The board of NFA regrets to inform that the Q&A with Mr. Rumbarger that was scheduled for Friday, March 23rd, 2012 has been canceled. The President of ARA notified NFA’s Executive Director on March 12th, 2012 that the Omni Hotel would not honor our meeting space due to a conflict of interest clause in the ARA/NARS contract. We have tried to reach a compromise with the hotel and ARA’s Executive Director/Consultant, with no solutions available to us at this time. These recent developments have made it impossible to web cast or record this discussion, even at another hotel. There are very strong feelings that the NARS industry event is not the time or place for this discussion. I spoke with Mr. Rumbarger and will make every attempt to reschedule this event for another time in the very near future. We at NFA recognize that this poor economy makes repeated travel a hardship for most of us. I would suggest we pod cast a Q&A, but would also continue to welcome any and all industry professionals who wanted to attend in person. I am interested in hearing from our members and other industry professionals. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any question or suggestions for another time to have an open and honest conversation on this topic. I wish you all well and look forward to seeing some of you NARS.
Sincerely,
Jennifer McDaniel
President
NFA
This news is sad to hear as I had changed my arrival from tomorrow morning to tonight just to be able to attend the proposed open discussion. I have had a strong opinion when it comes to the issue of any of the national associations merging under one umbrella but had committed to being open minded in regards to the pros and cons of such an endeavor. This development really concerns me because if a compromise could not be reached regarding something as simple as this open forum discussion, then I have little hope that the involved party would be willing to make the compromises needed to successfully unite the industry. I still believe NARS is the best event our industry has to date, and hope that the spirit of making the event open to all parties and views regardless of their associations or affiliations can grow to what this event really has the potential of representing.
I was looking forward to hearing all sides of the story. I am in favor of trying to develop some type of centralized industry platform that will work to promote our industry. As I said in my last note maybe the timing was off a little but we are all still here at NARS. Never underestimate a small group of dedicated individuals. We will move the industry forward at NARS!!!
“All’s well that ends well.”
NARS 2012 was a huge success. The topic of unity was covered by all parties on the Leadership Panel, and the hope for more opportunties to work together has never looked better. Thank you to everyone who continues to work for industry unity…
Art