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MAPOR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MONTHLY MEETING AGENDA

May 18th, 2020

12:30 – 2:00 CST/1:30 pm – 3:00pm EST

Zoom invite

MAPOR MOMENT of the MONTH:  Our MAPOR Moment of the Month is to recognize Sara, David, Dana, Patrick, and Leah for their work starting to adapt our 2020 conference to a remote platform.  This will be our largest undertaking of 2020 and they have gotten off to a great start thus far.

Attendees: Ned, Patrick, Evgenia, Kevin, Ipek, Lindsey, David, Mary, Edward, Leah, Dana, Allison, Stephanie

Agenda:

  1. Approve April minutes           (Ned)

Approved.

  1. Presidents Update     (Ned)
    1. MAPOR at AAPOR- likely Zoom Chapter event 6/10 at 5:00 or 6:00 EST
      1. MAPOR Zoom backgrounds? 
    2. Good news from hotel (Amada)    

Hotel is not imposing any penalty for canceling 2020 conference – good news! 

Ned received info on the AAPOR chapter events, he will follow up. There will be some sort of interactive activity, based on chapter teams. We should put some effort into publicizing event. June 10, 7:00p eastern.

  1. 2020 Conference                          (Sara/David)
    1. Latest update on remote conversion
      1. Messaging for members
    2. Call for Conference Participation and Student Paper Competition Announcements
    3. Student Paper Competition Award Updates
    4. Abstract management programming and review updates
  2. Moderator role; Networking lunch; Book raffle

We want to use a vendor/contractor for providing virtual conference tools. Talking with JSM and AAPOR to learn from their experiences (Ipek will start an exchange with AAPOR/Delia). Trying to keep this more “dynamic” than a long webinar… How to integrate speed networking? How to simulate “coffee breaks”? 

Sara drafted message to membership announcing virtual conference. Should we include specific dates? Does it make sense to keep the Friday/Saturday schedule? We should keep it reasonable and determine capacity, then craft call for participation based on that capacity. Important to have ability to record (or, pre-record) sessions – at least keynote and pedagogy sessions. 

Need to keep in mind University spending restrictions. Members may not be able to charge even a lower registration fee. We should make decisions that assume small amount of revenue coming in. And assume “transient” attendance at sessions. 

Next steps: 1) we need to get a sense of costs associated with conferencing tools, then develop a few budget options; 2) send message announcing virtual conference ASAP – and, how do we quickly gauge interest in joining the virtual conference?; 3) in June, send call for participation, which should include a cost estimate for participants; 4) finalize plan for fellowships, to match students with mentors – to increase interaction around conference

  1. Treasurer’s Report                           (Kevin)
    1. Budget Updates
      1. Potential remote conference impact

Checking: $37,085.76

Savings: $45,024.30

Doris Graber gift will be earmarked for Annual Student Paper award.

MAPOR finances continue to be very strong. Over the past 5 years we have averaged an annual surplus of ~$6,500. Prior to COVID-19, we planned to spend an additional ~$8,000 this year towards student awards and travel grants. Initial projections estimated that we could absorb these costs for several years. Due to COVID, Kevin ran projections for dropping the conference this year. The bottom line is that the overwhelming majority of our costs are driven by the conference. He estimated conservative projections for revenues – membership (50% reduction), sponsorship (50% reduction), webinars (100% reduction) and conservative projections for costs. Under these assumptions, MAPOR would generate a small surplus for the year ~$1,200.  If we lose all sponsorship for the year, we would run a deficit of ~$4,500.  If we lose ALL revenue for 2020, essentially not collecting any membership fees for 2020, we would run a deficit of ~$7,000. Even the worst case scenario is tolerable over the long term and does not threaten the financial security of the organization.

Virtual Conference.

CVENT can host virtual events but the software is not a conference hosting platform. They need to be integrated with another software to host the event.

CadmiumCD – This is the software that will be used by AAPOR for this year’s annual conference. Kevin reached out to them to schedule a demo and discuss this as a software to host our conference. One benefit of using the software would be that those who register and use it for AAPOR would be familiar with the platform. In addition, we would be able to obtain insight and experience from those who are hosting the AAPOR conference. Potential costs are unknown at this point. Kevin assumes the estimate of cost would be based on the products we would select and use.

  1. Webinars            (Patrick)
    1. Fall:  AAPOR short course or other presenters?

Nothing new to report. Depending on how virtual conference comes together, perhaps skip the fall webinar. Still plan to “scout” from AAPOR. According to our survey, many members are interested in “survey methods” as a webinar topic. 

  1. Communications                     (Justine)
    1. Newsletters for 2020: May (Spring), (October)  Fall
    2. What other communications in spring on our news, including social media postings?

Wait until next month to publish “spring” newsletter, when we have details of conference further along.

  1. Summer/Fall 2020 Mixer           (Evgenia/Lindsay)
    1. Should we try a Zoom happy hour?

Let’s see how AAPOR goes…  One idea is to identify a smaller group, like students, to have a virtual happy hour/meeting. Use something like “hangouts”, or breakout rooms, to connect in smaller settings.

  1. Past President                 (Ipek)
    1. Student award subcommittee 

Nothing new to report.

  1. Sponsorship       (Allison/Mary)

On hold until we know a bit more about our conference format. And, keeping in mind university spending restrictions. Think about how we can leverage new “on-line” format to highlight sponsors.

  1. Website              (Ashley/Patrick)                        

Nothing new to report.

  1. Other business?            

Evgenia finished analysis from member survey. How to disseminate results? Include summary stats in spring/summer newsletter, highlighting what’s the same, what changed, etc. 

Next Meeting: June 15th 2020 at 12:30 CST

Committee Composition: 

  1. Conference (Sara, Dana, David, Leah)
  2. Sponsorship (Allison, Mary)
  3. Webinar (Patrick, Lindsay)
  4. Website (Ashley, Patrick)
  5. Student Award (Ipek, Ned, Kevin, Dana, Evgenia)

GO MAPOR GO!