2021 REALTORS® Legislative Meetings Going Virtual: Video Transcript

Hello, I’m Charlie Oppler, 2021 President of the National Association of REALTORS®.

One of our core values here at NAR is “Members First.”

In that spirit, I want to share with all of you our decision regarding this year’s REALTORS® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo—and the reasons for that decision.

This was a difficult decision to make. But in the end, the choice was clear.

Because the health and safety of our members must be our top priority, the legislative meetings this spring will be virtual.

Many factors went into this decision.

The COVID-19 restrictions on meetings and events in Washington right now would make an in-person event nearly impossible.

Cases are spiking in the region, along with the rest of the country.

The District has banned indoor gatherings of more than 10 people.

Restaurants are not serving indoor customers.

That would leave us with nowhere to meet, and nowhere to eat!

And we don’t know when or if those restrictions will be lifted.

More importantly, due to the pandemic, the Capitol is closed to visitors—so members won’t be able to meet with their elected officials.

Our DC Advocacy team has heard they may not reopen to the public until Memorial Day—after the Legislative Meetings would be over.

There’s also the added uncertainty about what our vendors may do. We just don’t know what will happen with the airlines, hotels, and other businesses we partner with.

And even if we did meet, attendance would have to be significantly capped to follow social distancing guidelines.

Our Leadership Team and staff didn’t make this decision lightly. It was my hope we could get together.

But I’m confident more members will be better served by holding this year’s Legislative Meetings virtually.

Last year’s virtual Legislative Meetings were a great success.

We tripled our registration numbers. We heard from many of you who participated in governance meetings for the first time, and appreciated the convenience of the format.

And now that we’ve held several successful virtual events, we’ll be even better at bringing you engaging speakers, informative sessions, productive committee meetings, and a virtual expo.

Registration opens February 24th, and the meetings will take place May 3rd through the 14th. We’ll announce more details soon, so stay tuned.

I’m confident it will be a successful event. And that success will belong to all of us.

In the meantime, please know that we’re working as hard as we can, so that one day soon, we will meet again.

We will get to shake hands, and hug our friends again.

And we will gather as one, together again.

I look forward to that day. And I look forward to seeing all of you this spring for our virtual Legislative Meetings.

Thank you!