Annual Meeting Presenters Have Extended Deadline to December 7 to Choose In-Person or Virtual Option
Annual Meeting Presenters Have Extended Deadline to December 7 to Choose In-Person or Virtual Option
 
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November 2021

AERA 2022 Annual Meeting participants in accepted sessions, paper sessions, or roundtable sessions have until December 7 to decide as a group whether they wish their session to be held in person at the place-based component of the meeting in San Diego or on a new virtual platform.

Participants in sessions have been considering these options since AERA Council decided on October 28 that the COVID-19 pandemic requires the association to offer a virtual option at this time and to also have a plan for an all-virtual meeting if health and safety conditions erode making that necessary.

For now, participants in sessions are asked to coordinate through their chair and make a collective decision as best as they can determine under current circumstances. Those in sessions selecting the in-person option will be able to “migrate” to the virtual platform by or before March 8, if the group wishes to alter its decision to convene in person. If most persons in a session know now that they would rather present in a virtual session, they should select that choice by the December 7 deadline.

Participants in sessions received emails through All Academic connecting everyone in a session so that they could confer. They also received instructions on how to record their choices in All Academic. The session chair (or an alternative) was asked to be the designated person to record that choice.

Authors of papers accepted for poster presentations need also to confer with any co-authors and decide whether to present their posters in person in San Diego or only on the virtual platform. If just one of the presenting authors wishes to do so place-based, that choice can be easily implemented also through All Academic.

“We have been pleased with the level of understanding and appreciation that the choice model offers to participants. AERA Council thought it was the most equitable solution rather than decide for others on which sessions would be in person and which online. We appreciate, though, that making such decisions is not easy,” said Felice J. Levine, AERA Executive Director. “We have pondered this dilemma irrespective of whether expressed by the vast majority in a group or expressed by the one or two persons who support group choice but are not positioned to do so.”

As reflected in Levine’s statement, AERA is committed to a successful meeting experience for all members and attendees. This commitment has led the Association to two points of emphasis:

  1. Those sessions that choose the San Diego option will be able to migrate to the virtual platform if they decide to do by the March 8 deadline.
     
  2. AERA is adding wireless bandwidth in all session and convening rooms to allow for one or two participants to be able to join a session through their own provider from a remote location should that be necessary. Such a practice has been used by session participants on their own well before COVID-19. AERA will be expanding the wireless bandwidth to maximum capacity in an effort to help session participants who register for the Annual Meeting do so successfully.

At the time of Highlights closing, choices have already been made by many accepted session participants and authors of poster presentations. Please note that the extended deadline is December 7, 2021. This deadline cannot be further extended as scheduling needs to begin in order to release the Annual Meeting program on time on January 17, 2022.

For additional information about the choice process, please see our Facts-at-a-Glance or our November 18 email to presenters. Questions can also be sent to choiceAM2022@aera.net.