 to be together. It is always so wonderful to gather with all of you, even though I can see like the shapes of you, but not your faces, which is very strange right now. This conference is just an incredible gathering place. Three years ago in 2018, if you had told me we were going to reconvene a board of directors for the FTA and that I was going to be the president of this organization for three years. I would not have believed you, nor would I have believed the task we had ahead of us. It's been a wild journey. It's been incredible. I owe an incredible debt of gratitude to everybody here. They're amazing. And there are a ton of people that have worked behind the scenes that have been on and off the board in the last few years. I do want to highlight the original few that kind of began this re-ignition back in 2018 alongside me. James Harder, Greg Griffin, James Ramsey who's not up here, Jake Rush with FloatSTL who's not here. Who am I missing? James Roy Voer was there, right? Roy? Probably? I love that look. That's amazing. Since then we've accomplished so much. It's been, like I said, a really wild ride that started with really just re-creating a foundation so that we could begin to grow and do what we do. And that came with bringing on Helmbot to manage memberships a lot easier so people knew whether they were members of the FTA or not, which was a great place to start. And many other things we've done in the background to just kind of solidify the organization. But it's been a wild journey. Our commitment at that time was to increase transparency and consistency and to re-establish the mission of the FTA, which is effectively to promote the incredible benefits of fluid therapy and to establish safe and consistent flow practices for commercial float centers. There's been a lot that has happened, not the least of which probably the most exciting thing was through your contributions and the FTA match, we were able to donate over $5,000 to the Float Research Collective to help Dr. Justin Feinstein do what he's doing now. Yeah, an immensely powerful thing that we owe all the gratitude to you all because the FTA would not exist without your trust in us and without your buy-in of our vision moving forward. So it's really exciting. Jonathan's going to talk about what's going on in the FTA right now. Mandy's going to talk about what's coming in the future. And before I pass it on to Jonathan, I just want to say that it's very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day operations of the float center and staffing challenges and wondering how salt gets in all the places salt gets because that's a mystery. And it's probably a really great next experiment for Dr. Flux if we can get him on board for that. No idea how it happens. But I would invite you over the weekend to grab a buddy in the room somewhere and share some of the most profound testimonials that you've experienced that have come through your center in the last year or two or five or however long you've been around because you're doing profound work and you're doing important work and it's important to keep the focus on that so we can continue to grow forward because the world needs you. So I'm going to let Jonathan tell you what's going on and we'll see you guys at the party tonight. Thanks Beth. Let's hear it for the amazing work these fine individuals set out to accomplish and all the other founders who brought the FTA to fruition. So why don't we give them a round of applause. Really like it's amazing what you guys brought to the industry and it's helped me personally. These remarkable people have revived something our industry truly needs because without the flotation tank association uniting and communicating about common goals and interests would be a struggle. It really would be. This organization has aided dozens of people in overcoming the many challenges our industry often faces. Many of these folks who were brand new to the industry are now contributing members to the FTA. Because our mission is clear we serve the worldwide floating community by promoting the profound benefits of floating increasing the use of flotation tanks and encouraging the gross growth of the floating industry. We establish standards and best practices that ensure a safe consistent and effective experience for the floating public and guide the floating community towards a bright and prosperous future. And that is our mission statement. My name is Jonathan Rogue owner of Floatlight in Appleton Wisconsin and I proudly serve the FTA as the chair of the Outreach and Education Committee and board director. Over the last two years I've had the pleasure of working with some of the greatest minds our beloved industry has to offer. This organization provides us the unique opportunity to connect and work side by side with the leaders of the float industry. Many of whom serve on the board of directors for the FTA and just so happened to be up here on stage with me today. And they are amazing amazing people. The opportunity that I personally have being up here but serving on a committee gives me this relationship with you guys and I don't think I would have that. And it's really beautiful. It really is. But the people like our president Beth Jones, secretary James Harder and treasurer Greg Griffin because without your contributions and those all important board minutes that we need to remember everything we're doing we would be a little lost. The very well known and respected Dr. Roy Vor who serves as the chair of the Sanitation and Regulation Committee and contributes his time to the FTA as our dedicated pool boy. We love you Roy. Roy has led several public virtual events to educate the float industry on best known practices for the sanitation and regulation of float tanks. He has also founded the FTA's Microbiology Project, a research initiative focused on float tank sanitation that will one day be published in an accredited research journal. And that is pretty much good. Really there on. It's amazing. And if you haven't a chance to see it, we have a poster by the booth and Roy will actually explain the data on that poster that we've been collecting so far or the Microbiology Project has been collecting. We also have Michael Cordova all the way across the pond. He chairs the research and medical committee and Michael has produced several very impressive academic research papers on the potential medical applications of floatation therapy. His work has been featured in many noteworthy publications and has received international recognition in some regard and that's going to continue to progress like all research in our industry. We have Nicole who unfortunately couldn't be here with us today. Chairs are membership and fundraising fundraising committee that focuses on small on reaching small business organizations and interested parties who have not yet been familiar familiarized with the FTA. And this is what Beth was mentioning organizations like the float research collective. And we did in fact match generating over $5,000 to help the startup costs and that is just remarkable actually from you guys you all help we matched but you help we contribute you know we match that contribution. And next of course we have Woody Drew both of which unfortunately cannot be here with this today but whose contributions and support have helped to make the FTA an amazing organization that it is today. And then last but not least a woman that well I feel like needs no introduction I'm Mandy you're amazing and but I'm going to give you all anyway y'all should know who she is the CEO of the wildly successful truest franchise fellow FTA board director and my friend Mandy role. Mandy and I work together leading outreach and education marketing awareness committee. Our team has been hard at work and some of you guys probably have seen some of the content that we put out organizing monthly virtual events both publicly and privately for the amazing members of the FTA to help and educate the floating compete community. She's truly ambitious. We are all ambitious and we're looking forward to the future. Mandy row everybody. Thank you John. Hey everybody my name is Mandy row. I am with true rest franchising. It's been incredible building this business with my dad for the last seven years and for those asking no my dad is not Nick Janicki but it was about a year ago that we finally decided it was no longer an option to join the FTA. It was necessary. It was something that we all needed to participate in together. I feel like in this industry we're still at a stage where we only have one chance to make a good first impression on our clients. It's not like getting your hair done where if you don't like what happened one month you'll go somewhere else the next month. If they don't have a good float they may not come back and try floating at all. And so it's really important that we all provide that best first impression that we can. And that first impression does not start when that person shows up at your front door. It starts with how you negotiate with the health department. What kind of research is available online for your clients to read before they even try and come floating. It really depends on really what you've been doing to treat your water for the last month before that person shows up. And that is what all of these committees are doing. They are creating the best practices and we are all collaborating on exactly how to make that happen so you can provide the best experience for your clientele. And that's why you should be a member. You should be joining these committees. You should be getting involved on whatever your passion project is that's going to help the entire industry build that float experience. The future of floating is going to be a float experience that's covered by insurance. It's going to be a set of standards that's going to help you keep your water as clean as possible. It's going to be a way for you to hire employees and maintain your employees easier. So if you're not a member of the FTA yet, please come join us at the booth outside. Sign up for a membership. Sign up for a committee. And if you are a member, come get a badge. Everyone then can join us at the party at 515. And thank you so much for having us.