocacy, as well as being a terrific meetings industry advocate and supporter.  His website and blog can be found here: Roger Rickard  

And here's a direct link to the blog post that we are discussing on the show: American’s have a Big Decision on Election Day (and it’s not for president)

​It's an important message, and it reaches far beyond just our industry. So it's vital that we all exercise our right to vote in the upcoming election.  Make sure your voice is heard, not just on the top of the ticket, but all the way down to the local offices that can have significant impact on our business, schools and city governments.

​Our guest today on the podcast is Jim Clarke, CAE; the Senior Vice President, Public Policy at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).  Jim's will be leading a session at the upcoming CMP Conclave in Baltimore called: "Meetings in the Crosshairs - Current Legislation and issues affecting your events."  We previewed some of the major issues that he will cover in the session and bring some attention to topics that have the potential to significantly effect the meetings industry.  

First up we look at a proposed overtime rule revision that will go into effect on December first of this year and impact organizations nationally by changing the salary level of exempt employees.  There's a potential compromise bill that could alter this rule and it's very important that as an industry we let our representatives know of our support.  To that end, and as mentioned in the podcast, here's a link to find your Congressional Representative: United States House of Representatives

We also discussed recent ASAE Board Policy enacted on the subject of Diversity and Inclusion as it relates to our industry and actions like recently passes RFRA laws in some states.

Lastly, we touched on recent progress for easing federal rules regarding attendance of federal employees to meetings.

​Each of these topics has significant impact on the meetings and events industry.  If you're interested in learning more, you can attend Jim's session at the CMP Conclave in Baltimore coming up later this month.  If you can't attend you can learn more about the work ASAE is doing on our behalf at their site: The Power of A.  You can also find out specific ways to become more involved in advocating and advancing our industry.