MAPOR EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MONTHLY MEETING AGENDA
March 7, 2025
12:30 – 2:00 CST / 1:30 pm – 3:00pm EST
MAPOR SPOTLIGHT of the MONTH: Our MAPOR Spotlight of the Month is for Beth and the conference
committee for the steady working on the 50th anniversary event and the annual conference planning! Thanks to
all for your hard work and your service to MAPOR.
MAPOR Mission Statement
We provide high-quality educational and conference programs to encourage scholarly exchanges across
disciplines and geographies, broaden member access to mentors and resources, and bolster opportunities for
leadership and innovations. We join forces with AAPOR, academic institutions, and government and industry
employers to develop a thriving community that supports all MAPOR members, including students, scholars, and
professionals in every stage of their career.
MAPOR Vision Statement
MAPOR is a leading voice in public opinion, survey, and social science scholarship, methods, and practice among
regional professional associations. We are an inclusive and supportive community that enables our diverse
members to achieve their educational, professional development, and networking goals.
Agenda:
Attendees: Lindsey, Semilla, Alex, Ben, Beth, Brian, David, Caroline, Leah, Curtiss, Erin, Patrick, Jenny, Paul,
Rebecca, Jerry, Erik
I. Secretary Treasurer’s Report (Semilla)
a. Financial updates
● Checkings: $22,270.35
● Savings: $42,222.08
b. Membership list updates
● 325 total members
● 278 non-students, 47 students
- Leah and Patrick are poking around sponsorship stuff on Drive to try to track down 2024 conference
money from RTI. Stay tuned here - Taxes are paid for the year. Will need to update the address at some point for our business (taxes, bank,
website) – all currently linked to 55E
II. 2025 Conference and contract renewal (Beth/Jenny/all)
a. Updates on contract renewal?
b. Conference support/50th committee?
c. Planning ahead for the conference support from AAPOR experience
d. Membership and 2024 conference survey update
- Working on pedagogy hour and keynote, looking at a panel of past presidents. Thinking of Rob Santos as
keynote – some changes here since he is no longer head of Census, but Rene (NORC) is working on
introductions here. - Cost to update logo is $1,450 and cost for one-time use 50th anniversary logo is 1,025(or vice versa, kind
of a buy one get one). - Jenny – why did we decide it was needed?
- Leah – this was an add on that we asked the vendor about when we were planning to update for
the 50th. MAPOR logo is relatively new so don’t really need to, was more of an add on. - David does not think it is a huge needed change.
- Jerry/Erin/Rebecca have optics concerning spending $$ here.
- Ben – this was with thought we could order a bunch of new swag. But have not been bringing
swag to AAPOR so this is not super urgent. - Beth is going to reach out to the designer to get the last possible decision date for the conference, and
can circle back. - Met to discuss challenges around attendance. Beth has some draft poll questions for membership – can
we incorporate into Patrick’s draft? - Did you attend the MAPOR conference last year?
- If you had to decide today, would you commit to attending this year’s conference in the fall?
- Would you take advantage of the following if offered as a part of the upcoming MAPOR
conference:
● Expanded networking opportunities
● Mailing list for room sharing
● Opportunity to sponsor registration for a colleague
● Opportunity to receive sponsorship from a colleague - David agrees fundraising for MAPOR is a good idea and would wait for a bit (after AAPOR, closer to
MAPOR) especially since locked into a hotel, smaller financial burden, and who knows. Jenny, Curtiss,
Semilla agree. Ben suggests sharing our timeline/gist of conversation with membership. Paul agrees and
timing and signaling considerations seem important right now. - Next steps (for Patrick) – we will communicate more as we know more, will send a fuller survey
sometimes later in summer. Ask about attendance (Yes/No/DK) to get sense of where people are at, plan
to follow up.
III. Communications/Website (Benjamin)
a. Updates?
- Ben wants to send a newsletter out with the membership survey. Will reach out to Mia and Curtiss with
some questions, and will reiterate messaging from Patrick. - Send personal emails to Ben in case professional emails are at risk.
IV. Awards, Grants, and Support Committee (Curtiss)
a. Updates on events?
- Putting out the call for student mentorship program and will get ball rolling on student paper
competition with fellows. Will review in April. Curtiss will reach out to Mary at the end of month to get
her looped into the student paper competition. Will stay tuned for sponsorship and such.
V. Sponsorship (Leah)
a. Updates on events?
- No updates here. Have the list of ‘25 sponsors to reach out to. Want to wait until after AAPOR to start
communication so things will be more stable.
VI. Online Learning Committee (Rebecca)
a. Updates on events?
- There will be an ask from Gina about “skill based” webinar ideas. Class on R, AI workshop, career panel.
- Current thought is to do a series about polling in April. Goal is 3 webinars, will reach out to David for
help. - 1) how to do polling – what makes a poll accurate, short term, how do we get trust, etc.
- 2) bias in polling – weighting on past vote (Brady West, pollster, academic and practical)
- 3) Special topics in polling – bring in a couple of different folks on a panel here (Blue Wall,
challenges in midwest, etc.) - Should we make these free for all attendees?
- Our current model is students are free, members pay $30, nonmembers pay $50, nonmembers +
membership pay 60$. - Also usually also do honorariums for speakers ($200 for speakers, $100 if panel). Many people
donate their honorarium/or do not take it. - We usually break even, or make a small profit.
- David and Lindsey support making it free especially in the current climate.
- Consensus is to make it free for members, and push membership for folks who are not members (and
that is minimal cost) - Ask not to make this on CVENT so we don’t get charged. Rebecca is on board here.
- Honor system seems fine for membership but otherwise might be some policing
- VOTED IN COUNCIL: all pass as motion and agree to reduce cost for this series of webinars to free for
members. - Erik, Paul, Jerry flag need for professional development workshops, networking, etc. at both chapter and
national level. Maybe multiple chapters can pitch in here. Can be asynchronous online vs. synchronous or
in-person. - Patrick will relay this idea to Gina and will ‘cc Rebecca
- Beth – conference has talked about potentially offering more opportunities for networking this year
VII. Other business
a. AAPOR attendance (see Patrick 3/7 email)
- Patrick has told folks that we can’t match last year, but could pay $1000 for the chapter party.
- Patrick wonders if we should sponsor at least one EC member to attend in order to have a
preference, run the MAPOR booth, etc. Jenny and Caroline will definitely be at AAPOR,
Curtiss will likely be at AAPOR, David and/or Lindsey will likely be there. Erik will be at
WAPOR so can stay on for AAPOR if need be. Have plenty of coverage so do not need to
worry about this. Consensus here is to use resources for the MAPOR conference in Nov. - See above for more on this discussion
Council members
President – Y. Patrick Hsieh
Vice President / President Elect – David Sterrett
Past President – Leah Dean
Conference Chair – Beth Fisher
Associate Conference Chair – Linsdey Witt-Swanson
Secretary-Treasurer – Semilla Stripp
Sponsorship Coordinator – Leah Dean
Student Liaison – Curtiss Engstrom
Communications & Website Chair – Benjamin Schapiro
Members at Large – Erin Heiden, Rebecca Powell, Jerry Timbrook, Paul DiPerna, Brian Wells, Erik Nisbet
Alexandros Gkotinakos, Evgenia Kapousouz
Proposed Committees
50th/Conference Committee – Beth, Justine, Leah, Kevin
Online Learning Committee – Rebecca Powell (Chair), Erin Heiden, Jerry Timbrook
Awards, Grants, and Support Committee – Paul DiPerna, Curtiss Engstrom
Secretary Treasurer Support – Semilla Stripp
Communications Support – Benjamin Schapiro, Brian Wells