Cancelled meetings

[tractor]

Just had another business conference cancelled. I was supposed to go to Denver in two weeks. So many companies are now putting travel restrictions in place due to coronavirus fears that people can’t attend meetings.

I think the ripple effect on the economy is just beginning, the costs to airlines, hotels, restaurants, etc. Hopefully it will be short lived. Are you also seeing the same reaction in your industry?

[Deleted]

It's been like that at my company since the end of January.  It started with just cancelling all trips to our China/Thailand locations, but now it's no travel except by corporate jet for the absolutely necessary trips. 

[wvugurl26]

I haven't seen it yet in my group. I've heard of other companies doing it. In fact, all of our senior leaders from across the country are in DC this week. Other employees will be coming in today for the awards ceremony tomorrow. It does look like a California team cancelled their trip to my office.

I have a large conference at month end. It's still on.

[chiver78]

My company has advised WFH until further notice, where at all possible. All business travel has been cancelled through May. I'm not sure if the exception still stands for travel to/from Japan, of all places - our HQ is there. that one made us all shake our heads. 

FWIW - I work in general vicinity of Biogen, and the majority of employees at both companies as well as the hundreds of others in the same area all take public transportation. I'm told the tech squares in Cambridge is a ghost town right now as most companies have adopted this stance. 

[wvugurl26]

I guess the word is full time telework likely starts next week. I'm sure it will be discussed in this week's meetings among senior leadership.

[Deleted]

Mar 11, 2020 7:18:39 GMT -5 tractor said:

Just had another business conference cancelled. I was supposed to go to Denver in two weeks. So many companies are now putting travel restrictions in place due to coronavirus fears that people can’t attend meetings.

I think the ripple effect on the economy is just beginning, the costs to airlines, hotels, restaurants, etc. Hopefully it will be short lived. Are you also seeing the same reaction in your industry?

The doctors claim this could go on for a few months up to a couple of years. They say it could start to die down this summer only to get worse next fall. It's pretty serious and I think the US media is doing harm by not explaining this to people. 

[Tennesseer]

Mar 11, 2020 8:01:09 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

Mar 11, 2020 7:18:39 GMT -5 tractor said:

Just had another business conference cancelled. I was supposed to go to Denver in two weeks. So many companies are now putting travel restrictions in place due to coronavirus fears that people can’t attend meetings.

I think the ripple effect on the economy is just beginning, the costs to airlines, hotels, restaurants, etc. Hopefully it will be short lived. Are you also seeing the same reaction in your industry?

The doctors claim this could go on for a few months up to a couple of years. They say it could start to die down this summer only to get worse next fall. It's pretty serious and I think the US media is doing harm by not explaining this to people. 

And trump's position is the media has blown it out of proportion. As trump said yesterday, "It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away... be calm."

[Gardening Grandma]

Mar 11, 2020 8:07:53 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Mar 11, 2020 8:01:09 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

The doctors claim this could go on for a few months up to a couple of years. They say it could start to die down this summer only to get worse next fall. It's pretty serious and I think the US media is doing harm by not explaining this to people. 

And trump's position is the media has blown it out of proportion. As trump said yesterday, "It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away... be calm."

Actually he’s right. At some point it WILL go away. The question is how many of us will it have taken?  And how many would still be here if we had a competent, science-respecting administration?

[hoops902]

Mar 11, 2020 8:07:53 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Mar 11, 2020 8:01:09 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

The doctors claim this could go on for a few months up to a couple of years. They say it could start to die down this summer only to get worse next fall. It's pretty serious and I think the US media is doing harm by not explaining this to people. 

And trump's position is the media has blown it out of proportion. As trump said yesterday, "It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away... be calm."

In reality, they have.  That's kind of the media's job, they blow EVERYTHING out of proportion it seems.  That doesn't mean this whole thing isn't super serious...but media today is almost all click-bait-ish...they want to be sensational to draw eyes/ears to them.  

There's really not a ton of things the media can say without blowing it out of proportion...avoid large gatherings, wash your hands well, etc.  Media needs to fill 24 hours a day in our current age, anything that people are interested in gets blown out of proportion.  The issue becomes when people see it being blown out of proportion and say "ok, it's not very serious, this is just the media".  No, it's super serious, it's a big deal, it's just not the big dramatic  thing the media is portraying, but it's still serious AF.  That speaks more to the current media state than this particular issue...the media can take an issue that's HUGE, and they STILL manage to blow it out of proportion...that's just how over-the-top our current media is and has been for a while now.

[andi9899]

Absolutely! We have been getting emails saying to hold as many meetings by digital means instead of in person as possible. Also everyone has been asked to only travel if it's essential. Some emails about what to do if you are exposed have gone out. I was supposed to do a meet and greet in CA that was canceled. I think we may soon be asked to work from home since therr has been at least one confirmed case here.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Mar 11, 2020 8:39:23 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

Mar 11, 2020 8:07:53 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

And trump's position is the media has blown it out of proportion. As trump said yesterday, "It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away... be calm."

In reality, they have.  That's kind of the media's job, they blow EVERYTHING out of proportion it seems.  That doesn't mean this whole thing isn't super serious...but media today is almost all click-bait-ish...they want to be sensational to draw eyes/ears to them.  

There's really not a ton of things the media can say without blowing it out of proportion...avoid large gatherings, wash your hands well, etc.  Media needs to fill 24 hours a day in our current age, anything that people are interested in gets blown out of proportion.  The issue becomes when people see it being blown out of proportion and say "ok, it's not very serious, this is just the media".  No, it's super serious, it's a big deal, it's just not the big dramatic  thing the media is portraying, but it's still serious AF.  That speaks more to the current media state than this particular issue...the media can take an issue that's HUGE, and they STILL manage to blow it out of proportion...that's just how over-the-top our current media is and has been for a while now.

That kind of doesn't make any sense, mathematically speaking. Proportion as the ratio to whole - so if everything is blown out of proportion - then the whole is bigger and the proportions remain constant.....

[hoops902]

Mar 11, 2020 9:52:35 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Mar 11, 2020 8:39:23 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

In reality, they have.  That's kind of the media's job, they blow EVERYTHING out of proportion it seems.  That doesn't mean this whole thing isn't super serious...but media today is almost all click-bait-ish...they want to be sensational to draw eyes/ears to them.  

There's really not a ton of things the media can say without blowing it out of proportion...avoid large gatherings, wash your hands well, etc.  Media needs to fill 24 hours a day in our current age, anything that people are interested in gets blown out of proportion.  The issue becomes when people see it being blown out of proportion and say "ok, it's not very serious, this is just the media".  No, it's super serious, it's a big deal, it's just not the big dramatic  thing the media is portraying, but it's still serious AF.  That speaks more to the current media state than this particular issue...the media can take an issue that's HUGE, and they STILL manage to blow it out of proportion...that's just how over-the-top our current media is and has been for a while now.

That kind of doesn't make any sense, mathematically speaking. Proportion as the ratio to whole - so if everything is blown out of proportion - then the whole is bigger and the proportions remain constant.....

Sure it does, because of how the media works they're doing it to whichever topic happens to be the "in" thing to talk about, and then it goes back to being "nothing".  The whole can never really be "bigger", because there's only so much bandwidth.  So today topic A is 99% of coverage, tomorrow it is nothing and topic B is 99% of coverage.  It's the difference between blowing EVERYTHING out of proportion AT THE SAME TIME, and blowing everything out of proportion at different times.  

That's actually a big part of the problem with things just like coronavirus.  It's nothing, nothing, nothing, "OH MY GOD WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE", nevermind we're fine, nothing, nothing, nothing.  When things are either 0 or 10, with little in-between...anything which makes the scale gets blown out of proportion, then as soon as it stops being click-bait-y enough to draw eyes, it goes back to being woefully UNDER reported.  

If you give me 10 numbers/metrics, I can blow all 10 out of proportion at 10 different times.  I just can't blow all 10 out of proportion at the same time mathematically.  At different times though, sure can.

[Deleted]

DH works from home and his company stopped all business travel at the end of February.  This works out for us, because DH hates to fly, anyway.  He hasn't made a trip since the end of December.  

[gs11rmb]

I just got an email from Girl Scouts saying all camps scheduled through the end of March will happen as planned but they are evaluating April.  I'm scheduled to be the chaperone for a camping trip March 27-28.  My daughter would be sad but I can't say I'd be too upset at not having to spend two days in the woods with a bunch of 7-9 year old girls!  

[steph08]

My brother was supposed to speak at a conference in Australia next month - which has now been postponed until August and will be held in Paris instead. We'll see what happens. He works for the feds, but this was the conference postponing, not his workplace telling him travel is stopped.

[NastyWoman]

All Google employees in the US have been told to WFH until at least 4/10 → as multiple companies here in the bay area have taken similar steps I "flew" in to work this morning. It's amazing what removing tens of thousands of commuters can do to traffic flow   

[jerseygirl]

Oh no! Getting serious as there is talk of St Patrick’s Day parade in NY being cancelled

[Gardening Grandma]

Mar 11, 2020 11:18:13 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Oh no! Getting serious as there is talk of St Patrick’s Day parade in NY being cancelled

It's already been cancelled in Ireland.  

[raeoflyte]

Mar 11, 2020 11:18:13 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Oh no! Getting serious as there is talk of St Patrick’s Day parade in NY being cancelled

Ours was cancelled yesterday.

[chiver78]

a couple days ago for Boston. Chicago cancelled this am, too. 

[giramomma]

Mar 11, 2020 8:39:23 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

Mar 11, 2020 8:07:53 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

And trump's position is the media has blown it out of proportion. As trump said yesterday, "It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away... be calm."

In reality, they have.  That's kind of the media's job, they blow EVERYTHING out of proportion it seems.  That doesn't mean this whole thing isn't super serious...but media today is almost all click-bait-ish...they want to be sensational to draw eyes/ears to them.  

There's really not a ton of things the media can say without blowing it out of proportion...avoid large gatherings, wash your hands well, etc.  Media needs to fill 24 hours a day in our current age, anything that people are interested in gets blown out of proportion.  The issue becomes when people see it being blown out of proportion and say "ok, it's not very serious, this is just the media".  No, it's super serious, it's a big deal, it's just not the big dramatic  thing the media is portraying, but it's still serious AF.  That speaks more to the current media state than this particular issue...the media can take an issue that's HUGE, and they STILL manage to blow it out of proportion...that's just how over-the-top our current media is and has been for a while now.

Maybe media at the national level. At the local level, media is more concerned about running stories about drunken drivers and how the new school superintendent is fairing over what's happening with the virus in the largest urban area in our state...which is about 90 minutes away from me.  In 26 years, I've never seen my workplace's response before. Am I running around like chicken little-no. But, it's making me wonder how bad this is going to get.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Mar 11, 2020 11:43:40 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

a couple days ago for Boston. Chicago cancelled this am, too. 

Anything on the Boston Marathon yet?  

[chiver78]

still on, for now. they could also do like Tokyo and just close the course to still have the race be a thing. I'm not sure how well that would go over here, though... 

[Miss Tequila]

Mar 11, 2020 11:18:13 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Oh no! Getting serious as there is talk of St Patrick’s Day parade in NY being cancelled

Ours was just cancelled.  I completely agree with the decision since it brings in people from all over.  Why import more risk of infection?

[NastyWoman]

Mar 11, 2020 12:11:21 GMT -5 Miss Tequila said:

Mar 11, 2020 11:18:13 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Oh no! Getting serious as there is talk of St Patrick’s Day parade in NY being cancelled

Ours was just cancelled.  I completely agree with the decision since it brings in people from all over.  Why import more risk of infection?

and then we have this:

"The NBA wants its teams to prepare to play games without fans if necessary because of the coronavirus crisis, but LeBron James already says he won't play basketball in an empty arena..."

www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-8085767/LeBron-James-says-wont-play-stadium-NBA-issues-warning-coronavirus-crisis.html

Talk about an overblown ego → "I need cheering when I play, and to h*ll with the risk of infection for others"

[Cookies Galore]

Just got the email from HR that we are ceasing all business travel immediately until April 30. We are doing a company-wide work from home stress test on Tuesday to see how our systems handle all that remote access. Tuesday is one of my already schedule WFH days so I'm sad I don't get a free extra day at home. Maybe it will be such a success that we will get to WFH for a while.

Local St. Paddy's parades have been cancelled/postponed. Lots of other things being reconsidered. I work in Philly, take public transit, and live in a county with nine cases now (800,000+ residents).

[Rukh O'Rorke]

And then I get on a bus and some old guy leisurely
Sticking his thumb as far up his nostril as possible and scratching slowly. It almost took the tone of tender romance....

Ugh!!

[movingforward]

Mar 11, 2020 7:18:39 GMT -5 tractor said:

Just had another business conference cancelled. I was supposed to go to Denver in two weeks. So many companies are now putting travel restrictions in place due to coronavirus fears that people can’t attend meetings.

I think the ripple effect on the economy is just beginning, the costs to airlines, hotels, restaurants, etc. Hopefully it will be short lived. Are you also seeing the same reaction in your industry?

Yes, the conference I always attend in NYC at the end of march has been canceled. I am currently sitting in the airport, on a layover, waiting for my flight to st. Louis. I suppose I could have cancelled but decided to go through with it. It feels like I have cleaned my hands a million times so far. I am surprised by the number of older people I am seeing.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

I’m disgusted with my employer that is so far not taking any stance on travel or meetings. I’m encouraging staff to just refuse.

CEO needs to get with the program here.

[tcu2003]

We’re still traveling, but no non-essential or client required travel. They’ve cancelled open houses at two of our offices next month and just cancelled our women’s golf event in May (boo - I help plan that and it’s one of my favorite events).

The professional organization I’m in has cancelled two large student events for April, a DC event, and I’m waiting to hear what they’re going to do about our annual meeting in Boston in June (though I’m guessing they postpone a decision on that for now).

Several coworkers are involved in a healthcare conference, and that was canceled for next month.


We are getting at least biweekly updates from company leadership on this as policy evolves with new developments. So far no work from home mandate, though, unless you need to self-quarantine.