Upcoming Community Events
Excel Data Analysis for Librarians & Library Makerspaces
Librarians and Library makerspace leaders, join Johnnie Thomas from Microsoft’s Excel Development team for a 1 hour workshop. Explore different Excel features and learn helpful tips and tricks for getting work done faster! Topics will include working with data tables, summarizing for reports, and using charts effectively.
Register at: https://lu.ma/Excel4Libraries
Sippin' Solidarity - BIPOC Makers Collective Monthly Social
A monthly virtual social hour for BIPOC Makers. This is a social event! Including some fun ice breakers, occasional special guests, and lots of show n' tell or just chillin' with other BIPOC makers. This event happens every last Friday of the month.
Please note: While Nation of Makers is an organization for makers of all backgrounds, this event is limited to makers who actively identify as a BIPOC maker.
Registration required. Register at: https://lu.ma/BMCSocialHour
Sippin’ Solidarity - BIPOC Makers Collective Monthly Happy Hour
A monthly virtual happy hour for BIPOC Makers. This is a social event! Including some fun ice breakers, occasional special guests, and lots of show n' tell or just chillin' with other BIPOC makers. This event happens every last Friday of the month. BIPOC Makers, register at: https://lu.ma/BMCHappyHour
Please note: While Nation of Makers is an organization for makers of all backgrounds, this event is limited to makers who actively identify as a BIPOC maker.
Getting Visibility for your Makerspace and Maker Events on "Science Near Me"
Science Near Me is a is a NSF-funded free resource and directory to help quickly find opportunities to engage in STEM events, projects, programs, and experiences, both in person and online, including makerspaces and maker events. Nation of Makers is proud to partner with Science Near Me to curate a directory of maker experiences within this incredible STEM resource. Join Darlene Cavalier from Science Near Me on Wednesday July 27th at 2 pm ET, as she explains what Science Near Me is and how YOU can get visibility for YOUR makerspace and maker events through Nation of Makers' partnership with Science Near Me.
Register for the event at: https://lu.ma/MakersNearMe
Nation of Makers Libraries Working Group Discussion Session
Join us for the first NOM Libraries Discussion Session of 2022 from 4-5 pm ET on Wednesday, February 23! This session will include small breakout “speed networking” discussions where you can meet other library makerspace organizers.
BIPOC Makers Collective Social
The BIPOC Makers Collective* is excited to host our first Social on Friday, February 4th at 3:00 pm ET. Are you an artist, maker, technologist, innovator, or other creative who is Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color? Are you seeking to meet other like-minded BIPOC? Join us to network, socialize, and envision the future work and goals of our BIPOC Makers Collective. Registration is required: https://lu.ma/BMCSocial
BIPOC makers, register today and tell your friends!
*Formed in 2020, the BIPOC Makers Collective is a group of BIPOC technologists, creatives, and thought-leaders focused on the use of culture, making, and technology for improving the quality of life of all people of color. Our purpose is to establish a vibrant, supportive, and collaborative community of BIPOC makers, leveraging our collective expertise to provide maker and digital fabrication-centered strategies and programs in service to social and economic justice for BIPOC communities.
Please note: While Nation of Makers is an organization for makers of all backgrounds, this event is limited to makers who actively identify as a BIPOC maker. We will have other events for allies and friends of BIPOC makers in the future.
Feb 2nd Maker Funding and Sustainability Roundtable
Maker leaders, our Nation of Makers’ Maker Funding and Sustainability Roundtable is back for 2022 every other Wednesday night at 7:00 pm ET. Register for the February 2nd session at: https://lu.ma/MakersSustainFeb2
This interactive meeting uses the Makers’ EDGE Method to nurture makers and makerspaces seeking funding to be sustainable and resilient. It is open to all but particularly intended to help makers and makerspaces put ideas for sustainability and resilience into action.
Time: 60-90 minutes
Intended Participants:
Makers and Makerspace Leaders; Educators and Workforce Skills Specialists; Community, Governance and Business Representatives; Financial Advisors/Development Agents/Philanthropists. Young makers and international attendees are welcome.
Maker Funding and Sustainability Roundtable
Maker leaders, our Nation of Makers’ Maker Funding and Sustainability Roundtable is back for 2022 every other Wednesday night at 7:00 pm ET. Register for the January 19th session at: https://lu.ma/MakersSustainJan19
This interactive meeting uses the Makers’ EDGE Method to nurture makers and makerspaces seeking funding to be sustainable and resilient. It is open to all but particularly intended to help makers and makerspaces put ideas for sustainability and resilience into action.
In the January 19th session, we will have special guests from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory who will provide an overview of the American-Made Challenges’ new Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity (ED) recognize that improvements are needed to make the clean energy innovation ecosystem more inclusive and accessible to disadvantaged communities and individuals from groups historically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Now, as the nation invests in more clean energy technology, DOE has a responsibility to prioritize serving these too-often-overlooked communities. The Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize fits into President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to deliver 40% of climate investment benefits to disadvantaged communities and inform equitable research, development, and deployment within DOE.
Join us to learn more about this exciting opportunity for a diversity of makers to innovate to make clean energy more inclusive!
Time: 60-90 minutes
Intended Participants:
Makers and Makerspace Leaders; Educators and Workforce Skills Specialists; Community, Governance and Business Representatives; Financial Advisors/Development Agents/Philanthropists. Young makers and international attendees are welcome.
Mentza Information Session
Help us grow the Nation of Makers Community with Mentza
We’ve heard your feedback. You would love more opportunities to dynamically interact with other community members, host engaging working group meetings, share best practices, knowledge, and to learn from one another - everything from what access controller is the best, what maker project is best for a 3rd grader, to what CNC you should definitely avoid. While we actively encourage our amazing (and super knowledgeable) community to engage on our Slack and Facebook group communities, we realize these platforms aren’t for everyone. That’s why we’re excited to have partnered with Mentza, a new “real-time audio platform that enables learning-oriented people to seek and share experiences, knowledge, and wisdom with others like them.” Unlike other real-time audio platforms, Mentza will allow us to curate a special Nation of Makers’ community and empower maker leaders to create their own Circles (think affinity groups) within our NoM community, and also to record our content for future sharing. Even better, because they’re makers as well, they’re excited to work with us to build the functionality we need for our NoM community. Want to learn more and get involved with helping us to build the NoM Mentza community? We’re hosting an information session on September 8th at 9 pm ET. Sign up for the session and join us to learn more!
E-ROBOT Prize Office Hours
Do you have questions about the E-ROBOT Prize for energy efficient building retrofits? Join us at the Office Hours event this Wednesday April 21 from 1-3pm EDT! This is your chance to talk to prize administrators, supporting organizations (like us!), and potential teammates to join you in applying. Register now at https://events.filmocracy.com/e/e-robot-prize-office-hours/register
NOMCON 2021 Preview!
Curious about this year's NOMCON experience? Wondering what in the world "Gather.Town" is and how you get there? Join us for a Happy Hour Sneak Peek into the NOMCON 2021 venue on Wednesday, April 14, 2021 at 8p EST/5p PST. Register at: https://tinyurl.com/NOMCON21HH to get the deets about the event!
Bury 2020
BURY2020 is a project taken on by Nation of Makers’ Champion, Joel Leonard, that invites us all to create a time capsule and literally and figuratively, BURY the unprecedented year that is 2020.
BURY2020 was created to provide guidance for individuals or organizations that would like to make a time capsule to help better prepare the future with lessons learned during 2020.
For more information, check out the BURY2020 FAQ at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qbs_xbsWmHJ9VSVpSQ78L4pBWObsv4Zvcw_eipZUlek/edit?usp=sharing
Register at: https://lu.ma/auu01j1w
Plan C Live: Pivoting to Entrepreneurship
Along with artisanal makers and crafters, as well as industrial designers and mechanical engineers, figuring out how to apply your skills to produce an income is a essential reality for many in the community. In this Plan C Live, we are talking with those who are using their skills and energy to create maker businesses that also address the greater social needs.
As the crisis of PPE shortage and supply chains began to recover, makers have converted their know-how into meaningful work and discovered business models for a rapid response to solving civic issues. For some, this has meant shifting pre-existing manufacturing capacity to a new product line, for others strengthening community partnerships into new local supply chains. The economic effects of the pandemic, particularly for small business owners and independent contractors, are as profound as the health risks presented by COVID-19. New entrepreneurial efforts represent positive changes paths in the vast reordering of economic life in 2020.
This week on Plan C Live, Dale Dougherty of Make Community, Dorothy Jones-Davis of Nation of Makers, and Sabrina Merlo of Open Source Medical Supplies talk with a group of maker entrepreneurs who have pivoted their PPE production into a business.
- Sarah Miller - Foolproof Fabricators (Boston , MA)
- Kristen Ahern - Artist Resource Mobilization (Chicago, IL)
- Justin Handsman - LRG Jersey City Rapid Maker Response Group (Jersey City, NJ)
- Zoe Grant - Pyxis Shields (Lawrence, MA)
- Connor Weller - Baseline Design (Vancouver, WA)
For more on how makers like these are fueling economic recovery, check out our discussion Plan C Live: Economic Recovery From The Bottom Up.
Wi3DP: Home Improvement
This activity explores ways additive could improve the function of our everyday items. This event is appropriate for all skill and experience levels. Participants will be automatically assigned to groups and each group will have 25 minutes to come up with a household item that could be improved through the use of additive and how! BYOB and meet new women in 3D Printing all over the country.
Join the virtual here: https://live.remo.co/e/wi3dp-home-improvement
NoM Library Makerspace Ask Me Anything (AMA)
The NOM Library Makerspace AMA is a drop-in conversation time where you can ask any questions you may have about makerspaces or maker programming in libraries. For the November 12th session, we'll discuss the continuing challenges that COVID-19 presents for library makerspaces, and how we're overcoming them. Join us as we chat, share ideas, and support other library makerspace organizers!
Maker Town Hall: Maker Policies & Opportunities in a Changing Administration
The role of the Federal government is to create and enact policies that support its residents. In the transition of power from one administration to the next, there is an opportunity to consider how current policies might be improved, or new policies introduced. The impactful work of our Nation of Makers on communities across the U.S. includes the unprecedented citizen-maker response to COVID-19, the strengthening of maker education in schools and as a part of workforce development, the development of the capacity for localized manufacturing to build resilient communities, economic development, the strengthening of local entrepreneurial ecosystems, and more. There is now a unique opportunity to showcase this incredible impact of our Nation of Makers, while advocating for Federal policies that support maker efforts.
Join us on Tuesday, November 10th for our Maker Town Hall to:
Discuss current maker policy proposals and guidance
Learn about the transition process and the opportunities for maker advocacy and policy work
Find out how YOU can get involved, including getting involved in the *new* Nation of Makers Policy Working Group/Community of Practice
Share YOUR local policy success stories
Dialogue and discuss about how we can advocate for change that best supports our Nation of Makers and your organizational or individual needs
We hope you can join us for what will certainly be an exciting Maker Town Hall!
Please Note: This is not a political event. Nation of Makers remains a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that serves and supports all maker organizations, independent of political affiliation.
You’re Too Comfortable
Sunday, October 25th | Noon – 1pm PST
$5-20 sliding scale | Tickets
Recognizing when comfort is an indicator of white supremacy manifesting itself. Explore how to take action when it does.
One way whiteness protects itself is by eliminating stressors of those who are in proximity to it. Things are easier, quicker, more accessible, more abundant, less risky, and more. This workshop will examine how comfortable you are and explore where your own discomfort might be putting up barriers to equity and inclusivity. Then we’ll talk about what can be done about it. We will uncover what actions can be taken when we discover white supremacy manifesting itself.
About Nexus
Nexus was born and raised in the traditional territory of the Pamunkey and the Piscataway, part of which many of us now call Washington, DC. He is Black and Filipino-American and a queer cisgender man, who is ethically non-monogamous. Nexus is currently a member of the Community Arts Team for Any Given Child DC, on the board of Dance Place, on the Grants Committee for the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, as well as an Ambassador for Woolly Mammoth. Nexus also serves as one of five Regional Contacts for the DC Burning Man community. And it is with over a decade and a half of working in the arts and advocacy, as well as serving in a variety of volunteer leadership positions, he brings his extensive experience regarding inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) to his anti-racism work.
Folx can find Nexus here:
Website – askdearnexus.com
Patreon – patreon.com/askdearnexus
Facebook – facebook.com/AskDearNexus
Instagram – instagram.com/askdearnexus
Twitter – twitter.com/AskDearNexus
Taking Care of the New Guy
Sunday, October 18th | Noon – 1pm PST
$5-20 sliding scale | Tickets
When the new guy isn’t white or a guy. We will explore where there is an opportunity to connect with people different than ourselves.
Black people, and other people of color as well as Indigenous individuals, generally experience trauma because of microaggressions or just a lack of welcome in majority-white spaces. So to do female, femme, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming folx in majority male spaces. How then do we take care of new individuals when they are not like us or having a much different experience in the world. This workshop will leave participants with a checklist to do just that including positive accountability.
About Nexus
Nexus was born and raised in the traditional territory of the Pamunkey and the Piscataway, part of which many of us now call Washington, DC. He is Black and Filipino-American and a queer cisgender man, who is ethically non-monogamous. Nexus is currently a member of the Community Arts Team for Any Given Child DC, on the board of Dance Place, on the Grants Committee for the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, as well as an Ambassador for Woolly Mammoth. Nexus also serves as one of five Regional Contacts for the DC Burning Man community. And it is with over a decade and a half of working in the arts and advocacy, as well as serving in a variety of volunteer leadership positions, he brings his extensive experience regarding inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) to his anti-racism work.
Folx can find Nexus here:
Website – askdearnexus.com
Patreon – patreon.com/askdearnexus
Facebook – facebook.com/AskDearNexus
Instagram – instagram.com/askdearnexus
Twitter – twitter.com/AskDearNexus
E-NABLECON: Disaster Response
Join us for the e-NABLE Annual Global Conference!
Virtual Sessions, Weekends 10/17-18, 10/24-25
Due to the pandemic crisis, e-NABLECON 2020 is virtual and free. A free will donation is
requested.All times posted below are in Eastern Time.
Day Two Schedule
12:50 - Participants practice Zoom Breakout and Interactive Session Controls
1:00 - Opening Remarks, Janet Fofang
- Opening Address, Dorothy Jones-Davis
1:45 - Keynote Address, Vaibhav Chhabra (Makers Asylum)
Pandemic Response: Making 1 Million PPE in 49 Days
Other Challenges to Sustainability and Resilience
2:45 - 30 Minute Roundtables
Open Source Medical Supplies and changes to field ready making
Pandemic Response by e-NABLE Volunteers
Mental Health First Aid
When Systems Fail Completely: Low-Tech and No-Tech STEM Projects
5:00 - SWOT Breakout Sessions and Games
Complete list of registration links:
Your meeting link will be emailed with confirmation of registration
If you need any assistance, please email info@enablealliance.org.
Maker Say What
Sunday, October 11th | Noon – 1pm PST
$5-20 sliding scale | Tickets
How the language we use to share maker knowledge interacts with race.
When it’s easy to lean into jargon as a way to communicate intelligence and experience, one can quickly conflate the words we use with who belongs and who doesn’t. And when it comes to talking about issues of race and gender, there is often a fear of saying the wrong thing. This workshop will explore how to be inclusive with Maker speak, as well as how to avoid the pitfalls of inaction by the fear of talking about race imperfectly.
About Nexus
Nexus was born and raised in the traditional territory of the Pamunkey and the Piscataway, part of which many of us now call Washington, DC. He is Black and Filipino-American and a queer cisgender man, who is ethically non-monogamous. Nexus is currently a member of the Community Arts Team for Any Given Child DC, on the board of Dance Place, on the Grants Committee for the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, as well as an Ambassador for Woolly Mammoth. Nexus also serves as one of five Regional Contacts for the DC Burning Man community. And it is with over a decade and a half of working in the arts and advocacy, as well as serving in a variety of volunteer leadership positions, he brings his extensive experience regarding inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) to his anti-racism work.
Folx can find Nexus here:
Website – askdearnexus.com
Patreon – patreon.com/askdearnexus
Facebook – facebook.com/AskDearNexus
Instagram – instagram.com/askdearnexus
Twitter – twitter.com/AskDearNexus
Schema of Makers
Sunday, October 4th | Noon – 1pm PST
$5-20 sliding scale | Tickets
Who defines what a legitimate maker is? Explore how different types of makers are valued and have influence in how the community is shaped.
Communities are like ecosystems — living things that change and evolve over time. We will unpack different maker identities and the dynamics of those identities and their influence on how our makerspace community has evolved… for good or for ill. This workshop will explore both what the identity of makers have been as well as explore what it could and should be.
About Nexus
Nexus was born and raised in the traditional territory of the Pamunkey and the Piscataway, part of which many of us now call Washington, DC. He is Black and Filipino-American and a queer cisgender man, who is ethically non-monogamous. Nexus is currently a member of the Community Arts Team for Any Given Child DC, on the board of Dance Place, on the Grants Committee for the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, as well as an Ambassador for Woolly Mammoth. Nexus also serves as one of five Regional Contacts for the DC Burning Man community. And it is with over a decade and a half of working in the arts and advocacy, as well as serving in a variety of volunteer leadership positions, he brings his extensive experience regarding inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) to his anti-racism work.
Folx can find Nexus here:
Website – askdearnexus.com
Patreon – patreon.com/askdearnexus
Facebook – facebook.com/AskDearNexus
Instagram – instagram.com/askdearnexus
Twitter – twitter.com/AskDearNexus
Plan C Live: Makers Meet Policy
Join Make Community, Nation of Makers, and Open Source Medical Supplies for an open discussion of what government could do to assist and support the civic response of makers in the future, and what kind of policies would bring about much needed collaboration? Register here to join the conversation on Zoom or tune in on Facebook.
Prototypers and makers stood up as first responders when the global medical supply chain broke this year as a result of COVID-19. Designers created and shared open source designs for critical medical supplies and devices (see the OSMS Project Library or the NIH 3D Print Exchange), and makerspaces, community groups, and local manufacturers developed robust production lines that fabricated millions of PPE and medical supplies when we needed it most. This kind of global collaboration and widely distributed localized production is something new to governments and their agencies.
Most of these makers, designers, engineers, and Local Response groups were not understood, connected to, or supported by US government emergency response efforts. This Plan C episode is a discussion meant to stimulate ideas and approaches on how things could work better in the next emergency.
What are our “ASKS” to government at various levels to organize and support Makers as Emergency Responders?
What policies, agencies, or initiatives need to be changed or created?
What funding is needed? Where will or should it come from?
Panelists:
- Sabrina Merlo, Head of Local Response at Open Source Medical Supplies will open the discussion by sharing a draft federal policy memo that asks for the creation of a U.S. Digital Stockpile and a U.S. Manufacturing Reserve. Sabrina is researching and drafting this federal policy recommendation memo as a 2020 fellow in the Day One Project Policy Accelerator.
- Daniel Correa, Director of the Day One Project and previous Assistant Director for Innovation Policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy will provide insights and reactions from his lens on developing policy recommendations.
- Will Holman, Executive Director of OpenWorks makerspace in Baltimore, MD will share his experience shaping policy in his region.
Plan C co-hosts Dorothy Jones-Davis (Nation of Makers) and Dale Dougherty (Make: Community) round out the discussion on makers, federal policy, and advocacy.
Good data is pivotal to this discussion and the policy research supporting it. The OSMS/NOM Community Impact Survey that is open now to makers, designers and manufacturers is a step in this direction — fill it out if you haven’t yet!
NoM Libraries Working Group Ask Me Anything (AMA): Reopening Library Makerspaces
Our next Libraries Working Group AMA (Ask Me Anything) is Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 3 p.m. EST! This month, we will discuss how (and if) we're reopening library makerspaces mid-COVID. We'll also have a cameo from Tim Bailey to let us know about the Dept of Energy/NREL Solar Prize. Hope to see you there! Attend the meeting
Plan C Live: Economic Recovery from the Bottom Up
Join Make: and Nation of Makers in conversation with panelists Victor Hwang and Gina Lujan as we take a look at a bottom-up approach to economic recovery. Register to be part of the conversation on Zoom or enjoy the show on Facebook.
Plan C: LIVE - The Civic Response of Makers to COVID-19
Kits enable making. They are especially good for beginners and young makers. They are also a convenience for parents who want to encourage children to start making but don’t have time to track down tools and supplies. The number of kits and the different types of kits by and for makers have grown from only a few to maybe thousands. There are kits for robotics, coding, electronics, wearables, During COVID-19, kits can be an important supplement to the education provided by schools. In this week’s Plan C: LIVE, we’ll be talking about the educational value and uses of kits, and our panelists are developers of kits.
The Making and Innovation Community’s Response to COVID-19
In the second edition of the AAAS HBCU Making and Innovation webinar series, we will have presentations and a panel discussion featuring Dorothy Jones-Davis, Executive Director for the Nation of Makers, Nina Archie, Project Manager, and Diversity Tech Policy Advisor of The Commercializer, and Joey Womack, Founder of Goodie Nation and Startup Labs Manager, WeWork. Together they will share the importance of having a diverse set of problem solvers, who are engaged in the maker movement, technology and commercialization, and entrepreneurship to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants will learn the advantages and power of collaborations when addressing challenges on both a regional and global scale.
Registration and more details here!
To learn more about our HBCU Making & Innovation and ERN Conference efforts please view our websites.
FABxLive
The FABXLive, this year's global Fab Lab Network conference, is an online, distributed, FREE conference that gives us an opportunity to stay connected, reflect and engage deeply around Fab Lab and other community responses to COVID-19, the current state of the world and our vision for the future. With more than 2000 Fab Labs in 126 countries worldwide, we will bring together members of the international Fab Lab Network, government representatives, the manufacturing industry, artists, teachers, academic researchers and experts in the field of digital fabrication, to present, envision, innovate, create community, disseminate best practices in digital fabrication and discuss solutions to our world's challenges during this unprecedented time in history.
July 27-July 30 we will host expert panels, keynote speakers and members of our network. On July 31, we will have a GLOBAL FAB DAY, a day dedicated to all of us inventing and imagining locally and together.
Capitol Hill Maker Faire 2020
Hosted by the Nation of Makers, along with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Congressional Maker Caucus on July 23-24, 2020, the Capitol Hill Maker Faire celebrates the American Maker movement, and provides hands on demonstrations of the breadth of making across the United States. On Day 1, there will be a series of panel discussions with leaders of the Maker movement discussing its impact on topics such as the economy, education, and community development. Day 2 showcases dozens of maker exhibits representative of the breadth of the American maker movement. Interactive displays featuring everything from 3D printed objects, defense technologies, art and robots, to crafts and artisanal handmade goods, will be available to explore.
Interested in showcasing at the Faire as a maker? Let us know at: https://forms.gle/qtPbzba7S8LaA9qP9
Strategies for Equity in PPE Distribution
Open Source Medical Supplies Local Response and representatives from Ace Monster Toys (Oakland, CA), GetUsPPE, and NWLA Makerspace (Shreveport, LA) host a discussion about strategies for discovering and serving PPE needs of underserved communities during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.
Conversation about Race and Inclusion in the Maker Movement: Dialogue and Actions for Progress (Registration required)
Nation of Makers is partnering with Fab Foundation, Tikkun Olam Makers, Open Source Medical Supplies, Citizen Schools, Maker Ed, and Make: Community, to begin the long overdue critical internal reflection and work that we need to engage in to address the lack of support and representation of makers of color within the mainstream maker community.
We invite everyone in our communities (and those who have specifically chosen not to be, because of past failures on our part) to join us in this process of reinvention of the maker movement, starting with our facilitated Conversation about Race and Inclusion in the Maker Movement: Dialogue and Actions for Progress at 7pm ET/4pm PT on Thursday, July 2, 2020. We intend for this dialogue to be the starting point for open communication within our community about where we are at right now on issues of race and inclusion, and what actions we need to engage in to create an intentional inclusive maker community grounded in social justice and equity.
We hope that you will join us. We welcome all perspectives; please consider extending this invitation to another friend or colleague that could contribute to this conversation and share their perspective.