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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)

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