RUNNING COMMENTARY

This month's column is written by APA's Deputy CEO Michael Honaker, PhD. In addition to being in charge when I'm not around, Mike is executive director for Central Programs, which oversees many membership services including Division Services, Ethics, APAGS, the Monitor and APA's Annual Convention. Because the Board of Convention Affairs is proposing substantial changes for convention, I asked him to give you an advance look.

Convention thoughts

By L. Michael Honaker, PhD
APA Deputy Chief Executive Officer

During the last decade, APA membership has grown from 97,000 to 159,000. However, the number of members and affiliates attending APA's Annual Convention has remained constant, and the relative percentage of our members who attend has been decreasing. The Board of Convention Affairs (BCA) has oversight for the convention and for the last two years BCA has been looking at ways the convention may need to change to better fit our members' needs. Toward this end, BCA decided to regularly survey members who attend the convention to get their feedback.

At the August convention in Boston, APA set up electronic survey stations at several locations to ask attendees questions about the convention: 853 responded. This is obviously a small and biased sample, but interestingly many of the survey findings are quite similar to those we found in past surveys. I would like to share those findings with you in hopes of generating some discussion of ways we can change--or not change--the convention to better meet your needs.

The survey says

Respondents indicated that they were satisfied or extremely satisfied (87 percent) with the convention. Specific aspects of the convention that received the highest satisfaction ratings included location, time of year, relevance and quality of programs/papers, ease of finding sessions and convention services, user-friendliness of the program and opportunities to network with colleagues. The lowest ratings were given to the cost of attendance and the ease of getting from one session to the next.

The activity at the convention frequented by the most respondents was the exhibit hall (91 percent). Poster sessions were attended by 77 percent, programming by 68 percent and social hours by 55 percent. Fewer than half attended the opening session, the film program, miniconventions or continuing-education workshops. Activities that received the highest satisfaction ratings by those who did attend were the opening session, miniconventions, the film program and the exhibit hall. When asked to identify the primary reason for attending this convention, the factor identified most frequently was location (34 percent). Participation in the program (27 percent) and opportunities to network (11 percent) were the other most frequently cited reasons.

To glean information about why people choose not to attend the convention, respondents were asked why they didn't go to previous conventions. The issue rated as most important was the high cost of attending the convention (84 percent indicated it was at least somewhat important, and 55 percent indicated it was very important). The unavailability of outside funding, travel distance to the convention and conflicts with work obligations were the next three highest in order. Reasons considered least important for not attending were quality and relevance of the programs and the large size of the convention. (Interestingly, in previous surveys, members ranked the size of the convention as a significant factor in deterring their attendance.)

A couple of questions addressed changes that are being considered for future conventions. A majority of the respondents would like to see: more sessions that address new and emerging issues in psychology and continuing-education credit for attending sessions other than workshops in the convention program. (Note: The convention program is now posted on APA's Web Site as soon as it goes to press--typically July 10). There was moderate support (more than 40 percent) for increasing the number of plenary sessions with big name speakers, increasing opportunities for program participation and holding separate but overlapping conventions for science and practice. About one-third would like to see programming extended into the evening, more workshops and round-table discussions and a decrease in the number of days of the convention.

Hopefully, these results will serve to stimulate your ideas about the convention. What do you like and not like about the convention? I would like to hear from you. Please e-mail your comments to me at Email or to BCA Chair Rochelle Balter, PhD, at Email.

A special thanks

By the way, it takes hundreds of people to run a convention. However, the one person who makes sure all of it works, and does an excellent job, is the director of the Convention Office, Candy Won. This month she celebrates 31 years being with APA. Please join me in thanking her for making it all happen so well.



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