Announcements

MAPOR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MONTHLY MEETING AGENDA

July 20th, 2020

12:30 – 2:00 CST/1:30 pm – 3:00 pm EST

Zoom invite

MAPOR MOMENT of the MONTH:  Our MAPOR Moment of the Month recognizes Sara and the conference committee for their diligent work on the upcoming MAPOR conference, and releasing the Call for Participation last week!  I’d like to also thank Patrick for taking on extra responsibility with the website.  

In attendance: Ned, Lindsey, Leah, Kevin, Evgenia, Patrick, Justine, Mary, Sara, Dana, Stephanie

Agenda:

1. Approve June minutes           (Ned)

June minutes approved

2. President’s Update     (Ned)
   1. Sad news about Ashley
   2. Statement on inclusion and diversity
   3. Mid-September meeting; virtual with actual happy hour if feasible?  
      1. Will send Doodle 
   4. Input on nominations for fellows and executive council https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_qeEYjY2nqwVzMFohy7LCPU598xdnNhFL6DTbMrniXg/edit#gid=2

Should MAPOR craft our own statement of inclusion and diversity? It’s something we believe in, and our recent conferences have focused on that. Should we align on AAPOR’s statement? If any Council members are interested, reach out to Ned.

Last year Council met in mid-September to finalize plans for conference. We should do same thing virtually this year – think about how the rest of the group can help with conference planning. (FYI, AAPOR Council meeting is September 14 & 15)

Continue to think of potential names for Exec Council and Fellow nominations. 

3. 2020 Conference                          (Sara/David)
   1. Latest update on remote conversion and software
   2. Call for Conference Participation and Student Paper Competition Announcements launched
   3. Student Paper Competition Award Updates
   4. Abstract management programming and review updates
      1. Next step for abstract review, program compilation

1. Moderator role; Networking lunch; Book raffle
2. Speed networking
3. Fellowship program
4. Outreach to specific institutions

Call for participation was distributed. Confusion about how abstracts@MAPOR.org email address works… Team will trouble shoot ☺

The Cadmium quote MAPOR received is significantly higher than AAPOR quote, but it includes features we don’t need, will look for ways to cut. Meeting/demo scheduled for Friday (7/24). Sara will try to check in with Kristin O prior to the meeting, to get feedback on AAPOR experience. Leah had several groups respond to her, but two of them are not really what MAPOR needs. Prestige is the one group with whom we’ll move forward – Leah is setting a meeting with them next Wednesday. Several Council members will join both meetings. 

Conference program: Burton Reist from Census giving pedagogy hour. Evgenia, Justine, and Sara are working on organizing a session on “representation”…recorded presentations, then all presenters will come together for discussion/live Q&A. Who publishes in our academic journals? What are demographics? Leah is talking with a sociologist working in area of health disparities; Sara talking with communications professor on representation in the media; also exploring connection with Barbara Riesman (UIC) on topic of LGBTQ+ representation. Sara is excited that the virtual format is allowing this flexibility and experimentation on content. 

Evgenia started list of potential university departments – should we send the call for participation to these departments? Evgenia will send emails and copy Sara.

Later will discuss Speed Networking and In Memoriam sessions.

Idea to organize presentations by topic, rather than trying to fit them together by “session”. 

Idea of pairing students with Fellows/mentors to work on specific projects. We’ll work to identify mentors, will announce program at Conference, and teams have ~10 months to complete projects and present at 2021 Conference. Evgenia will draft descriptive email, and Ned will send to all Fellows to gauge interest. 

4. Communications                     (Justine)
   1. Summer newsletter launch
   2. What other communications in spring on our news, including social media postings?

Justine has content, is working on newsletter. Also working on FB and Twitter updates.

5. Sponsorship     (Allison/Mary)

Once we have a selected conference platform and understand how it works, we can define how the different levels of sponsorship will look. Then will reach out to existing sponsors, and think about who we can add. Idea to frame sponsorships as not just supporting the conference but also supporting students/the future of social science research/etc. 

How to handle vendors and a virtual “exhibit hall”?

6. Treasurer’s Report                           (Kevin)
   1. Budget Updates

Checking: $35,765

Savings: $45,025

Not much change in our accounts. Need to make some sort of announcement about Doris Graber contribution – wait until conference, put a note in program, and also at business meeting?

MAPOR is PCI compliant for the year. 

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

Lindsey offered to finish reviewing the AAPOR presentations, and see if she finds anyone to recommend. The last webinar had a very technical focus; maybe use COVID as a topic? 

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

Maybe connect with PAPOR and get input on how their Happy Hour worked. Evgenia will follow up with Bob Davis.

9. Website              (Patrick)    

10. Other business?            

No other business.

Next Meeting: August 17th 2020 at 12:30 CST

Committee Composition: 

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

GO MAPOR GO!

MAPOR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MONTHLY MEETING AGENDA

June 15th, 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 recognizes council for participating in the VAPOR event last week, and providing the best trivia questions!  

Attendees: Ned, Lindsay, Mary, Leah, Ipek, David, Allison, Patrick, Evgenia, Justine, Edward, Kevin, Sara, Stephanie

Agenda:

1. Approve May minutes           (Ned)

Minutes approved

2. President’s Update     (Ned)
   1. MAPOR at AAPOR 
   2. Planning for bigger meeting (was at NORC last year)
   3. Input on nominations for fellows and executive council

All-chapter party went pretty well. Each chapter gave a 1-minute presentation, then chapter trivia game. Seems like we could replicate this for our own virtual conference.

Usually we have a larger in-person meeting in the fall to plan the conference. Even if we can’t be in-person, should we plan on a longer Exec Council meeting in September to help with planning? One question is the timing of the call for abstracts – extend a bit? If so, have longer meeting in late September…

 Note that we need to start thinking about nominations for fellows and exec council. Ned provided link to master spreadsheet – add to it if you have ideas. 

3. 2020 Conference                          (Sara/David)
   1. Latest update on remote conversion and software
   2. Call for Conference Participation and Student Paper Competition Announcements
   3. Student Paper Competition Award Updates
   4. Abstract management programming and review updates

1. Moderator role; Networking lunch; Book raffle
2. Outreach to specific institutions

Conference committee met last week. 1) Will schedule a call with anyone on Exec Council who attended the AAPOR conference, to collect impressions on software (Cadmium) and format. 2) Leah has reached out to several other vendors (Subversive, Prestige, 4^th Floor Creative). Prestige seems like it could be a good option and they can schedule another demo of others want to check them out. Meet with 4^th Floor Creative tomorrow to explore options and pricing. Prestige and Cadmium have similar prices. Discussion of whether to record all presentations or to also incorporate some live interaction. Seems like recording is better for the presentations – removed connectivity issues and requires less “moderation”. We need to think about the “chat” feature and be clear on how to use it, etc. And, if pre-recorded, what is the value of grouping into “sessions”? 3) Launch call for participation late June – will keep it similar to prior years, just remind people of virtual considerations (may need to pre-record, post earlier than conference dates, etc.). 4) Looking at conference theme, add panel on Why Representation Matters in Research… women, people of color, LGBTQ, etc. Sara is asking for input and suggestions on panel members. 5) Student paper competition will be announced at same time as call for participation – need to review language to address virtual format. How many awards? Let’s wait and see how many papers are received. 

4. Treasurer’s Report                           (Kevin)
   1. Budget Updates
   2. Impact of conference switch

Checking: $35,946.36

Savings: $45,024.65

We believe costs for a virtual conference will be low, although calculating whether we can break even will depend on a few variables.

1. Sponsorship: If we can maintain a fair percentage of our sponsors, we will be able to tolerate high conference costs and still break even. However, given the financial situation of universities and organizations at the moment, we expect that sponsorship will decrease this year.
2. Attendees and Membership: We expect that attendance to the conference will be lower than previous years.  This may have an adverse effect on membership, as I assume a lot of folks will not renew their membership unless they attend the conference. If we keep costs low, perhaps we can increase attendance??
3. Software costs: This is still unknown, although costs reported from AAPOR were about $15k for their virtual conference. This is a tolerable amount for us, and we should be able to get a rate that is well below that as we will have a much smaller conference than AAPOR.

Also, keep in mind that our finances are very strong. We intended to spend up to ~$8k this year on travel awards which we will not need to spend this year. Overall, we could absorb a big hit for the conference (~10-20k) and still be strong financially.  

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

Usually spring newsletter goes out right before AAPOR. Justine will finish the draft and send it around for review. Will include survey results, etc. Will try to include some concrete info on virtual conference. Think about timing with call for abstracts.

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

Nothing is set yet. Considering October date for webinar, so have a little time to finalize plans. Something on COVID-19? Could we merge with virtual conference?

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

Something to consider for fall. We may be able to have an actual happy hour, depending on situation.  

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

With virtual format, need to re-think these awards and how they’re structured. For next year (2021), think about travel awards and maybe also diversity awards. Idea of “fellowship” award that matches students with mentors, they work together on a project. Evgenia will draft a timeline for consideration.

9. Sponsorship       (Allison/Mary)

Would be helpful to know more about the format of the conference, before we draft our “ask” for sponsorship. Hard to know how many universities will be constrained by spending freezes.  Edward offered to join the Sponsorship team.

10. Website              (Ashley/Patrick)                        

Nothing new to report.

11. Other business?            

Ideas to help students: speed networking, webinar to help with preparing CV or preparing for interviews, etc. 

Next Meeting: July 20th 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!

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.

2. 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.

3. 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
4. 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

4. 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.

5. 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. 

6. 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.

7. 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.

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

Nothing new to report.

9. 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.

10. Website              (Ashley/Patrick)                        

Nothing new to report.

11. 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!