What is I-O?

Industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology is the scientific study of the workplace. Rigor and methods of psychology are applied to issues of critical relevance to business, including talent management, coaching, assessment, selection, training, organizational development, performance, and work-life balance.

Forever New Orleans!  Thousands of SIOP Members Travel to the Big Easy for 24th Annual Conference

Stephany Schings
SIOP Communications Specialist

SIOP members turned out by the thousands this April to attend SIOP’s 24th Annual Conference in New Orleans. A total of 3,650 people registered for this year’s conference, and attendees chose from more than 300 presentations to attend involving 1,589 presenters.

After a full day of preconference workshops, the conference officially began with the opening plenary on Thursday. Conference Chair Julie Olson-Buchanan led the plenary with a welcome and introduction of conference activities. After introductions, Awards Chair Wendy Boswell announced this year’s award winners (see page 131 for a complete list) as well as SIOP’s new Fellows (see page 125).

An historic signing ceremony took place at the opening plenary among SIOP’s Past President Gary Latham, EAWOP president Franco Fraccaroli, and International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP)-Division 1 president José M. Peiró. The three signed a declaration of collaboration for the Alliance for Organizational Psychology. (See full story on page 140.)

For the rest of the week, the SIOP conference sessions carried on with full steam, including a speech by SHRM President Laurence (Lon) G. O’Neil as a keynote on Thursday and APA President James Bray as a keynote on Saturday morning. SIOP’s new I-O psychology blog, The SIOP Exchange, also launched during the conference, highlighting conference-related posts. (Read more about The SIOP Exchange in Kurt Kraiger’s article [page 9].)

This year’s extra-conference activities, including the SIOPen golf tournament and the SIOP FunRun, were also widely attended. Fifty attendees learned the art of creole cooking during the Sunday cooking tour and nearly 70 members helped renovate an elementary school library during the School Library Makeover sponsored by Target. (For a full story, see page 141.) The Sheraton New Orleans also offered a beautiful backdrop to the numerous receptions during the conference, including a widely attended closing reception with entertainers The Bucktown Allstars.

Next year’s conference will celebrate the 25th anniversary of SIOP’s annual conference. Mark your calendars now to attend the event next April in Atlanta, Georgia!