Bureau of Industry and Security
The Bureau of Industry and Security is an agency of the Department of Commerce that oversees issues pertaining to trade regulations and security. They are tasked with tracking national policies and statutes and then communicating them to industry leaders.
JDC has produced BIS’ yearly conference on export controls and policy since 2018. The event, held in person in 2018 and 2019 while pivoting to virtual for 2020 and 2021, is an informational session on legal and policy updates about the international trade of emerging technologies and weaponry. In 2018-2020, the event also included a trade show; in 2021, the trade show was limited to a virtual exhibition hall, but it is expected to return in 2022.
At the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, JDC pivoted the event from the planned in-person gathering to a virtual one, and the team reduced the three-day conference to a one-day event. This involved building a web portal for the event while being mindful of security concerns, scheduling high-profile speakers, providing technical training to planned participants, and sourcing and shipping rented computers with cameras and microphones for participants who did not have access to them at that time.
JDC’s success with the 2020 event, in which we proved ourselves to be a reliable working partner for BIS, led to a more streamlined process for 2021, including fewer necessary training sessions and an adaptation of the previous year’s virtual infrastructure. BIS saw growth in numbers and revenue and reported great feedback on both the ease of use of the web platform as well as access to the conference’s necessary information.
With the 2022 conference on the horizon, BIS and JDC look forward to fusing the past in-person and virtual events into a hybrid event and the return of a full trade show.