SIOP 2021 Annual Conference Update and Call for Proposals

A message from Whitney Botsford Morgan, Conference Chair; Emily Solberg, Program Chair; Scott Tonidandel, Conferences and Programs Portfolio Officer

We are writing to you in the SIOP community with preliminary information for the 2021 SIOP Annual Conference, April 15-17 in New Orleans, to accompany the release of the Call for Proposals. Note that the submission deadline for proposals is October 14, 2020.

We are striving to make visible the efforts that often take place “behind the scenes” by the Conference and Program Committees, comprising SIOP member-volunteers who are diligently working to identify and select the best options for presenting an exciting, informative, and successful SIOP 2021.  

We want to be as transparent as possible about the fact that this coming year’s SIOP conference will look and feel different from previous years’ conferences, and that many details are not yet available. Due to the evolving coronavirus pandemic and its public health and economic side effects, many details will remain unavailable until early 2021. As we all understand, our plans and decisions must align with public health recommendations, government mandates, and venue restrictions over our meeting dates, so adaptability, patience, and resilience, both as organizers and as a SIOP member community, will be important as April approaches.

The Conference Committee’s current vision is to host one “hybrid” conference that will consist of:

• In-Person Live sessions from April 15-17 enjoyed by in-person conference registrants at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, some of which will be live streamed to virtual conference registrants.
• Virtual Live sessions from April 15-17 enjoyed by in-person and virtual conference registrants, regardless of location (e.g., Hilton New Orleans Riverside hotel room, home, office).
• Virtual Asynchronous sessions available during and after the conference dates enjoyed by in-person and virtual conference registrants on-demand (similar to the SIOP 2020 offering).

Like many aspects of our current lives, it is difficult to acknowledge and accept that the SIOP 2021 Conference will be different from our past conference experiences. However, there is also great opportunity to reimagine the conference in a manner that still meets the needs of our membership. 

As previously shared in a Newsbriefs article, the Conference Committee met virtually in July and began to reimagine planning for SIOP 2021. The principles guiding us as we embark on planning and decision making regarding the 2021 conference are:

Honoring

• our valued members’ cutting-edge intellectual contributions related to the science, practice, and teaching of I-O
• inclusiveness with respect to diversity of member needs and preferences
• the vital role that the Annual Conference’s planned, organic, and innovative community building fulfills for SIOP

Displaying

• fairness and transparency in decision making, including decisions related to the public health crisis and its lingering effects
• openness and responsiveness to the external environment and key stakeholders
• regular two-way communication allowing for co-creation leading up to, and during, the Annual Conference

Preserving

• the capacity of our volunteers and staff
• the conference revenue on which SIOP so critically relies

As far as next steps, much of our planning hinges on the number of submissions and the creation of the program. Therefore, we will continue to work through and share intended plans. We will post communications at least monthly to the SIOP 2021 Annual Conference webpage with more detailed plans released in early 2021 as we prepare to open registration and announce the educational program.

We invite you to share your questions, concerns, and creative suggestions to make the 2021 conference a success by emailing us at siop@siop.org!

We are confident that SIOP will remain a strong, vibrant community for the field of industrial-organizational psychology, and we thank you for sharing in this journey as we move closer to the 2021 SIOP Annual Conference.