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

  1. 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. 

  1. 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, 4th 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 4th 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. 

  1. 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.  

  1. 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.

  1. 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?

  1. 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.  

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. Website              (Ashley/Patrick)                        

Nothing new to report.

  1. 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!