Dear Fellow CAREERS DIVISION members,
I hope this message finds you well, amidst the various stages of COVID-19 across the globe that are affecting all our lives. Here in Boston, officials are very slowly easing restrictions but there no school for the rest of the year and very few camps will open :( !!!!
I know that you have all been waiting to hear what is going on with the AOM Annual Meeting this year. By now, you will have heard that the meeting is going virtual. But what does that mean for us?
Last week, several of our EC members joined a conference call of division and interest group (DIG) leaders in which AOM conveyed a basic outline of how things will go on. Many details are still being worked out, but I am sharing what I know and will continue to update you as things develop. In the meantime, some key information:
- The full program will go ahead virtually. AOM is centrally coordinating an online event through a platform. However, each division has flexibility in how it implements the annual meeting experience.
- At least 10% of sessions will be held live, including the Doctoral Consortium. For our division, we may hold more than 10% of PDWs, symposia, and paper sessions live since we are a smaller division. Jos Akkermans (Program Chair) and Rick Cotton (PDW Chair) will be leading this effort.
- Many sessions will be "asynchronous". These will have pre-recorded elements. But they will be made available for online interaction, for example via some kind of online discussion forum, that will be available for a period of time (to be determined).
- TIME ZONES are an issue. Sessions will be planned in different time slots to allow for all members to have some sessions in their normal daytime hours.
- WE WILL NEED VOLUNTEERS to "chair" digital sessions, both live and asynchronous. Jos and Rick will be connecting with you on this so please consider saying yes :)!
- We are also thinking innovative mentoring opportunities. Our mentoring committee is working hard at developing some new platforms and you will hear more from them soon.
- AOM is preparing a schedule of milestones – when we have more information, you will hear from us or the PDW and Program Chairs.
- There will be a fee for attending the virtual conference (currently planned at USD200 for academic members and USD100 for students). This fee allows you to formally register and gain access to the entire conference, papers, presentations, sessions (live and asynchronous), social events and so on. Some people have pointed out this fee seems high. AOM is planning to communicate about the fee and where the money will go. Also, our division will be providing FUNDING OPPORTUNTIES for those who may need it. More information to come in a separate email.
I am optimistic that we can make this virtual AOM conference exciting and fun! Thanks to all of the EC team for your hard work and resilience! We will get through this together!
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Jamie Ladge
Associate Professor
Northeastern University
Boston
(617) 373-8176
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