Announcements

MAPOR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MONTHLY MEETING NOTES

July 12, 2019

11:00 am – 12:00pm CST/12:00 pm – 1: 00pm EST

Attendees: Kevin, Ipek, Dana, Ned, Justine, Colleen, Ron, Patrick, Mary, Ashley

Agenda:                                                                            

1. 2019 Conference                                                                                                                                             (Dana)

1. Abstract submission updates

• Abstract Review – Next Steps

• Student Paper Competition

• Anything else?

We have 125 submissions for the conference. On July 1st, we had 108, so the extension pulled in a few more. Dana is reviewing abstracts and putting them into topical areas. The process is somewhat easier as we asked people to classify themselves during the submission process.  She is about 95% through the process. Rejection rate is very low; so far only 2 possible rejections based on content that didn’t seem to fit. When she has what she believes the sessions to be, she will pass it on to the conference committee for a second review within the next few days. She will call on council for assistance if any issues come up. She believes she can give people feedback about acceptance before August 15.  She is taking input from the survey about whether to make more sessions or add methods briefs. Final decisions about this will be made in the next few weeks.

Student paper competition – Dana has been in touch with Nora Kate about this process.

1. Treasurer’s Report                                                                                                                                         (Kevin)

1. Budget updates
   1. Checking: $18,258
   1. Saving: $45,021

• b.       Getting back MAPOR items from AAPOR
  • Kevin and Ipek have both reached out to AAPOR about this. Waiting for their response.

• PCI Compliance
  • Kevin submitted compliance paperwork last month. We are good until 2020.

We briefly discussed the need for PCI compliance. PCI compliance refers to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). The PCI DSS is a set of security standards designed to ensure that all companies that accept, process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment. MAPOR doesn’t collect this information directly, rather we use third party vendors to collect credit card information when we collect money for dues, webinars, and our conference. To comply with the standard, we essentially provide the compliance organization with the information concerning our payment vendors, and they ensure that those groups are compliant. This is one of the primary reasons we purchase the services of these vendors – so that they maintain a secure environment and we don’t have to deal with it.

We also briefly discussed whether we wanted to drop those other vendors – iPayment and AuthorizeNet – as Cvent now offers an integrated platform whereby they would collect credit card information for us. It is not clear how much we would save by this change, as the contract terms with Cvent will need to be renegotiated. It seems like it would make sense to only use one vendor (rather than the current three) although Kevin would prefer to do this in December or January, when we wouldn’t need to use the new system for the first time when we are ramping up for our conference. Both Jolene (previous sec/treas) and Kevin (current sec/treas) feel we should make the switch to simplify the process, we just need to commit to the (minor?) headache of making the change and adjusting to a new system. The reason we have not yet done so is because the new system is working, and we hesitate to make changes when the system currently functions. In other words, although it is complicated, it isn’t broken, so let’s not try to fix it.

1. Communications                                                                                                                                          (Justine)

1. Plans on upcoming social media postings/communication w/ members

• Next newsletter

The Spring newsletter went out and Justine also sent materials concerning the conference abstract submission process. She plans to send a summer newsletter. Please reach out to Justine about any content you want to push for this newsletter. Justine continues to put out short engagement information on social media to “keep eyes on our account”.

Ipek suggests pushing other chapter events vis social media (specifically via Twitter) as another means of keeping folks engaged with our account.

Dana will work with Justine to send materials to be sent in segments concerning the hotel and other conference information.

1. Sponsorship                                                                                                                                                    (Allison)

Allison will be sending materials out to our regular sponsors. If people have leads on new sponsors, please reach out to her. Allison and Ron will be sending out materials to listservs to fish for new vendors. Council will think of new potential vendors that we might reach out to.

• MAPOR Reserves Policy Next Steps                                                                                                             (Ron)

Ron moved the adopted reserves policy document onto the drive. The next step is for EC to consider how much and how we will distribute.

Concerning how to distribute – There is overwhelming support that we should implement some type of grant program for students, although we need to continue to have discussions about how best to do so. This could be by covering student costs for hotels, or covering hotels of students in the paper competition, or it could be general travel grants for students.

Concerning how much to distribute – During the in-person meeting in September, Kevin will present a few potential scenarios for distributing grant money that is sustainable over the long-term. He suggests that we implement something where we know how much we can spend for the next 3-4 years, and we know that we can sustain that level of giving for a few years. There are a few factors that would drive the amount of money we could allot for grants.

• How many students applied for the paper competition this year?
• How many students regularly attend the conference?

Knowing these numbers will give us an idea about how much we might offer. Kevin would prefer to give a fixed pot of money out each year, and we would make the determination about how mush to distribute based on the number of students or applicants we expect to have. Dana will put together the number of students so we can calculate a cost per person.

It is not certain that we can do something long-term that we could implement this year. We do not want to implement something this year and then change up next year; it would probably be best if we establish a system, and then stick with it for a few years. If done this way, it would work best as an incentive to students that would could present at MAPOR this year. However, EC is open to ideas for getting funds out to support students this year.

For whatever we decide – for this year or the long term, we need to continue the conversation so we are ready to go for next year. Please continue to think of ideas about grants and how best we can incentivize more students to take part in MAPOR.

• Executive Council Face-to-Face Meeting                                                                                                    (Ipek)

1. Date & Time: September 16, 2019 (Monday), 9:00am to 3:00pm

• Location: NORC’s downtown office (55 East Monroe Street, Chicago, IL 60603)

• Travel Plans and MAPOR Reimbursement

How does the 9-3 time work for those who will attend?

Ipek will send an email about whether or not people will attend. Please respond so that we can set expectations about the cost of the meeting.

• Executive Council Input on Nominations and Fellows                                                                            (Ipek)

1. Call for nominations will go out mid-August to members and fellows

• b.       Council and Fellow Candidates Nomination List: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_qeEYjY2nqwVzMFohy7LCPU598xdnNhFL6DTbMrniXg/edit#gid=1

Please add your nominations to the Google calendar. After EC has named potential candidates, we will call for nominations to the membership.

• Anything else? 

Next meeting: August 19 (Monday) @ Noon CT/1:00 ET                                                                                

June 17, 2019

Attendees: Kevin, Ipek, Ned, Ron, Allison, Colleen, Josh, Dana, Patrick, Sara,

Agenda:                                                                            

1. 2019 Conference                                                                                                                                             (Dana)

1. Abstract submission updates

• Announcement(s)

• Student Paper Competition

• Meeting w/ the hotel

• Anything else?

Ned and Dana met with folks at Embassy Suites. Meeting went well and they appreciated touching base with the staff. They mentioned to them a few changes they wanted to implement.

11 submissions to the site so far. The number of submissions is comparable to previous years. We know that most of the submissions come close to the deadline. Postings have been going out on AAPORnet and our social media. Next announcement will be the newsletter which will go out soon. We may extend the deadline if it doesn’t affect our ability to conduct the abstract review.

Conference committee will meet soon and have a few more agenda items for our next meeting.

1. Treasurer’s Report                                                                                                                                         (Kevin)

1. Budget updates

• b.       Getting back MAPOR items from AAPOR

Checking: $18,306.66

Savings: $45,020.23

Kevin gave his card to Adam Thocher and asked to have the items sent to him at the UChicago Survey Lab. No items have yet arrived. Kevin will reach out to Adam to see if the items have been sent.

1. Communications                                                                                                                                          (Justine)

1. June Newsletter

• Plans on upcoming social media postings

• MAPOR Vision and Mission (Website update, Announcements to membership)

Justine has a few more social media posts to go out in the next few weeks advocating for conference submissions. If anyone has other suggestions for social media posts please reach out to Justine.

Justine will unpin the AAPOR posts and change them to posts concerning the conference.

The spring newsletter is ready in draft form and she will circulate to EC to review. ETA to go out this week. Please review and send feedback to Justine.

Need to finalize a plan to distribute MAPOR vision and mission. This will be coming out in the newsletter, Ipek and Justine will discuss rolling this out on the website. Ipek would like to have some discussion in the newsletter about the process of how the vision/mission statement was created so members don’t feel like it came from nowhere. Justine and Mandy will work to include this.

1. Sponsorship                                                                                                                                                    (Allison)

Allison will reach out to Ron to set up a time to meet and discuss the plan to reach out to our sponsors. This timeframe was about the time they started reaching out to sponsors last year.

• MAPOR Reserves Policy                                                                                                                                   (Ron)

Ron, Kevin, and Mary drafted a policy for EC to review. They recommend keeping the amount for operational reserves to be somewhere between a full year of our average operating costs, or half of a full year of operating costs. The “average” would be the average operating costs from the most recent 3 past years. (For 2019, the average annual operating costs from the last 3 years is $42,712.)

Patrick wants to make sure that any amount we ultimately spend takes into consideration being able to spend funds going into the next several years. We wouldn’t want to spend all of the remaining funds after this year, and then not be able to sustain that level of spending going into future years.

Kevin notes that this policy only creates an amount that will not be spent during the fiscal year, it does not make a recommendation about how much of the remaining amount should be spent. the group of Mary, Ron, and Kevin agreed that the designation of what to spend should be determined through a separate policy. Ipek plans to discuss this in more detail with EC during the in-person meeting in September. 

Ron proposed that we change the policy to reflect that we should maintain ¾ of the average three-year operating costs to the operational reserves.

Ned seconded the motion.

Council voted majority to approve the motion.

There were no objections or abstentions.

The motion is accepted.

• Executive Council Face-to-Face Meeting                                                                                                    (Ipek)

Ipek spoke with several EC members about having an in-person meeting and she feels a majority of the EC see value in conducting the meeting this year. Ipek will send a Doodle poll to EC about a date in September for the in-person meeting.

• Executive Council Input on Nominations and Fellows                                                                            (Ipek)

Please add your input for nominations for EC. Should we implement the voting in Cvent or another platform? Ipek will set up a meeting for Ron, Ipek, and Kevin to discuss how we will roll out the elections. We should select the option that is easiest to implement while maintaining the security of members’ votes.

• Next Meeting: July 15 @ Noon CST/1:00 EST                                                                                            (Ipek)

1. Do we need to reschedule due to the ESRA Conference?

Ned and Ipek will send out a Doodle to determine the best day and time to move the meeting. Ipek will be out for two weeks, so Ned will need to chair the meeting.

1. Anything else?                                                                                                              

Kevin received notification about re-certifying MAPOR’s PCI Certification. Ipek will an this as an agenda item for next month’s meeting and Kevin will give an update on progress.

May 31, 2019

1. MAPOR at AAPOR Recap                                                                                                                                      (All)

1. AAPOR Official All Chapter Event (Ipek)

1. MAPOR @ AAPOR flyer – website upload.

is ready and built into late spring newsletter; Josh can put up on website- Justine will remind

1. Getting back items from AAPOR

still waiting to get table cloth, etc. back after the conference

• AAPOR Unofficial All Chapter Party (Ipek)

We had 275 attendees and broke-even; MAPOR sponsored photo-booth

• Chapter Representatives Meeting (Ned)

The other chapters requested site-licenses for software to manage their membership/emails (CRM) as well as for webinars; AAPOR was not enthusiastic about providing that software rather give advice.  MAPOR has CVENT through 2021 and so it isn’t as much an issue for us. 

1. 2019 Conference                                                                                                                                             (Dana)

1. Call for Conference Participation Announcements

Call for participation has been released; Dana will follow-up next week.  Dana reviewing survey results from 2018 conference to make improvements for 2019.

• Student Paper Competition — 3rd, 2nd, 1st? Honorable mention? In the survey, student suggested this as it helps their CV.  Mary observes is a good idea since we have sufficient (20 or so) submissions

• Abstract management system updates  Dana will be tracking abstracts by week in comparison with last year

• Moderator role; Networking lunch; Book raffle  Dana would like to institutionalize moderator role at MAPOR as has been done at AAPOR (relatively few remarks up front/end to tie things together); Dana would like to ask long-term members or fellows to be moderators .  Dana would like to have lunch in atrium but improve “networking” component; Sara liked the small tables, but would want ways of encourage mingling say with a facilitator of note.  Dana and Ned will be meeting with the hotel in two weeks to discuss details.  Dana observes book raffle has declined in popularity and could raffle something else like free conference registration next year for a student.  Council observes that AAPOR book sale has declined in popularity as well.  We will bring this up in the conference committee, and ask in the survey next year if the change was a positive one or not. 

1. Treasurer’s Report                                                                                                                                           (Ipek)

1. Budget updates

Checking Account: $18,466, Savings: $45,019

1. Communications                                                                                                                                          (Justine)

1. Newsletter

• Plans on upcoming social media postings

Justine is finalizing late spring newsletter.  Ipek wonders if we should re-announce on social media the call for submissions, student paper submissions; these were held-off due to AAPOR.  Justine says she will make such announcements on social media. 

• Rules and regulations re MAPOR Reserves                                                                                                (Ron)

Ron, Mary, and Kevin met at AAPOR to discuss a plan for MAPOR reserves, and developed a one page plan.  Suggests having either six months or one year operating expenses in reserve ($41,000 for one year based on average of past three years).  We could give more free student registrations or free hotel rooms, or free webinar access.  Council will vote on reserves policy and then consider how best to spend funds. 

• MAPOR Vision and Mission                                                                                                                               (All)

Ipek thanks council on working with Mandy on the new vision/mission; we will be showcasing it at the newsletter. 

• VII.               Executive Council Face-to-Face Meeting                                                                                                    (Ipek)

Ipek asks for pros/cons of face-to-face meeting.  Council seems to agree it is a real positive thing, and out-of-town people like Mary and Ron are fine with driving in if the dates work.  Ipek will circulate a doodle.

• Anything else?                                                                                                              

Next meeting: June 17 (Monday) @ Noon CT/1:00 ET

MAPOR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MONTHLY MEETING AGENDA

April 15, 2019

12:00 – 1:30 CST/1:00 pm – 2: 30pm EST

Ned, Kevin, Ipek, Allyson, Patrick, Colleen, Dana, Mary, Josh, Sara, Justine, Mandy

Notes:                                                                

1. Webinar (April 17)              (Patrick)
   1. Number of registrants
   2. Announcements
   3. Logistics – attendance and payment

The webinar is ready to go – there are 29 registrants for the webinar. Patrick will send out the links to registrants on Wednesday. Patrick will coordinate with the speakers to discuss the logistics. He will introduce speakers and then turn it over to them to present.

1. MAPOR purchases with new logo                   (Sara)
   1. Updates
   2. Sending to AAPOR – Table cloth, banner, and giveaways

Sara thanks everyone for their input on the materials to purchase. All the materials have been delivered to Sara at NORC. Total cost was $1,234. Also had newly branded MAPOR giveaways delivered – total cost = $516. All of these will be sent to AAPOR by Sara later in the week in time for the AAPOR conference.

• MAPOR at AAPOR     (Ipek)
  1. AAPOR Official All Chapter Event
     1. Table set-up and staff
     2. Raffle logistics and prices ($250 reimbursement from AAPOR)

• 2019 MAPOR annual conference flyer & Unofficial chapter event flyer

1. Creating MAPOR @ AAPOR documentation

Ipek asks who is available to staff the table and who is interested in doing so. Please let her know if and when you are interested.

Do people have ideas about what we can raffle? Gift cards seem like the least complicated to obtain, but lack the “Midwest” affiliation. Ron brought Kentucky bourbon once, but it can be problematic for the winner to bring back. Ipek will reach out to Ned, Allyson, and Kevin to discuss further. If others have new ideas, please let Ipek know.

Dana will coordinate with Ned about having bookmarks which advertise our call for papers. We can distribute at the MAPOR booth.

MAPOR at AAPOR list. Mandy solicited info from members, and then she went through the program to see if there were others who we could add to the list. We also added the other events (photo booth) that are MAPOR sponsored. Justine will create the template and asks for others to get another set of eyes on it for editing. Sara will assist Justine with this process.

1. AAPOR Unofficial All Chapter Party (The Fifth Social Club, May 17 @ 7:30-10:30 PM)
   1. Photo Booth (MAPOR sponsored event)
   2. Power point promo slide for the unofficial chapter party (due 4/15)
2. Anything else?

All members are invited to attend the “Unofficial” Chapter party on Friday night.

Ned will update the power point from last year for the slides.

We need to do a better job of getting photos of members at our events! Let’s make an effort to get some group photos this year and add them to the Google drive.

1. Communications                             (Justine)
   1. Newsletter template/communications committee
   2. Plans on upcoming social media postings
   3. Pictures from events

Post AAPOR mini newsletter will highlight MAPOR at AAPOR. Please reach out to her if you have potential content to add for a newsletter to go out after the conference.

1. 2019 MAPOR Conference                      (Dana)
   1. Call for Conference Participation
   2. Student Paper Competition Announcements
   3. Abstract management programming and review updates
   4. Anything else?

Dana has received feedback on ‘a’ and ‘b’ items. John and Nora Cate from UW will be running the student paper competition this year.

Kevin and Dana have the abstract site up. Please go through the survey and provide feedback if you have not already done so.

Abstract site is usually launched around May 1^st.  Link to abstract site on webpage. After this is tested, communications and sec/treas send out to all of the communication channels (MAPORnet, friends of MAPOR, social media, etc.).

Call for participation and Student paper competition – Ipek asked webmaster to put these in pdf on the website and abstract put up the abstract management link. Dana will use the same process.

Dana will work with Josh to get the information up on the web.

Dana will reach out to Kevin about making changes to the abstract submission survey.

Early career question on the abstract submission site. Please provide feedback on the wording and how this can be used.

1. Secretary-Treasurer’s Report                                                (Kevin)
   1. Budget updates
   2. Survey updates

Checking: $18,658

Savings: $45,019

Kevin has created the summary from the survey based on feedback from EC. Kevin will work with Justine about getting the summary out to membership in a newsletter. In next year’s survey we will inform members that we would like to publish the results. EC feels there are privacy issues if we publish the full data without first informing participants that we intend to do so.

• Rules and regulations re budget and reserves     (Ron)

Mary, Kevin, and Ron met to discuss. Kevin will go through the past 2-3 years of budgets to determine what a full year of costs have been for us. The three of them will meet at AAPOR to discuss, then Ron will draft a policy. It may include language that states the sec treasurer will occasionally re-evaluate what average expenses are.

• MAPOR Vision and Mission              (Mandy)
  1. MAPOR Vision and Mission Project Draft Versions

Mandy solicited feedback from past presidents and fellows. Their feedback and direct quotes are annotated on the Google document. Specifically, EC discussed:

• Put research excellence first
• Diversity refers to the membership, not necessarily methods
• MAPOR’s identity and geography

Mandy will implement this next round of changes and distribute to EC.

 

Next meeting: May 20 (Monday) @ Noon CT/1:00 ET

Ipek will send an email with a Google poll to discuss moving this date as many EC members will not be able to attend.