Hop Growers of America

 

2021 American Hop Convention Goes Virtual!

October 7, 2020

HGA Members and Friends,

After much consideration the HGA Board of Directors has made the difficult decision to change the format of the 2021 American Hop Convention from the traditional event that had been planned for Santa Rosa, California to a virtual format. We are currently renegotiating contracts, revising the budget and working on the virtual delivery platform.  As these details are worked out, we wanted to share the following information:

- The traditional 3-day event will be expanded to 5 days to keep each virtual session four to five hours in length. Convention sessions will be held Monday through Friday, January 18 to 22, 2021.

- We expect to launch Registration for the virtual event within the next 2 weeks.

- Sponsorship and Trade Show opportunities are being revised to reflect the virtual format and will be available within the next 2 weeks.

- We expect the HGA Board, HGA Annual Meeting and Committee Meetings (US Hop Industry Plant Protection Committee and Best Practices Committee) to be held the week prior to convention, during January 11-15. These meetings will be open to all HGA members and interested individuals regardless of registration for the Convention.

- Hop Research Council will announce details of the virtual Winter Meeting in the near future. Research reports, discussions with researchers and the Poster Session are being incorporated into the virtual Convention schedule as they have been during past on-site events. Details for Members Meeting sessions will be provided directly by the HRC administrative team.

- We will be contacting all speakers within the next week to confirm the schedule for their participation, as well as other details for their virtual presentations.

- Cascade Cup results will be announced by the Hop Quality Group during the virtual convention. Information for submitting entries to this contest will be provided soon.

- If you made sleeping room reservations at the Hyatt Sonoma, please contact the hotel directly to cancel those arrangements.

HGA sincerely appreciates the efforts the Idaho Convention Committee has invested during the past year, and are saddened the pandemic has required cancellation of the exciting event they were planning to host in Santa Rosa. We hope to reschedule this event very soon. The Idaho team has asked HGA to take over responsibility for the 2021 virtual event.

Please stay tuned for Registration, Sponsor/Trade Show and additional details later this month. If you have questions, please contact info@usahops.org.