Plans are nothing; planning is everything. (Dwight D. Eisenhower)
I don’t have to tell you that for most of us, inside and outside of aviation, the last year or so has been intensely miserable. The effects of the pandemic, the uncertainty surrounding it, and the incredible losses so many have suffered in so many ways, made the year 2020 of the most miserable on record. And 2021 hasn’t started off so great either. Worse; we've lost awfully good friends to this miserable virus...
However, for those of us in aviation who have missed many of the things that we feel so strongly about, especially the opportunities we take to gather together and enjoy all that aviation has to offer, we have the chance to start anew.
A few weeks ago, we sat down with Sun ‘n Fun Boss, Lites Leenhouts, and agreed to undertake a massive new project on their behalf. For those of you who remember the ancient history between ANN and Sun ‘n Fun from several decades ago, the current reality is kind of amusing (and really speaks well for the maturity of our industry, of late). But to be honest, there’s so much work ahead of us there’s little time for us to reflect on what was, when we must work so hard on what is to come.
At the same time, let me express in the strongest possible terms, the confidence we have in the Sun ‘n Fun organization’s ability to pull this off. We are tremendously impressed with the way they are undertaking the 2021 Fly-In—and grow more so with each consult. We’ve been to SnF headquarters recently and been talking to Lites and his staff quite a bit over the last few weeks, and the care and consideration they are giving to make this a safe event is just what I expect it to be… Thorough and professional. I very much look forward to getting to Lakeland next month with my wife and my staff and getting to work on your behalf… Again, safely, and professionally. And, by the way, working with Sun 'n Fun so far has been a gas.
Times... they are a'changing.
Aero-News is really proud to partner with Sun ‘n Fun on the upcoming Sun ‘n Fun Digital Daily. We’re still building it, we’ve got a lot of ideas about what we want to do, and we’re excited about how it's coming together. But... the next six weeks will be intense.
Unlike the newsprint predecessor, it’s going to serve three immensely important functions for the info-starved, virus-weary, aviation community.
One; since it will be very mobile centric, and published 24/7, it can be used to keep all those in attendance at Sun ‘n Fun up-to-date on the news of the day, heck, even to the news of the minute.
Two; we regret that there will probably be a huge audience of people who won’t make it this year… Whether they be constrained by personal concerns, or boundaries set for them by governments or distance or illness or anyone of dozens of other concerns… And though they will be unable to be with us onsite, we can bring so much to them via the wonders of the web – so it’s up to us to make sure that everybody who can’t be there, can at least be there in spirit – via a LOT of digital goodness.
And third; as compared to the old Daily News programming that was heretofore available at Sun ‘n Fun, we bring a whole new range of capabilities in media… Words, pictures, audio, video, social media…
You name it; we’ll publish, present, and webcast it to the world.
And, more important, unlike newsprint, none of what we do will wind up in the trash… But will be available forever after to be remembered, reflected upon, and reutilized by all those who desire to do so.
We’re immensely proud of the responsibilities given to us… But the work ahead of us is excruciating. What we hope to see at Lakeland, is aviation’s second act… An opportunity for people to cast aside, at least a little bit, the miseries of the past and start celebrating the promise of aviation far into the future.
We are a unique community, and we are one that needs events like Sun ‘n Fun to recharge our spirits, and give us one more reason to remember why aviation is SO worth pursuing.
And so, let me make one appeal…
Give Sun ‘n Fun 2021 a chance. Get your butts to Lakeland.
I know we all have our concerns and for those of you who are in high-risk groups, I certainly understand why you might not make it (and we’ll do our best to keep in touch, 24/7) … But for those of you who aren’t, and are willing to be smart about your attendance, we hope we see you next month, and we hope we see you in extraordinary numbers. It's going to be AWESOME.
Come on down, folks… SnF21 should be a gas…
A few words about some things we’re going to be looking for to help us pull this off… The Sun ‘n Fun Digital Daily will be an amazing undertaking, and will be everything that we can make it over the next few weeks, but for those of you with videography or writing skills to share, please reach out to us because we’re going to be putting out an appeal for editorial and video stringers/support staff just like we do for Oshkosh every year – a process that has always been one of the better parts of operating ANN. We meet great new friends every year, this way.
Much to our delight, our efforts to get a full roster of sponsors is going awfully well, and there is a significant possibility that we will sell out all the allocated slots. But… we haven’t done that yet, and if you’re going to Sun ‘n Fun as an exhibitor, we urge you to reach out to us, after you look over our sales propaganda at www.snfdd.com, and see if we might partner together to make the Sun ‘n Fun Digital Daily all that it can be.
We will keep you up-to-date every week or so about how we’re doing (even more so as we get close to the 13th of April), the things that are happening at Sun ‘n Fun, some of the features and projects that we expect to cover, and the other news that we’ll be working on… And; for those of you who are coming to Sun ‘n Fun and expect to be making news in any way, be sure to reach out to us as soon as possible, and discuss getting assigned to one of our reporters by reaching out to info@snfdd.com, or news@aero-news.net.
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