For years businesses large and small have extolled the virtues of thinking outside the proverbial box of conventional wisdom. Business leaders have lauded nimbleness in the face of rapidly changing competitive landscapes and oftentimes fickle consumer habits.

In the face of a pandemic, the ability to change focus and direction quickly has morphed from being a positive attribute to being an absolute necessity. In many cases, COVID-19 has removed the familiar box of conventional thinking altogether.

For us, here at Zoomba Group, the inability to host live events has been a major challenge in 2020 and, sadly, the current trajectory of the pandemic makes it necessary to cancel yet another event, the Foodservice Equipment and Design Global Thought Leadership Summit, which was to be held in Chicago at the end of September.

While we are disappointed that the live summit won’t proceed this year, we are excited to accelerate our plans for expanding the FED experience to embrace a wider audience. We have received feedback that more of our audience — the combined readership of FE&S and rd+d — wants to participate in FED than the exclusive live event typically provides. In October, we will launch the FED Lunch and Learn series online, which will mark the creation of a FED community, bringing together operators, consultants, designers, dealers, service agents, manufacturers, reps and other foodservice professionals in a trusted space for interaction and thought leadership.

I am delighted to be able to direct you to our recently unveiled and completely redesigned website, FESmag.com/events, for all the details.