News + Blog

The ‘in-person’ 2021 Convention in San Diego has ben cancelled. Stay tuned for details and registration for a fully virtual convention in November.

We know that many of you have been eagerly awaiting the opening of registration for our annual convention in San Diego this fall, and we apologize for the lengthy delay in providing you with an update. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been grappling with an urgent situation. Earlier this spring, the Crowne Plaza Hotel in San Diego signed a twelve-month contract to provide services to the U.S. Government, effectively canceling CMSA’s pre-existing contract to hold our 2021 Convention. But they didn’t bother to tell us this information until the very end of June.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a “How-To” manual that advises a small non-profit society on how to relocate a convention, on short notice, during a pandemic! We worked frantically for several weeks to try to secure an alternate venue, however, for a variety of reasons that would take too long to explain here, we were unable to turn the situation around in our favor. As a result, we’ve had to cancel the ‘in-person’ 2021 Convention in San Diego.

Going forward, the board is now engaged in developing a fully virtual convention, also scheduled for November. We have guest artists and workshop leaders ready to go, and we’re working hard to open online registration in a few weeks’ time. Please stay tuned for more announcements soon!