Feature
In response to members' requests, APA's 2002 Annual Convention in Chicago will be shorter, held in one venue, serve as a showcase for cutting-edge research and offer cross-divisional programming, more distinguished speakers and more opportunities for continuing professional education (CPE).
These changes are the result of several years of close review and extensive surveying by APA's Board of Convention Affairs (BCA) on the changes that members say would better serve their needs and would boost attendance, which has dropped over the past several years.
"We are trying to make convention easier," says Rochelle Balter, PhD, a member of BCA. "Right now it is not very user-friendly--people often leave our convention stressed, or frustrated about things they might have missed."
Adds BCA Chair William Howell, PhD, "A bulk of the bigger conventions have gotten away from the overall format we used to have. At one time that was manageable, but that model has become unwieldy because the association has grown."
Changes afoot
Starting with the 2002 Chicago meeting, APA's Annual Convention will be held over three-and-a-half days instead of five--Thursday afternoon through Sunday--to enable more busy members to attend, avoid cutting into a second work week, and making the convention less expensive for attendees and the association.
What's more, members will no longer have to rush from one hotel to another to catch their next session. Now, all programming will be held in one central venue with only business and executive meetings held in nearby hotels (In Chicago, the meeting will be held at the McCormick Place.) One main location will allow members to take advantage of more sessions, says Balter. "We figured that in the old model, people were probably losing a session for every session they attended," she says.
Perhaps the most attractive change to members may be the revamped system of programming, notes Howell. Starting in Chicago, programming will operate on a new system called "track programming," which will enable workshops, sessions and symposia to reach a broader audience, a change that is geared toward boosting attendance at sessions. A track is a block of programming designed around a theme coordinated by six-to-eight divisions with shared interests, Howell says. Each track will likely have a high-profile speaker, several skill-building sessions, workshops, debates, an interactive poster session and other innovative programs that members say they like best, he says.
"We are going to encourage people to build tracks that are coherent, thematic and will attract people and keep them there," he says.
The new programming approach will result in fewer sessions and, more importantly, less competition between programs geared toward members with similar interests, says Balter.
"Everything will be reduced proportionally," she explains. "We are going to make sure that tracks on similar interests don't overlap."
What's more, tracks won't compete with top-name speakers invited by the association, says Howell. All conventioneers will be able to attend these talks, because the speaker will be the only session scheduled in a particular time slot.
The new approach may also appeal to members who seek opportunities to earn CPE credit, Balter points out. BCA will encourage each division cluster to include CPE opportunities, part of an overall effort that began this year to offer more such opportunities.
Maintaining divisions' autonomy
APA tested track programming at its 2000 Annual Convention in Washington D.C., with the "Breaking convention--new concepts in practice," programming. Five divisions collaborated on the track, and members' response was very favorable, says Balter.
Division leadership and members need not worry that track programming will swallow up specialized division programming time, says Balter. Divisions will still have hours set aside for their own programs.
"Divisions are not losing their autonomy," she says. "We are not swallowing them up with tracks--we are trying to get more attendees to more sessions. And we think it will attract more members to the divisions."
In July, representatives from APA divisions met at APA with BCA members and APA staff to become familiar with the programming approach and to plan tracks for the 2002 convention among the division clusters.
As these changes occur, BCA will survey members on their reactions to the changes and continue to collect data on member needs and attendance, says Howell.
"This is a work in progress, we realize there will need to be fine-tuning," he says. "But we feel the concept is right and we hope people will respond positively, as well as provide feedback."
