PublicSquare Community,With a heavy heart, we are officially canceling our PublicSquare Business Summit this week.Over the past few days, you have likely heard the news about Hurricane Milton, developing in the western Gulf of Mexico, heading east towards the west coast of Florida. Yesterday, Governor Ron DeSantis announced that he was enacting a 35-county state of emergency. Today, he held a livestream in which he expanded that state of emergency to 51 counties and announced that he’s pushing for the largest evacuation across the state since Hurricane Irma in 2017.Most weather models show the hurricane reaching land as a Category 3, with some models showing the potential of landfall as a Category 4 or 5. These models also show the Hurricane making landfall around Tampa Bay and rising northeast up the I-4 corridor that connects Tampa to Orlando on Wednesday afternoon.Interestingly, only three hurricanes have originated from this specific region in the Western Gulf and made a path straight east to the west coast of Florida since 1851; this storm is highly unusual and unfortunate, especially in October.While it will likely be another 24-48 hours before we understand the fullness of what we're facing here in Florida, we want to honor and protect the safety of our attendees, our speakers, our sponsors, and our staff, and the last thing we would ever want to do is push for anyone to take a risk to join us at the event, given that there is a chance this could end up as one of the more significant storms ever to hit this region.The world-class speaker lineup, impactful programming, and critical, timely mission of this event were all unique miracles to pull off, and it’s disheartening that we won’t be able to make this work this time around. In the coming days, we as a team will be assessing how we can get this event on the calendar again sooner rather than later, as it was undeniable that this movement of freedom-loving Americans was incredibly excited about this first-of-its-kind event.I want to give a special shoutout to the entire PublicSquare Marketing Team, who have worked countless hours over the past few months preparing what was going to be an unforgettable event. I have witnessed tireless execution, meticulous planning, and a commendable drive to create something uniquely special. We truly have the best team on the planet, and I know their efforts were not in vain.I also want to thank all of our attendees, sponsors, speakers, and supporters - we shared in your excitement, and we can't wait to keep you updated as we put plans in place for our next event.As a beautiful silver lining, the Rosen Shingle Creek resort, where we were planning to host our Summit, will now make these hotel rooms available for displaced victims of the Hurricane this week; we're grateful for their partnership and their efforts in this trying time.If you booked a room through our room block, your room will be cancelled automatically and refunded to you. In the event you did not utilize our room block, please reach out to the Rosen Shingle Creek letting them know that you were planning on attending the Summit, and the hotel will honor your cancellation and issue a refund to you.Also, please know that we are processing refunds for all tickets first thing in the morning.If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please reach out to us at summit@publicsq.com.I'm disappointed, and I can't tell you how much I looked forward to our Summit. But even still, God is good—all the time. He has blessed our company and this community tremendously, and I know that He will continue to do so as we seek to transform our country for the better through the power of the Marketplace.Finally, please keep the people of Florida in your thoughts and prayers this week. If you are a Florida resident, know that we at PublicSquare are standing with you!Onward and upward,Michael Seifert CEO & Founder at PublicSquare
You're viewing a simplified version of this blog post. Enable JavaScript for the full interactive experience.
