Trump administration’s policies and cuts

Members of the PCMA Catalyst Community share their challenges in holding and planning events as the Trump administration continues to cut and change and has had a wide impact.

“Did anyone start canceling the registration of attendees whose travel was cut off?” Kim Connolly, assistant director of program and conference at Virginia Military Academy, asked the PCMA catalyst community on March 6, referring to the Trump administration’s overhaul, shooting of federal employees and more. “It also affected some of the presenters at our upcoming meeting.”

Seven members of the catalyst community responded in less than 24 hours, sharing the challenges posed by the rapid changes in the new administration and the concerns of attendees after several plane crashes and approach mistakes in recent weeks. This is what they have to say:

“We had a meeting last week and were affected by the meeting. We also had attendees who were afraid of flying and cancelling.transparent
– Tracy Breithaupt, Director of Events at Evergreen Education Group

“We hear from long-time teachers that they have not submitted content (conferences and summary) because they have complied with the federal employee’s communications ban or are no longer employees. On the participants’ side, the day-to-day whispering is getting bigger and bigger, and many members say their institutions have started to freeze because their grants or federal funds have been cut. We are not open to sign up yet, but I have been following it and expect our scholarship and speaker support budget to be fully exhausted.”
– Rhea Beddoe, Director of Community Engagement and Experience, Planned Parenthood

“Yes, our two big events were affected by similar patterns.”
– Sandra Collier, CEO of Event Dynamics LLC

“I have multiple groups that block when signing contracts. One of them is medical research and stands out from the funding of NIH. The others are associations related to the government and don’t know what to expect. We’re in waiting mode.”
– Marilyn Atchue-Zuill, Global Account Director, HPN Global

“In a Facebook group targeting industry professionals, we started to see this happening after 1/20/25, when ‘dicts’. What’s even more confusing is that in some cases federal employees were released and are now called back. Few people know what to do. As mentioned earlier, the people affected by the grants are in a similar position. Many cases are before the court, which is a nightmare for U.S. federal government employees, contractors, and people who receive grants (for) NGOs.”
– Eisenstodt Associates LLC President Joan Eisenstodt

“I just returned from a small annual meeting on the West Coast. Unfortunately, several speakers had to quit at the last minute because their work involved topics related to DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). In addition, some participants (including those working locally, state and federally are unable to attend, which forced us to adjust programming that usually provides best practices to help attendees browse the funding process in communities that are importantly needed. We must use creativity to fill the remaining gaps in programming, especially as we work to eliminate homelessness.

“I’m more worried about bird flu right now. It’s hard to know if this is a real threat because we’re coming together. Once we can evaluate the effect more clearly, we’ll not consider adjusting the contract if necessary.”
– Jeania Davis, Director of National Alliance Conferences and Events, End Homelessness

“Recent policy changes have greatly affected many of the nonprofit meetings we work with. A meeting at Johns Hopkins University had to modify its expected attendance from 2,500 to 1,000. Similarly, we worked with Ancompass LLC, which works directly with USAID and recently closed the doors due to a lack of funds to support its employees and contractors. It is frustrating to see these challenges develop, especially for organizations dedicated to meaningful reasons.”
-Irshad Reyaz, CMO, Drying Company

Joan Eisenstodt answered:

“I strongly agree. The international conference is facing people who don’t want to come to the United States because the cuts or can’t come because the funds have disappeared. I live in Washington, D.C. and am observing the impact of the world offer event that begins in May and continues until June 8. During this event, the Kennedy Center was cancelled. It closed for two days with outdoor concerts with Cynthia Erivo at the Smithsonian Mall. They expect a million people in the past few weeks. A big problem is that there are a lot of things on federal lands, and the licences can be canceled. If restrictions are to be lifted or greater, this will hurt many people, including the destination DC and the area.”

Michelle Russell is editor-in-chief Convened.