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From the Executive Director Susan E. Fox “You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked. But mostly they’re darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win?” (From Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You Will Go).1 Navigating the New One characteristic that sets the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) apart from most professional societies is the exceptionally high regard that our members have for the Society. Multiple surveys confirm that in many mem- bers lives, the ASA serves as more than a professional home. The ASA became and is an intellectual, spiritual, and emotional anchor, a place where like-minded col- leagues share purposes and values. This foundational community is so strong that it became our rock during this global pandemic. Over the course of the past two years and still counting, the ASA anchored us, and as a community, we rose to meet challenge after challenge, united in our commit- ment to each other and the greater good. The ASA, I am pleased to report, is even more robust, resilient, and cohesive as ever before. Challenges The biggest and most immediate challenge involved decid- ing what to do about our spring 2020 meeting that was scheduled to take place in Cancun, Mexico. We had no choice but to cancel that in-person meeting that was even- tually held virtually. The fall 2020 meeting planned for Chicago, Illinois, was also held virtually. Then-president Diane Kewley-Port appointed a Virtual Technology Task Force chaired by Andy Piacsek to assist us in considering options and strategies for mounting our first-ever set of all-virtual semiannual meetings. Given the complexities 1 Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You Will Go. Copyright 1990, Random House. 76 Acoustics Today • Summer 2022 | Volume 18, issue 2 of securing and deploying a suitable platform and the very short period in which to plan, one fellow society CEO lik- ened the exercise to “building a plane while you are trying to fly it.” Virtual platforms for holding a digital version of pro- fessional society meetings do exist so none of us were left completely in the cold. However, none of the plat- forms performed well, and there is a cultural disconnect between software engineers who develop these platforms and the functionality needed by the scholarly society market they wish to capture. This added an additional stress point to our desire to pivot in a way that best serves our members. It was the commitment of the ASA leadership, members, and staff that brought us to the point where within eight weeks we managed to have a fully virtual spring 2020 meeting, Acoustics Virtually Every- where (see acousticalsociety.org/overview-ave), including meetings of our administrative committees, a plenary session, and “social hours.” It wasn’t perfect by a long shot, but the postmeeting survey revealed understanding and patience on the part of our members. Importantly, we kept the work of the Society moving forward and we provided a way for us to connect as a community despite the many odds against us. One would think that a virtual meeting would produce significant savings from the costs of producing an in- person meeting. One would think wrong. The cost of virtual platforms runs into the six figures. We saved some monies but not as much as one would expect. Unlike many societies, some of whom depend almost entirely on meetings for revenues, The ASA’s fiscal stability is well established through journal revenues, a source of ballast and relative security as we navigate our way forward. We learned a great deal from the Acoustics Virtually Every- where meetings that we applied it to the next virtual meeting in fall 2021, Acoustics in Focus (see tinyurl.com/ya569f9r). With experience under our belt, this meeting ran a bit better ©2022 Acoustical Society of America. All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1121/AT.2022.18.2.76