Kathy Ensor, ASA past-president, convened a meetings task force comprised of John Bailer, Rebecca Hubbard, Willis Jensen, Julia Sharp (chair), and Jiashen You to make recommendations for locations of the ASA’s smaller meetings, including the Conference on Statistical Practice, Women in Statistics and Data Science Conference, Symposium on Data Science and Statistics, and International Conference on Health Policy Statistics. One charge of the task force is to:
[P]ropose recommendations for ASA meeting planning policy that will ensure the association’s Code of Conduct is met and that meeting attendees enjoy a safe, respectful, and accessible environment regardless of specific laws and requirements of the meeting location.
Task force members are working with ASA meetings staff to understand current policies and procedures for selecting a meeting location. They are also reviewing resources from other organizations to develop a recommended checklist for ASA staff to consider when selecting meeting locations.
Another charge of the task force is to:
The ASA enters into contracts with conference sites several years in advance. It is financially prohibitive to cancel a meeting or move a meeting to a hybrid setting once a contract has been entered into. However, the task force can provide recommendations for a communication plan that ensures attendees are informed of decisions and have access to relevant meeting information before or during a meeting. For example, the ASA might provide a map of the meeting site on the conference website prior to the meeting for attendees to review and become comfortable with.
The task force members are seeking your input to inform their work. Please take a few minutes to respond to their brief questionnaire.
I have been very happy with the sites selected for smaller conferences such as CSP. I do like how the conferences have been in cities rather than resort areas e.g. Disney.
For new ideas for specific locations, there have been a few conferences in New Orleans – other areas in the South Central area that might be nice include Houston, Baton Rouge, and especially Austin.
For conferences from May through October, upper midwest cites are good options – Chicago, St. Louis, and especially Detroit.