Announcements

MAPOR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MONTHLY MEETING AGENDA

October19th, 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 as we draw near to the annual conference.  In addition, I’d like to recognize Patrick and Lindsey in putting together such great webinars.

Attendees: Ned, Lindsey, Patrick, Stephanie, Kevin, Ipek, Mary, Evgenia, Justine, Sara, Allison, Dana, Leah

Agenda:

1. Approve September minutes          (Ned)

Minutes approved

2. President’s Update     (Ned)
   1. Statement on inclusion and diversity- endorse AAPOR, https://www.aapor.org/Publications-Media/Public-Statements/AAPOR-Statement-on-Diversity,-Equity,-and-Inclusio.aspx
   2. Election launching later this month
   3. New fellow
   4. Plan for conference script, business meeting

Note that AAPOR members, as part of endorsement of AAPOR bylaws, are required to agree to the AAPOR DEI statement. Decision made to endorse official statement for MAPOR. 

Election will open October 30. New election survey is ready to go. Kevin raised issue of potential conflict of interest given he is on the candidate slate. Ipek shared her similar situation in the past, and recused herself. So, Kevin and Stephanie will work toward Stephanie being the “outward facing” Exec Council member managing the election.

Ned asked for assistance with the “script” for the Conference (esp. Keynote, but also other “transitions”)

3. 2020 Conference                          (Sara/David)
   1. Program
   2. Latest update on remote conversion and software
      1. Plan for MAPOR days
   3. Student Paper Competition Award Updates
   4. Sponsorship benefits

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

Newsletter content delivered to Justine. Program is formatted and draft format is ready to go. Thank you Kevin for programming Cvent registration, which should open soon, after a round of internal testing. Once registration is opened and the full program is finished, Sara will coordinate with Cadmium to establish login credentials for both presenters (to access platform and upload slides) and attendees (output list from Cvent). For all live events (short course, keynote, pedagogy, business meeting), we will use the Zoom platform, not pre-loaded into Cadmium. Evgenia offered to look into purchasing a Zoom subscription for MAPOR. Dana will start working on updating the 2020 Conference page on the MAPOR website, where the Cvent registration link will be added, and also the link to the draft program.

Student papers have been sent to Tom. Reviewers will give feedback by early next week. 

Speed networking: Ned will draft email to sponsors to see who is interested in being a “networker”. Once get responses to that, will organize one session and communicate to registrants. 

Student Fellowship program: Evgenia has 8 Fellows who have agreed to participate, and several more “maybe’s”. Next step is to figure out how we will announce/frame the program. For example, student is responsible for providing data for analysis. We should give guidelines for abstract format/length. Evgenia will draft text to announce at 2020 conference, then we will expect Fellows to present at 2021 conference. 

Conference production: should live production happen on-site at NORC? Sara is still considering, knows request will need to go to D. Gaylin. 

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

Checking: $32,603

Savings: $49,966

Set deadline for Business Meeting slides by Friday (11/20) afternoon.

5. Communications                     (Justine)
   1. Newsletter
   2. Social media leading up to conference
   3. Social media at conference

Justine will circulate draft of October newsletter later today, send comments back to her by Wednesday. Also will put out both Twitter and Facebook posts regarding conference. Hope to have new communications 1-2x per week leading up to conference. 

We should wait until everything is working/linked on MAPOR website before sending newsletter. 

During conference, idea to engage students/early career volunteers in tweeting(?).  Sara will share contact info for some participants who indicated an excitement/interest in participating.

6. Sponsorship       (Allison/Mary)

$7250 in sponsorship funding in hand. Not bad, given the year.

When will free registration code that goes to upper-level sponsors be available (Kevin has the codes and will send to Allison and Mary)? Other than artwork, is there anything needed from sponsors for program? 

7. Webinars              (Patrick/Lindsay)
   1. 10/21 webinar by Ana Gonzalez-Barrera 

We have 24 registrants so far for Wednesday’s webinar.  

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

Evgenia would like to hold a happy hour session just with students on Thursday (11/19) evening. Some Council members will plan to attend.

9. Website              (Patrick)    

Dana and Sara will adapt conference-related pages.

10. Other business?            

Ned should let AAPOR conference chairs (Kristen and Darby) know who won MAPOR student paper award

Next Meeting: November 16th 2020

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 ANNUAL MEETING

September 18, 2020

1:00 PM – 5:00pm (CST)/2:00 PM – 6:00pm (EST)

Zoom Invite

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

Agenda: 

1:00 – 1:15 pm Welcome, Review of Agenda, and Meeting Goals (Ned)

• Focus on conference
• A few key fall dates:
  • Announce slate 9/22
  • Fall newsletter with candidates and conference details 10/9
  • Preliminary program and registration 10/18
  • May need speed-networking in registration
  • EB deadline 10/30
  • Election results 11/14

Discussion of Student Fellowship: Idea is that one Fellow can provide guidance to one student on a specific project. Students will submit abstracts, and we’ll match with available/appropriate Fellows. The student will present at next year’s (2021) conference. Evgenia sent email to the Fellows. Some responses have already come in (both positive and hesitant). Evgenia will send a reminder next week to non-responders, but we have some Fellows we can start with and plan on running the program. Let’s keep it vague for now, we don’t know how many Fellowships we’ll accept. Proposal to have a January deadline for abstract submission, then make Fellowship decisions/matches by February. Evgenia can hold a live session during the conference to present to students.  

1:15 – 1:30 pm Secretary-Treasurer Updates (Kevin)

[see slides]

Even with conservative estimates on revenue and expenses, we basically break even for 2020. 

Guessing about conference attendance, and varying costs for registration, short course, etc. There is a trend to make these virtual events free for students (SAPOR, etc.). Idea of how to  better reach out to professors/programs who don’t currently come to MAPOR but if they did their students may be more likely. Maybe other than “free”, assign a minimal fee so that it still conveys value to participants. Discussion about how to set fees for conference and short course. Proposal to eliminate difference between early bird and late registration fees. [see further discussion later in meeting]

1:30 – 1:45 pm Council and Fellow Nominations and Election Updates (Ned)

Council nominees:

Conference chair: Leah Dean/Hillary Hanson

Vice President: Kevin Ulrich/Bob Davis

Slate needs to be announced next week.

Fellows: we’re in process of ranking 4 potential Fellows. 

Recommendation that we try to tighten up the criteria and process for Fellows after this year. Note that we need more representation of women and non-white nominees. 

1:45 – 2:00 pm Sponsorship Updates (Allison/Mary)

Received $3200 of committed sponsorships. 2 previous sponsors who haven’t responded. At least a couple academic centers who aren’t able to sponsor this year. Projecting $8000 as high end of final sponsorship revenue. 

How should we handle graphics received from sponsors? Sara will create (or identify an existing) a folder in the Google drive – put all graphics/logo’s there. Sara will also get specifications for size, image type, resolution, etc.

One observation from committee: we seem to be asking the same people every year. For next year, might be worth reviewing potential sponsors and expanding the ask. 

2:00 – 2:15 pm Communication Updates (Justine)

• Plans on upcoming social media postings/communication w/ members
• Communications schedule/chart
• Next newsletter content and due dates

Planning on October newsletter. Send content week of September 28 (Justine sent reminder to Council via email). This newsletter will include fall webinar and election info. Maybe introduce the Fellowship program. Also include some virtual conference info – “what to expect”. Will supplement the newsletter with Twitter and Facebook posts. 

Twitter at the conference: Last year, tried to have someone in each session room to live tweet news. Should try to do something like this again? Maybe rather than “per session”, figure out a different format that keeps it interactive and keeps people connected. Maybe focus on “Break” periods.

2:15 – 2:30 pm Webinar Updates (Patrick/Lindsey)

Ana Gonzales from Pew will give fall webinar on new questions on Hispanic/Latinx ethnicity. October 21 is set date. Per email discussion, $20 non-members/$10 members/$0 students. Waiting to get details from Ana, then will update the website and send out to listserv. Have also asked Ana to join as a panel member for “Why Representation Matters”.

Special Note

U of Chicago Survey Lab technically closes Nov 4. (Perhaps/hopefully they will find a new home with Division of Biologic Sciences.) They are holding 4 crates (plus other stuff) of conference materials, and we need to identify a new home. Rather than relying on individuals, perhaps MAPOR should rent a climate-controlled storage unit (maybe $50/month). Council agreed that MAPOR will pursue renting a storage unit, preferably close to the Embassy Suites. Ned and Kevin will coordinate moving the material. 

2:30 – 2:45 pm BREAK

2:45 – 5:00 pm 2020 Annual MAPOR Conference (Sara)

• Program:
  • 65/75 presentations
  • 4/20 posters
  • 50 hrs of Education “Video Chats” – up to 75 people per chatroom
• Software platform & Website design
  • Examples: https://www.eventscribe.com/2020/ALA-Annual/index.asp?launcher=1 
  • Sessions: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vMvR625OXSPleml6l_megdghxNBRU-y8/view?usp=sharing 
  • Interaction
  • Zoom
• Speed networking
• “In memoriam” session
• Other events and activities 

We received ~70 abstracts (3 posters/presentation; others no preference). So, everyone was accepted. Lots of election and Census topics, also interesting topics on “representation”. 

Because there are only 4 posters, we can make them their own synchronous session. 

Lots of excitement when authors were notified of their acceptance. Feels good!

With Cadmium, got an estimate for 75 12-minute presentations, and 20 posters. Since we have extra poster slots, maybe offer to high-value sponsors (5 minute pitch videos). (NORC)

[Sara reviewed her session plan] 

Discussion of synchronous/live sessions and opportunities to interact and have Q&A, and the value of recorded presentations. When will recordings be available? What deadline do we need to give presenters regarding submission of their recorded videos (by Wednesday at the latest…)? Perhaps make videos available first during the actual scheduled session, then reserve the final 20-30 minutes for live video chat with presenters.

Maybe put more than half the presentations on Friday and make Saturday a little lighter. 

Keynote/awards at lunch on Friday; Use 3:00p time for In Memorium, speed networking, social event, etc. 

Saturday: start later (like 9:00a) with concurrent sessions (including posters); pedagogy hour over lunch; after lunch, Business Meeting – conference done by 2:30p

Ned will ask NORC to donate time to format the .pdf program (per usual)

Question on how exactly registration will work…Cvent or Cadmium? Could send to Cvent through website, but need to think about how to export registration list from Cvent to Cadmium. Target date for registration is around October 19 (once website is launched). 

Sara will identify areas where she needs help and reach out. 

Sara demonstrated a conference website with a format similar to what we’ll have. Sara will mock up tiles for main landing page and send around for feedback.

Sara will make first pass at assigning papers to sessions, then ask for feedback.

Peripheral events: 

1) Evgenia will lead a student Zoom event

2) Speed networking: Need to start identifying “employers” by mid-October, then decide how much total time we need/how many slots to schedule. Some options on how to manage the “meetings” 

3) In Memoriam: Reach out to Mansoor specifically about Ashley, but otherwise have space in the program and invite others to honor whom they want. Council members should plan to be in attendance. 

4) Business Meeting: plan to hold it as a live session. Might be easier to put together slides because we won’t have same variability around revenue and expenses. 

Revisiting conference fees: Agreement that we will have early bird rate: $50 early/$75 late.  For students, will keep registration as free for early bird, but $25 late. Short course: question on whether to record (will check with Trent); $35/$10.  Membership dues: $20/$5. Need to review earlier communications and make sure we’re being consistent, especially with students. 

5:00pm Adjourn 

MAPOR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MONTHLY MEETING AGENDA

August 17th, 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 Justine for getting the fabulous newsletter out, describing our conference and call for papers in more detail.  

Attendees: Ned, Lindsey, Mary, David, Kevin, Ipek, Leah, Dana, Evgenia, Justine, Sara, Stephanie

Agenda:

1. Approve July minutes           (Ned)

July minutes approved

2. President’s Update     (Ned)
   1. Statement on inclusion and diversity- endorse AAPOR, https://www.aapor.org/Publications-Media/Public-Statements/AAPOR-Statement-on-Diversity,-Equity,-and-Inclusio.aspx
   2. Mid-September meeting
      1. Please respond to Doodle if you haven’t
      2. Will be heavy focus on conference program and logistics
   3. Call for nominations will go out soon to members (last year sent 8/27)

Input on nominations for fellows and executive council https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_qeEYjY2nqwVzMFohy7LCPU598xdnNhFL6DTbMrniXg/edit#gid=2

Proposal to endorse AAPOR’s statement, rather than creating our own statement for MAPOR. AAPOR’s statement is comprehensive and all-encompassing. Ned will circulate the AAPOR statement to Council and give an opportunity to endorse and perhaps add. We will discuss and finalize at next month’s meeting.

Please respond to scheduling poll by end of this week. 

Major agenda items are conference planning and finance update. Ned and Ipek will put together a draft agenda. 

3. 2020 Conference                          (Sara/David)
   1. Abstract acceptance status notifications
   2. Latest update on remote conversion and software
   3. Student Paper Competition Award Updates
   4. Abstract review and conference program
   5. Student paper competition 
   6. MAPOR annual conference fees

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

We’ve received 17 abstracts, which is lower than previous years. Sara will extend the deadline 2 weeks (September 4) and will increase reach out to potential participants. Sara will confirm with Tom Smith whether a 1-week extension to student paper deadline is okay. Even though we’re behind where we were last year, a last-minute push is normal. And, if we have fewer papers/sessions, it’s fine – we have strong key presentations already lined up and we can have more of a focus on those.

Conference software: two final options are Cadmium (AAPOR used) and Prestige. Had a good meeting with Prestige, big advantage is the tech support that they provide during virtual conferences. Still waiting on cost estimate. Hope to have decision made by end of this week.

Conference speakers are confirmed and have a good sense of how they will engage with the virtual interface (without knowing yet final software). 

Sara, Ned, Mary, and Allison meet to discuss sponsorship. With either software platform, there are some good options for how to integrate sponsors (“commercials”, sponsoring individual sessions, etc.). The cost of an “exhibit hall” is too much, but we could schedule a “session” for a vendor or sponsor if they prefer.  

For “live” sessions, we will need to identify moderators, to manage questions and discussions. Whether we have “discussants” is still up in the air. If so, might be good idea to run a training or practice session for the moderators/discussants. For poster sessions, Sara is thinking about how to engage Fellows to provide support to poster presenters.

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

Checking: $35,598

Savings: $45,025

Kevin received a $440 check from AAPOR for people who became members through their website. He will deposit to savings this week. And, Kevin received new list of members from AAPOR to add to our database. 

For next meeting, Kevin will prepare cost scenario tied to virtual conference. Mary reported that sponsorship commitments seem to be down from last year – too early to make final prediction. 

5. Communications                     (Justine)

Justine will amplify the call for submissions to social media, highlighting the extended deadline. Then will add additional touches as we get closer to September 4.

6. Sponsorship   (Allison/Mary)

Notifications/requests went out to previous sponsors last week. Mary will give 2 weeks before she follows up with non-responders. 

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

Lindsey reviewed AAPOR presentations and sent some ideas for follow up. Two topics are identified, but will take some work with presenters to make them effective topics for a MAPOR webinar. Patrick prioritizes “practical take-aways” for our attendees. 1) How to measure Hispanic ethnicity? (build on Census presentations) and Measuring perception of discrimination (Pew experimental questions); 2) [???]

Patrick will send out a description of topics for Council review and discussion. He is prepared to go ahead with the “ethnicity” topic for the fall webinar (mid-October) but he needs to work with Census/Pew to modify their AAPOR presentation to make it more relevant for our audience. 

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

Evgenia attended the PAPOR event in Zoom (about 20 people attended). Introductions, 2 Truths and a Lie, then small break-out rooms to play another game. It went well, and MAPOR could do something similar. Evgenia will send around a proposal/recommendation. Target on timing will be early October. In addition, we’ll do some sort of “get togethers” tied to the Conference in November.

9. Website              (Patrick)    

Link to the current newsletter is posted.

10. Other business?            

Evgenia is trying to find email addresses of the Fellows to contact them regarding mentorship program. Such a list exists – Sara will post it in MAPOR drive. 

Next Meeting: Annual meeting in mid-September!

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

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!