The NAFEM Show 2023 February 1-3, 2023


THE RETURN OF


With a theme of “At the Center of it All,”


The NAFEM Show is coming back strong in 2023 and ready to match the size of the group’s 2019 event, which was its best- attended show ever.


The NAFEM I


n the weeks leading up to The NAFEM Show 2021 in Orlando, Florida, Executive Vice President


Deirdre Flynn fi elded questions about whether the show could really go on at that point during the pandemic. She fi gured that with the right safety protocols in place and plenty of available hand sanitizer, the event would be taking place as planned from Aug. 26-28. Then the Delta variant emerged,


By Bridget McCrea Contributing Writer


10 FEDA News & Views


forcing NAFEM to move in a different direction. All of the money and effort that went into planning the biannual industry event was jeopardized almost overnight. “Everything changed on the Friday afternoon three weeks before,” Flynn says. “We talked with leadership over the weekend, called an emergency board meeting on


Monday morning and canceled the show on Tuesday.”


Over the next two months NAFEM and its members would work to rewind all of the hard work that went into the event planning process and also refund all registration and exhibitor fees. “2021 was a ‘learning year’ for us. We learned how to move a show (it was originally supposed to be in New Orleans in February 2021) and then we learned how to cancel and refund a show,” Flynn recalls. “We were able to close everything up by the middle of October.” Now, Flynn says NAFEM is “absolutely thrilled” to be holding an in-person show for the fi rst time since 2019 on February 1-3, 2023 in Orlando. “The buzz in the


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