EDITOR’S FORUM

AMID ONE OF OUR GREATEST CHALLENGES, WE CAME TOGETHER AND WORKED THROUGH THE PROBLEM WITH CREATIVE PERSEVERANCE. I FEEL WE ARE NOW STRONGER AS AN INDUSTRY.

ARE YOU READY?

The time to meet in person once again is coming soon.

by Chris Cook - Publisher

Over a year of lockdowns have created a continuous stream of Zoom meetings and virtual events that have me wondering, are we ready to meet in person? If your answer is yes, then you’ll find yourself in the majority of those in our industry. I am not saying the time is now, but it’s coming. At MEA, we’re preparing for that day and we’ll be ready for you when it arrives.

I am encouraged by the data and the related optimism that the worst of this pandemic may well be behind us. With a vaccine in play, and potential immunity after recovering from the virus, my hope is that we’re on our way to some semblance of normalcy. With that in mind, I look toward our future as an industry.

We are forever changed

What has changed in your world over the past year? Many of you have experienced the loss of a loved one. If you have children, they learned how to Zoom to school before many of us figured it out. If you’ve traveled as part of your job, you’ve probably been home for quite some time. Working remotely has become the norm for many of us. If you sell mobile electronics either as a manufacturer, distributor, sales rep, or retailer, you have endured product shortages like nothing we’ve seen in recent history.

Amid that challenge, many of you have experienced increased business beyond anything any of us could have imaged. Early on, industry leaders came together on weekly Zoom calls to review surveys that assisted us in gauging the impact of busines closures and interruptions. Then, as a group, we brainstormed ways to help get all of our businesses through the worst part of the pandemic. Beyond that, as an industry, we came together with a virtual KnowledgeFest and Industry Awards that provided us with a sense of purpose as we learned, connected and explored in a new way.

We have learned a lot

I am reasonably sure all of us can think of lessons learned. Find-

CMY ing out how to be more prepared for business interruptions may K be at the top of the list. For me, it was tough finding the best way to communicate with our members.

I am pleased many of us have moved back to phone calls as a primary communication tool, albeit some are now video calls. Video calls have become more prevalent, and it’s even become my preferred communication type. While we do our best to keep up in forums, messenger apps, texts and the like, communication is key when it comes to keeping us working together as an industry.

I am also proud of so many of you who’ve stepped up during one of your hardest times in business and provided front-line workers with valuable personal protection equipment. That was amazing.

Let’s keep moving forward

From the very beginning, I never liked the term “new normal.” I prefer to remember how we’ve adapted—like always—during this crisis. So many people have predicted our industry’s demise. Yet, amid one of our greatest challenges, we came together and worked through the problem with creative perseverance. I feel we are now stronger as an industry. Regardless of the challenges ahead, we will overcome and continue to be prosperous and victorious.

I look forward to seeing many of you at our next in-person event. We are planning to kick things off in Orlando, June 25-27, 2021. If you’re in need of a family vacation, we will see you there!