[Air-l] Conference absenteeism?

[Jennifer Stromer-Galley]

In thinking of scheduling for future conferences, I'd like to make two
suggestions. 

First, the Sunday to Wednesday schedule exacerbates the teaching
conflict for those of us who teach and have begun our
semesters/quarters. I know of several people who opted out of the
conference this year because of the Sunday-Wednesday schedule. I had to
cancel two classes in order to come, which isn't ideal. A Thursday or
Friday to Sunday schedule is better in that it doesn't conflict as much
with the work week.

Second, chairs are an essential part of any panel. I was lucky this year
and had good panelists who kept each other to their alloted time frame,
but I have attended and participated on too many panels (Aoir and
elsewhere) where participants did not keep time, and one person took too
long presenting leaving the others to cut theirs short and erasing the
limited time there is for questions. It suspect it's difficult to
coordinate chairs on top of everything else. Perhaps, the reviewers for
the conference papers could serve as a useful pool of people to request
help from. 

As always, I was delighted to participate in yet another AoIR
experience. This has been and continues to be my favorite conference. I
always leave AoIR energized intellectually. I can't say that for my
other conference participation.

~JSG