COVID-19

April 6, 2020

Hello,
Over the past few weeks all of our worlds were turned upside down after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. As this continued to unfold, it became apparent that we would not be able to conduct business as usual in regards to our luncheon programming and talent recognition programs like Shining Stars through the rest of our fiscal year. Since 1908, AAF Dallas has been bringing the industry together through our many events and initiatives to make our industry a better place to work and the world a better place to live in. We have been working diligently behind the scenes to ensure we can still do this in these unprecedented times.

Here’s how we are responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic:

SHINING STARS NOMINATIONS: We are extending the 2020 Shining Stars Nomination Process until May 1. We are going to see so many amazing rockstars shine during this unprecedented time. It is completely free to nominate some and to let them know you think they are worthy of being recognized for the contributions to your team and the Dallas advertising industry. Nominate your star here!
SHINING STARS GALA: We have postponed the 4th annual Shining Stars Gala until September 3, 2020.
CANCELLED MEETINGS: We are cancelling all in-person meetings and events for Ad 2 Dallas and AAF Dallas through June 2020.
RECRUITING FOR THE BOARD: We are looking for our new 2020-2021 board of directors. This is a great way to give back to our community. Please reach out to Allison (allison@aafdallas.org) or Jorge (rosie@aafdallas.org) if you have any questions about volunteering. Learn more information about which roles we are filling here.
CONNECTING PEOPLE: We are making our job board completely free of charge for anyone in the advertising industry who is looking for a job or candidate. If you have been impacted by layoffs, please consider advertising yourself and your resume on our job board.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: We are actively looking for experts who would be interested in leading webinars over the next few months to provide our members with free content. Email allison@aafdallas.org if you are interested in sharing your knowledge.
GIVING BACK: We are looking for advertising professionals of all flavors to join our adhoc committee to create PSAs for our city to use. Contact allison@aafdallas.org if you are in creative, production, project management, or media. We need a few people from each discipline to pull this off.
SHELTERING IN PLACE: We are conducting all meetings over the phone or via UberConference to ensure the health and safety of our board members.
HERE TO LISTEN: Please reach out to us if you need support from AAF Dallas. As you all know this is evolving and we are looking to jump in where we can.

With all this being said, we miss you! During this time, we hope you remember how important our industry is during all of this. We are storytellers who have the unique opportunity to help our clients keep their doors open and create meaningful messaging to our country during times of fear and uncertainty. We have the power to spread hope and humanity. We hope you take this opportunity to make the world a better place through your work and actions. Let us know what we can do to help you.

Thank you,

Farhan Rehmani, AAF Dallas President

Allison McCaslin, AAF Dallas Executive Director