My bags are packed and I am ready to go
I am referring, of course, to the 2008 International Conference in New York. With 1700 communicators in attendance, it will be the largest international conference in IABC history. As all conferences are, it will be packed with new ideas, inspiration, new connections and the opportunity to reconnect.
As Connie Eckhard, ABC, wrote to me today, ”I always come away with my batteries charged. I’m always pumped about my profession and what we can accomplish for the organizations that employ us.”
If you are reading this, thinking, “Gee, maybe I still can sign up. The conference won’t start until Sunday,” the answer is that all the events are sold out, and the break-out sessions will be standing room only.
But you still can get a taste of conference by listening to ConferenceCast Radio, featuring audio interviews with speakers, IABC leaders and conference attendees. You can listen on-line at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/IABC.
And then be sure to plan on being in San Francisco for the 2009 conference, 14-17 June.
For those of you who are planning to be in New York, I look forward to seeing you soon. And for those who will not be there, I hope you will find another way to keep in touch with your IABC colleagues.
August 2nd, 2008 at 6:41 am
[...] here’s my call to the leaders of the IABC: Serve your members better. Coordinate your conference dates with the CPRS so that your Canadian [...]
August 4th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Joseph–
I posted a response on your blog, but it is still awaiting moderation. Just so you will be sure to hear from me, here is what I had to say:
Making a decision about when and where to hold a conference is one of the most tricky decisions that IABC–or any association–has to make. And while we are indeed sorry that the 2009 IABC conference will overlap with the CPRS conference, it was a decision made in the best interest of the majority of IABC members.
IABC really does not have the choice of 52 weekends. For many years, maybe forever, our conference has been in June. Our members plan on that, and we feel we need to stick with June.
We also do not have unlimited choice of hotels. In San Francisco, for example, only two hotels have the kind of space we need for our event. The same is true in all major cities.
So, that’s why, when we learned that the Marriot may not be able to provide all the space we need, we had to consider whether the original dates would provide for the quality of conference our members expect.
Then there was another, important factor. Marriott offered us a significant discount on the food and beverage costs. Since that is a major cost in running a conference, receiving a discount means that IABC can maintain competitive (and hopefully, affordable) registration fees.
Does that mean we do not care about our Canadian members? Of course not. But as a practical matter if IABC maintained the original dates, there would have been only a week between the CPRS conference and the IABC conference. It seems unlikely that joint members would have chosen to go to both conferences. They would have to make a choice.
I am happy to hear that you make the decision to attend both conferences, but our research indicates that we do not have a significant overlap of CPRS/IABC members and that only 5% of the Canadian attendees at this year’s conference also attend the CPRS conference.
Does that mean IABC does not care about cooperating with CPRS? Again, of course not. We will be in contact with CPRS to be sure that their leadership knows that IABC will return to Canada for its 2010 conference, when we will be in Toronto from 6-9 June.
IABC does not like to force members to make difficult choices. But some times we have no choice.
Thank you for letting us know your concerns.
Julie Freeman, IABC President