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

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