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2020 has been a roller coaster and this fact doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. We’ve watched as friends in the beer and spirits industries have had to move their annual gatherings online because of the continued uncertainty we face with the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of concern for our own members’ health and safety, our organization is following suit. During our June meeting, the Craft Maltsters Guild Board of Directors voted to transition the upcoming Craft Malt Conference (originally slated for January 22-23, 2021) to an online format for 2021.
While we’d love to be sharing a pint with you in our originally planned destination - Portland, Maine - this coming January, the pandemic and associated liabilities surrounding hosting an event during a public health crisis have forced us to make this hard decision. Our time together in The Forest City will have to wait until 2022 (fingers crossed).
The 2021 Craft Malt Conference will go fully virtual this February 2021 as Craft Malt Con Online. Similar to past events, the online conference will include malthouse tours, valuable educational speaker sessions, networking opportunities with individuals from across the craft malt supply chain, and our annual awards ceremony for the 2021 Malt Cup. Additionally, we’ll be offering potential sponsors opportunities to participate in a virtual trade show, special Q&A sessions, demos, and more. All activities will be offered completely online ensuring everyone can participate regardless of location, COVID-19 travel restrictions, and health concerns.
Along with the transition to a virtual platform, we are moving the event start date a few weeks back to our normally-scheduled time frame (early February) to avoid conflicts with other industry events we know are happening around the same time. Craft Malt Con Online will span three days from February 10-12, 2021. Sponsorship, registration, and agenda info will be available on the Guild website later this summer.
We look forward to providing you valuable networking and education opportunities in this new, exciting format! If you have ideas for session topics or speakers you’d like to hear from during our online event, please feel free to email your ideas to me at director@craftmalting.com. Stay tuned for more conference details coming your way in the months ahead!
Cheers,
Jesse Bussard
Executive Director
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