Tag Archives: AUSA

2026 Government Event Trends

Posted on by

The government market has seen an unprecedented level of change in the past year. From integrating new technologies to adapting to new policies, government professionals need opportunities for collaboration and learning now more than ever. The event market has been adapting to all of these changes; here are some key trends we're keeping an eye on for 2026.

Shutdown and Travel Restrictions

The disruption of extended government shutdown threw a wrench in carefully crafted event plans. The annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), drawing 40,000 attendees, was scheduled as always, in the middle of October. Alex Brody, AUSA's director of events, shares, "We had 12-14 months to plan the event and then had two weeks to create alternatives and contingency plans." In the end, the event had full participation in terms of speakers and attendees. Brody is thankful that they now have solid contingency plans in place for any future disruptions, stating, "We now know how to operate in a shutdown."

Continue reading →

National Guard Chief Predicts Changes In Training

Posted on by

From time to time GovEvents will come across information we feel our members and audience would benefit from. Here's something we wanted to share:

As some Army National Guard soldiers begin training under a new system that increases the number of days on the range, the chief of the National Guard Bureau predicts "some changes" if the greater demands are not sustainable over the next few years.

In remarks at a March 12 forum hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army's Institute of Land Warfare, Air Force Gen. Joseph L. Lengyel said the Sustainable Readiness Model put in place in fiscal 2017 as a means of reaching a higher level of readiness across all components makes higher training demands on reserve forces. It may not be sustainable for individual soldiers whose "civilian lives won't be able to tolerate it," he said. "I predict there will be some changes."

"Those heavy brigades are going to do 39 days one year, 48 days next year, 60 days in that third year and to sustain that readiness they're going to do 51 days the following year," Lengyel said. "That's a lot of training days. A lot of days." Continue reading →

Behind the Curtain: AUSA

Posted on by

AUSAFor this behind the curtain peek at event organizers we're learning more about the Association of the United States Army and two of their more popular events. LTG(R) Roger Thompson, vice president, membership and meetings at AUSA, took the time to talk to us about the planning behind the group's Global Force Symposium and LANPAC.[Tweet "Behind the curtain peek at AUSA and their events. #GovEventsBlog"]

The Global Force Symposium runs March 15-17 in Huntsville, AL, just outside Redstone Arsenal. The featured command at the symposium will be the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC), the Army's premier provider of materiel readiness - technology, acquisition support, materiel development, logistics power projection, and sustainment.  If a soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it, eats it or communicates with it, AMC provides it.  LANPAC takes place May 24-26 in Honolulu, HI.  This annual event brings together military and industry to highlight the role of land forces in the Indo-Asia-Pacific theater and their contributions to the Joint Force in peace and war.

We talked with LTG Thompson about how trends in the event industry and the government market in general are shaping the way they produce events.[Tweet "We talked with LTG Thompson @AUSAorg about trends and the events they produce."] Continue reading →

Meetings Industry Feels Impact of Shutdown

Posted on by

Originally posted by Jessica Boudevin on Venues Today

Already hurting from sequestration, the meetings and events industry is further challenged by the gridlock in Washington

With approximately 800,000 government workers furloughed and all federally-run facilities closed, the effect of the United States Federal Government shutdown on the meetings and events industry continues to swell. Not only is the federal government a large buyer of convention space, but many government employees travel for conferences each year.

Continue reading →

General visits Fort Hood, speaks at AUSA meeting

Posted on by

Originally posted by Rose L. Thayer on KDHNews.com

Central Texas-Fort Hood Chapter of the Association of the United States Army welcomed back an old friend of Fort Hood's for its general membership meeting Wednesday.

Maj. Gen. Frederick Rudesheim, who spent 10 of his 32 years in the Army in Central Texas, visited his old stomping grounds from his new position in San Antonio as commander of U.S. Army South.

Continue reading →