(Almost) Everything You Wanted to Know About the SIOP Program but Were Afraid to Ask
Part I: Opportunities and Constraints for SIOP 2004
Robert E. Ployhart, Donald Truxillo, and Jeff McHenry
One of the greatest benefits of being a SIOP member is the annual conference. It is always nice to catch up with colleagues and see the best research and practice our profession has to offer.
Each year, the Program Committee, Conference Committee, and Administrative Office work hard to maximize the conference experience. Their goal is to strive to ensure consistency with previous conferences, while at the same time throwing something new into the mix to keep things lively and engaging.
Although we will be in the stage of reviewing submissions by the time this article is published, we thought it might be helpful to discuss some unique features of the conference and program. While there are several new innovations this year, we must also accommodate several important constraints. The purpose of this article is to briefly describe these issues and why certain actions are taking place.
Whats New?
This year there are several innovations to add to your old favorites.
- There is a special Sunday morning theme session entitled Public Safety and Occupational Health: Opportunities for I-O Research and Practice.
This is a set of related sessions designed to explore the many contributions I-O psychologists make to enhance public safety, guard against terrorism, improve emergency response, and promote occupational health. Opportunities for funding, research, academic/practitioner/government collaboration, and similar topics will be discussed. As I-O psychologists, we have a number of unique areas of expertise that can contribute to better safety, health, and defense, broadly defined: testing, selection, training, groups and teams, motivation, an understanding of organizational behavior, and so forth. The goal of these sessions is to demonstrate how I-O psychology can more strongly contribute to these important issues, not only enhancing national safety but also promoting our science and making our practice more visible.
- There will be a special Identity session. In response to Ann Marie Ryans presidential address, there will be a special session where the presenters are the clients of our research and practice (e.g., HR professionals, business leaders). The session will involve a panel discussion to better understand how industry views our profession, how we can better market and brand ourselves, and to clarify the unique contribution of our profession and society. Please note this is not simply a session about how to generate business but a session designed to understand the very nature of our professional persona.
- Poster sessions will have more room. This was a major problem for the 2003 Orlando conference. To ensure this does not occur in 2004, SIOP is working with the Chicago hotel staff to create a layout that will increase the space for the poster sessions. We will also be present as the hotel staff sets up the poster boards.
- Poster sessions will be one hour long. Based on the feedback from SIOP members over the last few years, the poster sessions will be one hour long. This way, poster presenters have a chance to show their research but can still attend other sessions. Another advantage of this change is that there will be more poster sessions with an increased topical focus.
- The conference will continue to be more interactive. Based on the positive feedback, the interactive poster sessions initiated last year will be around again this year. However, this year we will provide additional guidelines and suggestions for maximizing the experience.
- The conference will continue to be more inclusive. One step in this regard is to require symposium submissions to have at least two presenters from different institutions. Although individual presentations within a symposium may have authors from the same institution, the overall session must contain at least two different affiliations. This change comes from considerable feedback and concern about symposia becoming advertisements for products by a single company, or research being presented from a single academic program. Another step towards a more inclusive conference is the addition of a symposium on Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) research and practice issues, which will be followed by a reception open to all conference attendees. The SIOP conference is intended to be science-based and inclusive for all participants, and the opportunity to experience multiple viewpoints is one of the most attractive features of the conference.
- The submission process has been further streamlined. There will no longer be a need to submit a paper hardcopy of your submission. Everything will occur online.
The 2004 Hotel
SIOP is very excited about the opportunity to have our conference in Chicago this year. Its a world-class city with great restaurants and cultural attractions, and the Chicago Sheraton will provide us with top-notch facilities. Each year, SIOP faces some unique challenges and makes some compromises as we work with the conference hotel to create a great conference environment. The Chicago Sheraton is no exception. Here are some of the steps taken to ensure a successful conference in Chicago:
- The conference program will run approximately one hour shorter on Friday and Saturday.
As a result of workplace rules at the hotel, labor costs will increase dramatically if the conference program extends more than 8 hours per day. Rather than raise conference rates to pay these costs, the program will be reduced by one hour per daywhich, on the bright side, gives us all an extra hour to converse with our colleagues! Some of you may be concerned about how this change will affect submission acceptance rates. This is a difficult question to answer because acceptance rates are largely dependent on the number of submissions (which increase every year), hotel/room size, and so on. However, we anticipate no greater impact on acceptance rates than has been typical for previous conferences.
- SIOP must discourage the use of LCDs. LCD costs are exorbitant in Chicago compared to our past 34 conference hotels. If your presentation requires an LCD to play video that is
integral to your presentation, SIOP will try to make an LCD available. But SIOP will not be providing LCDs to show slide presentations from laptopswe ask you instead to bring overheads with you to Chicago. Overhead projectors will be available for all sessions. Workplace rules at the Chicago Sheraton prohibit presenters from bringing their own LCDs, so this is not an alternative.
More to Come
In the next issue of TIP, we will summarize the submission and review process for the 2004 conference. We will also discuss some issues relating to the program in general, such as the scheduling of sessions and the assignment of reviewers. Until then.
October 2003 Table
of Contents | TIP Home
| SIOP Home
|
|