The Federal Trade Commission will host a public forum on Thursday, February 16 examining the FTC’s proposed rule to prohibit employers from imposing noncompetes on their workers, and providing an opportunity for people to directly share their experiences with noncompetes.

The forum will supplement the FTC’s request for members of the public to submit written comments on the proposed rule, which is based on a preliminary finding that noncompetes constitute an unfair method of competition and therefore violate Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

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On Jan. 17, the Department of Justice asked an appeals court to reverse the April 2022 ruling that declared the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's face-mask requirement for public transportation to be unlawful. Brian Springer, a Justice Department attorney, argued that the CDC should have the authority to establish universal mask mandates during a public-health crisis such as Covid.

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Delta Air Lines will provide free WiFi service on most of its U.S. flights starting in February, CEO Ed Bastian announced Thursday at the CES technology trade show in Las Vegas.

Bastian said by the end of the year, the airline will outfit more than 700 planes with high-speed, satellite-based broadband service from T-Mobile. The carrier plans to expand free WiFi to international and Delta Connection flights by the end of 2024. The service will use equipment from Viasat, a U.S.-based satellite broadband provider.

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Democratic and Republican negotiators on Tuesday released a $1.7 trillion bill to fund the federal government through most of 2023, and will need to pass it through both chambers by Friday to avert a potential shutdown.

The massive omnibus bill is more than 4,000 pages long and would boost defense funding by $76 billion to $858 billion. Domestic spending in the bill totals $773 billion. The package includes $45 billion in emergency funds for Ukraine and $40 billion in disaster aid for U.S. regions impacted by recent hurricanes, flooding, wildfires and other natural disasters. If passed, government agencies would be funded through Sept. 30, 2023.

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Like other types of organizations, associations know a serious underlying security problem exists, but many feel poorly positioned to do anything about it.

A new study from Foundry, formerly known as IDG Communications, makes clear that, across the board, security leaders feel like they’re struggling to make headway on an important problem. The survey of 872 security leaders from around the world finds that 90 percent of respondents believe that not enough is being done to prevent security breaches within their organizations.

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The past couple of years have put many associations in a tight spot. Smaller staffs, shrinking budgets, and the disruption of traditional revenue streams have made events, programming, and engagement more elusive.

But through the upheaval lies optimism that the lessons of the early 2020s have coalesced into focused marching orders in 2023. Some of those ideas are found within Association Adviser’s 2022 Association Benchmarking Report, which could be a map forward in the new year, according to Sarah Sain, CAE, Naylor’s senior director of content services.

“This year’s report really highlighted for us how associations of all kinds are learning lessons from the last few years and evolving their engagement strategy to meet the pace of change,” she said.

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It’s been about five years since the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, went into effect, putting strict rules in place for collecting, storing, and processing data on EU citizens.

At that time, many U.S. meeting professionals changed their data practices if there was any chance an EU citizen would be among their attendees. For those who didn’t update their practices, however, the time has come.

That was the message from Jill Blood, vice president, deputy general counsel at Maritz Global Events during a December 14 meeting trends webinar, hosted by MeetingsNet and led by Blood and her Maritz colleagues Steve O'Malley, enterprise vice president and COO, and Greg Bogue, enterprise vice president, brand, experience, and innovation ecosystems.

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Digital engagement is one of many concepts that play an essential role in any modern organization. Since modern business practices are evolving rapidly, many organizations are rethinking and renovating their models and practices to stay competitive and relevant. Not investing in a digital presence is not an option. There needs to be a connection with your audience of past, present, and potential members to establish and build strong relationships.

By providing members with a host of digital options for content, including podcasts, webinars, and other creative interactive methods, you can begin to amp up your digital engagement. Here’s a closer look at what those entail.

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This is an incredibly politically divisive time for America. However, associations still have legislation they support or oppose, and helping members navigate talking to legislators is key to that mission. These nine tips can help associations and their members navigate these tumultuous legislative times.

As we examine how to work in and through an atmosphere of political polarization and intolerance among competing special interests, it’s instructive to remember that the “unscrupulous behavior” we occasionally witness among elected officials isn’t new.

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The workplace can make a person feel the full range of emotions—sometimes more intensely and frequently than one experiences at home. The difference is that people are often reluctant to show or even acknowledge to themselves their emotions while on the job. Burying emotions, however, can cause big problems both professionally and personally. Emotions exist specifically to be part of a person’s survival kit. But in the workplace, emotions get ignored due to outdated assumptions, such as being a sign of weakness.

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