COVID Protocol
As a follow-up to previous communications, the Annual Conference Planning Team, in partnership with Bishop Lewis and the conference planner, has continued to monitor the COVID pandemic in planning for the in-person 240th session of the Virginia Annual Conference.
The health and safety of all members and guests attending Annual Conference 2022 is of the utmost importance and all who are able to are encouraged to be fully vaccinated and boosted prior to coming to Annual Conference.
If you are having symptoms or if there is a chance you have been exposed to someone who has tested positive or has shown symptoms of COVID in the last two weeks, you should take a COVID test prior to arriving at Annual Conference. If you test positive for COVID, please stay home.
While at Annual Conference members and guests can expect a mask optional environment. Taking into account, differing attendees’ comfort levels, the floor of Annual Conference will allow for mask-required and mask-optional sections as well as greater room for increased social distancing. Areas will be clearly marked when attendees enter the main hall. Detailed information will be provided at registration, including a floor diagram.
Temperature screening will be available at the Hampton Roads Convention Center (HRCC) entrances and at the nurse’s station. Nurses and EMTs will be on-site for the entirety of the Annual Conference session.
Traffic and Parking at Annual Conference 2022
Traffic will impact travel throughout the weekend around the Hampton Roads Convention Center (HRCC) due to the annual conference session as well as various graduations being held at the Hampton Coliseum. Attendees should take this factor into account as they seek to leave for meal times and arrive back to the Convention Center.
Annual Conference traffic will be directed down Pine Chapel Road to parking. Members will enter the Convention Center through the Hall C Entrance of the Hampton Roads Convention Center (HRCC).
A Hampton Shuttle Bus will provide additional parking lot service to the Convention Center on Thursday and Friday from 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m. and on Saturday 7:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
Police and Parking Attendants will direct our attendees to the appropriate parking lots as well as to accessible/handicapped designated parking areas. They will also assist in helping flag golf carts for shuttling (see more about golf carts in the parking lot below).
Volunteers will be available to direct attendees and answer questions as to which entrance to use, where registration is located, etc.
Food options
There are many local restaurants in the area as well as lunch and dinner buffets available in the Embassy Suites on Thursday and Friday. The Concession in the back of the display area Hall A will also be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Food trucks will also be available at Annual Conference this year. They will be located in the parking lot immediately outside the Convention Center Main Lobby entrance.
Click here to view a list of restaurants.
Car Placard, Golf Carts in Parking Lot
Parking is available at the Hampton Roads Convention Center (HRCC). In order to facilitate traffic in the Convention Center/Coliseum area, fluorescent-colored placards will be available at hotel registration when you check in, as well as at conference registration, and at the visitors’ bureau information desk.
Please obtain a placard and display it in your car’s windshield to help the traffic attendants know where to direct you. The placard is not a parking pass to give you preferred parking, just a means to assist with traffic flow.
Golf carts will be circling the parking lots to assist those who need a ride from their car to the door of the Convention Center. They are available for shuttling both on arrival and departure; Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and 7-9 p.m., and on Saturday from 8 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
To find more information related to the 2022 Annual Conference, please visit https://vaumc.org/ac2022/.
Questions may be directed to the Rev. Dr. Steve Summers, Assistant to the Bishop and Conference Director of Connectional Ministries, at [email protected].