Dear NEEBC Community,

Remember the wonderful, childhood anticipation experienced preceding your return to an academic year you knew was going to be great? Excitement, wonder, positive energy. Typically, those experiences did not disappoint. The same could be said about NEEBC’s “Welcome Back!” Spring Social, held in-person in Waltham, MA, on Wednesday, June 9th. It is with the lingering emotions captured that evening that I share gratitude for your support as NEEBC dipped its proverbial toe in a restorative pond.

A few more than fifty members of NEEBC’s community brought smiles and wide-open spirits to an outdoor space graced by its pergola, live jazz accompaniment, nibbles, and beverages. The joyful, rich conversations were exactly what you’d expect from folks enjoying the in-person company of colleagues and friends we hadn’t seen for 16 months. The crowd was a healthy mix of NEEBC founders and most recently-joined members, employers and vendors, in-state and out-of-state residents, and, earlier-in-career professionals alongside industry veterans. If the event duration indicated anything, then the 7:35pm time when tabs were closed – 1.5 hours beyond the event’s published end time – tells me this successful re-emergence will be remembered.

On that note, NEEBC’s Board of Directors is thoughtfully considering next steps for all of our 2021 events. The lessening of Massachusetts’ pandemic restrictions, as well as those in other New England states, allows us to consider options such as hybrid and in-person events in addition to continuing NEEBC’s virtual offerings for the remainder of this year. We intend to solicit opinions from you as community members, to closely monitor guidance from the CDC, and to purposefully pave the way back to the more familiar community-centric version of NEEBC’s programming and conferences that COVID-19 challenged. Towards that end, NEEBC will celebrate on August 11th at a very special, hybrid conference focused on the community’s silver linings.

Warm regards,

Robin
Robin Antonellis
Executive Director
NEEBC