SHOP TALK

BUSINESS | BY DAVID HICKEY, ISA VICE PRESIDENT, GOV’T. AFFAIRS

The Year So Far The industry doesn’t slow down for a pandemic.

It’s been quite the year, hasn’t it? It sential—like hospitals and restaurants. may be too early to consider the longIn addition, templates were developed term implications of shutdowns and for employees traveling to and from reopenings, pandemics, masks, and work who were required to carry letters all, but there are a few things, including denoting why they were out and about significant accomplishments, that are during stay-at-home orders. worth noticing—especially as they lay In the first few weeks of the stay-atgroundwork for the future. home orders, sign, graphics, and visual communications companies asked ISA Companies kept working. As cities and to help them prove that they were delivstates issued stay-at-home orders, it ering essential services. Rather than fight seemed initially that our industry was this issue one location at a time, ISA going to be excluded as “essential busiwas able to convince the Department of ness.” But, we knew—and our customers Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and knew—that our products would be vital Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) forms of communication. that our industry’s work contributed to

ISA’s first step was to start conversathe nation’s “critical infrastructure.” tions with federal agencies to get sign Many cities and states used the CISA and graphics companies on the “list.” list as a starting point, while some adoptIn the interim, ISA developed letter ed the list in full. Now that sign, graphtemplates that companies could use to ics, and print companies are on the list, prove their work for companies were eswe will have a solid base from which to

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Planners received targeted information. Our advocacy outreach with planners did not stop during this time, especially since temporary signs were crucial to communicating. A restaurant, for instance, might need to boldly advertise its phone number for to-go orders while a retailer might need to remind customers that their business was open. Webinars helped local planners understand these issues and craft reasonable codes to keep these businesses open.

That being said, for some, it was business as usual. And the pandemic was no excuse to slow down or overly complicate the permitting process.

Planners attending ISA’s Webinars were able to understand how vital a smooth permitting process is to our industry—and ultimately to their community. This was already an area of extreme frustration to our members before the pandemic, and it’s an area in which we’re continuing to work closely with the planning community.

The International Sign Association isn’t done. Our Business Continuity Resource Center (signs.org/bcrc) was designed as a hub to keep vital information—all intended to keep sign and graphics companies operating—in one spot. We’ve learned a lot about the kind of information that you need—pandemic or not—and will use this to continue developing information that you need when you need it.

There is still a lot of work to do to put the pandemic behind us and begin to rebuild. And while no one wants to relive this event, it is important to take a step back and enjoy some of the hard-fought successes—especially as those can pay off for years to come.

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Instructional information provided in this magazine should only be performed by skilled crafts people with the proper equipment. The publisher and authors of information provided herein advise all readers to exercise care when engaging in any of the how-to-activities published in the magazine. Further, the publisher and authors assume no liability for damages or injuries resulting from projects contained herein.