Important ENAR Update: The ENAR 2020 Spring Meeting will be Virtual

ENAR leadership has continued to monitor the growing COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. and globally each day. Many countries, agencies, and institutions have now banned travel. Because of increasing concerns that travel to a large group gathering like the ENAR Spring Meeting is not advisable from a personal and public health perspective, the ENAR leadership has come to the difficult decision that the 2020 Spring Meeting will be virtual.

What You Need to Know:

1. The ENAR Spring Meeting has NOT been cancelled, instead the meeting will be held virtually. No sessions will take place at the JW Marriott in Nashville, Tennessee.


2. We recommend you contact your airline to investigate the cancellation options you have available at this time, if not done already.


3. Because of the group cancellation, all reservations made either directly through the JW Marriott official ENAR booking website or via phone using the ENAR registration code will be cancelled. NO action is required to cancel your reservation if you are no longer coming to Nashville. You will receive an email from the JW Marriott to confirm your cancellation. If you would still like to visit the beautiful city of Nashville, you will have an option to reply to the JW Marriott and they can rebook you. The Spring Meeting group rate will not be available. If you booked accommodations through a third-party booking website (ie., expedia.com, kayak.com, etc.), you will need to cancel yourself.


4. All registered attendees will have access to attend the virtual Spring meeting. An email with log-in information for access will be sent out to all registered attendees in the coming days.

At this point, we are not providing refunds. Please see the financial implications section below. We may revise this policy after the ENAR Spring Meeting ends, once we are better able to assess the complete picture of all financial implications.

The ENAR leadership and staff are actively transforming the face-to-face meeting to a virtual program. We ask for your patience and understanding as we work through very difficult logistical issues in creating a virtual program in a very short timeframe. There are many uncertainties and unknowns as we balance the need to act responsibly in the face of the growing COVID-19 pandemic, while doing our best to protect the integrity and safety of the biostatistics community. We thank you for your continued support.

What cancelling or postponing the 2020 Spring Meeting would have meant financially for ENAR:
As is the case for many of you, the ENAR leadership attends the Spring Meeting for reasons beyond its scientific program. Unfortunately, ENAR's conference insurance does not cover cancellations due to infectious diseases, and as such, ENAR is obligated to pay all the costs associated with conducting the meeting in Nashville (e.g., the hotel room block). Postponing the meeting would still be considered a cancellation financially. Additionally, not knowing when the outbreak will settle down, makes it impossible to know when to reschedule an in-person event. As a result, fully cancelling the meeting and refunding registration fees would have been untenable financially for ENAR, likely leading to bankruptcy. Although no virtual platform can replicate the community atmosphere we experience during the Spring Meeting, we hope that holding a virtual meeting will make future meetings possible by keeping ENAR financially viable.