The Ripple Effect

To cancel, or not to cancel. That is the question regarding our April 26th conference on Jew Hatred.

It makes for an interesting examination of how events like these, and decisions like this one, have far-reaching effects.  Even one of this size – 150 to 200 people or thereabouts – impacts a lot of people.  

Consider:

• The venue – the Luxe.  The breakfast, the lunch, the service, the set-up, the drinks afterwards at the bar (a not-inconsiderable component of AFA events!), and that’s not even counting the overnight stays by speakers and guests who’ve come from a distance.

• Our media team – this is an all-day event for a crew of three, plus the many, many, many hours spent editing, rendering and uploading video to our YouTube channel

• The photographer – an all-day event for him too.

• The graphics designer – not only the gorgeous banner, but also graphics for facebook, Eventbrite, twitter, and ad work.  In addition, there’s the programme and other hand-outs that require designing.

• The printer – for each conference we print a few hundred programmes and other hand-outs

Each of these is an independent small business who does outstanding work and whom we are proud to work with.  The cancellation of this event affects each of these, and of course, we’re only one event among too many to count.  The Los Angeles “Safer at Home” mandate and all the rest of the efforts to stem the spread of the virus means that each of these, and others like them, have just lost their livelihoods or a good portion of it.

Then let’s include flights not flown, Ubers not taken, Eventbrite not paid, books not sold, video content not made, articles not written, personal and professional connections not made (one of the most important and unrecognized benefits of events such as these), energy not replenished (another crucial benefit).  And most importantly, the issue itself, in this case, Jew hatred not being tackled in the comprehensive and action-oriented way that this conference is designed to do.

And each of these creates its own set of secondary effects, deep deep into the fabric of the economy and society as a whole. 

This is meant only a glimpse into the ripple effect that one relatively small organization’s decision has into the community, and the interwoven dependence we’ve always taken for granted among businesses both large and small, for-profit and non-profit, individuals who work independently and global corporations, authors and airlines… essentially, everyone.  

We don’t know yet if we’ll be postponing the event. We’re in day 4-ish of the California “Safer at Home” policy; all events in Los Angeles are cancelled until April 20th so it’s unlikely ours will be held on the 26th, but things will probably be much clearer this time next week, i.e., a month before the event.  

That businesses are suffering is completely obvious; the is a lens into our little corner of the economic catastrophe.

Stay safe, stay healthy.