NASPSPA Post-Conference Executive Committee Meeting
Portland, Oregon
June 7, 2015
8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
The following Executive Committee (EC) members were present at the Post-Conference
meeting: President Gabriele Wulf, Past-President Alan Smith, President-Elect Jennifer Etnier,
Secretary-Treasurer Thomas Raedeke, Communication Director Catherine Sabiston, PastPresidents’ Liaison Maureen Weiss, and Student Representative Nicole Westlund. Also in
attendance were Incoming President-Elect Daniela Corbetta and Incoming Student
Representative, Kara Palmer. Penny McCullagh was in attendance to present a conference report
and Diane Ste-Marie was a guest for a discussion of representing NASPSPA at FEPSAC.
Raedeke will submit the minutes from the pre-conference, post-conference and unofficial
business meeting minutes within 10 days. Edits should be submitted by July 1 to enable
publication in the fall 2015 newsletter. The business meeting minutes are officially approved at
the 2015 business meeting.
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The meeting was called to order by Wulf at 8:37 am.
The new officers were welcomed.
The agenda was approved.
Portland Post-Conference Report (McCullagh)
a. The conference was well attended with more than 450 registered attendees, 410
accepted abstracts, and approximately 390 members attending the banquet. The
Hilton, as well as an additional hotel, sold out of rooms blocked for NASPSPA.
b. There was an error in the excel file (i.e., column being shifted down one by row)
which resulted in some challenges in assembling the registration packet for
conference attendees.
c. Using a Mac computer created some formatting challenges for presenters and
moderators. Hotel technology is not as sophisticated as that commonly found in
universities. To prevent future issues, members should be instructed that their
presentation has to be in a PC format and that they will be unable to plug in their own
computer. Thus their presentation should be saved on a flash drive. This information
should be communicated in presentation instructions posted on the website, at the
time of registration, and through email blasts. In addition, presenters should be
reminded of poster dimensions using the same means above.
d. In terms of the 2016 conference in Montreal, McCullagh will schedule a site visit
given the change in hotel management.
e. For the 2017 50th Anniversary Conference, McCullagh will form a historic planning
committee to commemorate this historic event. Also, the conference dates will be
from Sunday through Wednesday as those were the only days available. This should
be communicated to the membership early to facilitate planning. In an effort to
promote the conference and encourage former NASPSPA members who are currently
inactive to attend, conference and registration information should be sent to current as
well as former NASPSPA members starting in October.
f. Efforts to plan the 2018 conference are underway. Colorado, New Mexico, and
Madison, WI are potential sites. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, although initially on the
list, has not responded with hotel availability. McCullagh will further pursue whether
Wyoming is a possibility. Alaska should be included on rotation for a Western
location.
g. The fall executive committee is tentatively scheduled for October 19 (fly in on the
18th) in Indianapolis. Potential agenda items for the fall meeting include the
possibility of symposia in motor behavior be considered for publication in a special
issue of the Journal of Motor Learning and Development based on the suggestion of
Corbetta. In addition, Weiss will modify the process for memorializing deceased
members based on feedback received in the Past-Presidents Luncheon for discussion
at the fall meeting.
5. Conference program (Smith)
a. Overall, program feedback was positive. The Past-President’s Luncheon was also a
success and should be continued in the future.
b. Smith will create a list of “no shows” to be included in the Shadow Document. On
occasion, poster and abstract titles did not match. Presenters should be reminded that
abstract and poster titles should match.
c. Moderators did a great job. Prior to the conference, they were given an updated
document with guidelines. In addition, seasoned members were asked to moderate
which may have helped.
d. Guest speakers stayed throughout the conference. This may have been in part due to
effort of the planning committee to integrate them within the conference (e.g., meals
with them).
e. The preconference sessions were reasonably well attended (e.g., 20 participants) and
should be continued based on informal feedback. The same topics could be continued
in the future (grant writing and statistical workshops). In particular, the special aims
discussion was particularly well received. In addition, sessions targeting students as
well as mid-career faculty are appropriate. Ekkekakis has also expressed interest in
presenting a preconference workshop on affect related issues. Additional feedback on
the preconference workshop should be included on the post conference survey.
f. Weiss thanked Smith for his efforts on facilitating a quality program which was
echoed by the executive committee.
g. Wulf invited to Diane Ste-Marie to attend part of the meeting to discuss ideas on how
she would promote NASPSPA and the Montreal conference at FEPSACS given the
close proximity to Europe. In particular, the executive committee highlighted that
NASPSPA is a student-friendly organization yet at the same time we need to ensure
the organization remains attractive to mid-career faculty. During this discussion, the
executive board noted that we should assess how many students versus faculty
presented to ensure we have a good balance of faculty and students presenting.
6. Student activities (Westlund)
a. 44 of the 73 students who preregistered online for the Student-Faculty Roundtable
“Speed Dating” event attended. Given that, the importance of attending should be
highlighted in the Newsletter. In addition, students who preregister should be asked at
the time of conference check in if they plan to attend. If not, their ticket could be
given to someone else. In addition the attendance records for the past 5 years should
be examined to assess whether there is an attendance pattern that could be used in
event planning.
b. 50 students attended the student meeting. When discussing the 3-minute thesis
concept, 20 students mentioned they would be interested in participating.
c. The scavenger hunt was a success with 8 teams participating with approximately 70
students attending the student social.
d. The two student events cost approximately $1700 dollars with 63 of the registrants
signing up both events.
7. Post-Conference Survey (Sabiston)
a. Skip Maier will communicate with the communication director on developing a more
streamlined process for creating the newsletter and to allow NASPSPA more direct
access to the publication process. One possibility is to allow the communication
director develop the Newsletter with HKP reviewing the final product to ensure
quality control.
b. Sabiston will seek the ever elusive Facebook access information until the end of time.
c. Jason Wozencroft is willing to stay on board to help with the website as needed.
d. The communications director will administer the post conference survey and add
items on the preconference workshop which will be presented in the fall meeting.
8. Moving Forward
a. Recommended agenda items for the fall 2015 Executive Committee Meeting include
discussion of potentially creating a special JMLD issue of top-level symposia
(Corbetta), finalizing the process for memorials and tributes for deceased members,
trends in event attendance by students, reminder for current and former NASPSPA
members to renew, discussion of the abstract submission process, and review of the
post-conference survey results.
b. The 2015 Fall Executive Committee Meeting will be tentatively scheduled for
October 19th in Indianapolis.
C. New and Existing Officers partnered for one-on-one meeting on creating a smooth
transition after the meeting was adjourned.
9. The meeting was adjourned by Wulf at 10:30.
Respectfully submitted by Thomas D. Raedeke, Secretary-Treasurer