Dear Elia family,

As 2021 draws to a close I want to take the opportunity to look back on a year where we embraced the ‘new normal’ and continued to show our strength as an association and contribute to the language industry.

We were delighted to hold our first in-person event in a long time – Focus on Execs 2021 in Rhodes, Greece. The event was a great success, and our attendees were thrilled to be together once again and connect face to face after a long period apart.

On a personal note, I was honoured that during our time in Rhodes, I was elected the President of Elia. I am both proud and humbled to take on this critical role and continue the growth of the association. I am delighted that Alina Birsan was elected as the Vice President to help me lead the association, along with the other wonderful Elia board members.

At the end of November, we held our second online version of Focus on PM and we have received incredibly positive feedback from our attendees – with over 80 attendees joining this year. We delved into what the future for PMs looks like, with actionable takeaways and new connections being made.

Looking forward to 2022 we see that the pandemic continues to challenge us all. We have, therefore, made the difficult, yet necessary decision to move the Together 2022 event online. The health and safety of our attendees remains a priority for Elia and I am therefore grateful to have a team that is flexible and adaptable and is working towards creating another memorable event for the Together 2022 attendees.

As I reflect on 2021 I can take pride in the fact that when the pandemic brought the world to a halt, our initiatives are helping people to stay connected. We have seen the Elia family continue to grow with new members joining each month, and our popular Focus Forward webinar series continues to offer educational and informative content. This is a testament to the work we are doing our commitment to accelerating our member’s business.

As many of you, I greatly miss the energy of being in a room together and having the opportunity to share and learn from each other. The reality is that it will probably take a little while longer before this is possible again. However, we’ve seen what we can achieve when we work and think as a team, and I am hopeful for what the year ahead brings. Our combined strength is what makes us able to face any challenge and turn them into opportunities.

I hope that the global health situation improves and we will be able to meet face to face again for Focus on Execs (Spring 2022), ND 2022 (St. Petersburg) and Focus on PM 2022 (Manchester).

On behalf of everyone at Elia, I wish you and your families a happy and healthy holiday season – stay safe!

Warmest wishes,
Diego