Newsletter
Volume 29 | 2006 | Number 2
Another Successful Annual Convention!
Recap of ABA 2006 in Atlanta
By Dr. Maria E. Malott
We are pleased to report the success of another ABA convention. With nearly 4,000 registrants, ABA 2006 was our best attended event to date. Figure 1 shows the growth of convention attendance over the past 10 years.
Figure 1. Ten-year attendance at the ABA convention. |
Attendees came from all over the world. There was representation from 32 countries as well as people from all over the United States. Figures 2 and 3 show the geographic origins of convention attendees. |
 Figure 2. Countries represented by convention attendees. |
Figure 3. States represented by convention attendees. |
Thanks to the amazing work of Doug Greer, Affiliated Chapters Board Coordinator, the affiliated chapters convened and had opportunities to discuss future developments.
The International Welcome brunch was attended by well over 300 people. Thanks to Simon Dymond for his work facilitating this session and to the international members who made it a success.
The program content, of course, is in great part what makes a very attractive convention. The number of presentations increased 5% over the program 2005, with the largest growth in meetings and Expo posters. Figure 4 shows the growth in convention submissions over the past 10 years.
Figure 4. Ten-year submissions for the ABA convention.
ABA 2006 included 1,477 presentations/events, including 91 workshops, 12 invited tutorials, 60 business meetings, 217 paper addresses, 224 symposia, 33 panel discussions, 683 posters, 111 ABA Expo posters, 14 reunions/receptions, 26 invited presentations, and 27 special events. The International/Spanish Track featured a total of five events with a Spanish language interpreter for each.
This year’s ABA Expo was the largest ever, with 111 posters. For the first time, 15 SIGs and 36 chapters participated in the Expo.
Of 3,827 evaluations sent to attendees, 884 were received. Of those received, 91% rated the convention as Excellent – Very Good overall. Figure 5 (on the following page) shows evaluation responses in other areas of the convention.
This year for the first time, attendees also assessed the quality of the program by area. The data showed that all of the areas were highly rated, as seen in Figure 6.
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Figure 5. Percent of survey responses Excellent – Very Good. |
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Figure 6. Percentage of survey respondents rating each area as Excellent to Very Good; in parentheses is the total number of respondents for each area. |
ABA’s on-site job placement service provided a means for employers to post jobs and for applicants to review job postings. During the convention, there were 182 jobs posted from 63 employers on the job placement Web site and ABA scheduled 60 interviews.
The ABA Cooperative Bookstore featured not only presenters’ requested titles, but twelve book signing sessions by the field’s most respected authors.
The success of the ABA convention would not have been possible without the dedicated commitment of many individuals. The Program Committee did its usual extraordinary job scheduling events and encouraging submissions for many fine invited events and tutorials. Special thanks go to Dr. Ramona Houmanfar, Senior Co-Chair, and Dr. William Palya, Co-Chair, as well as Dr. Thomas Critchfield, Coordinator of the Program Board. The Area Coordinators, as well, volunteered
considerable time and expertise, and are as follow: Dr. Jack Scott, Autism; Dr. John Roll, Behavioral Pharmacology; Dr. Kelly Wilson, Clinical; Drs. Janet Ellis and Maria Ruiz, Community Interventions, Social & Ethical Issues; Dr. Kent Johnson, Developmental Disabilities; Drs. Jacob Gewirtz and Martha Pelaez, Human Development, Gerontology; Dr. William Palya, Experimental Analysis of Behavior; Dr. Timothy Slocum, Education; Dr. Timothy Ludwig, Organizational Behavior Management; Dr. David Palmer, Theoretical, Philosophical, and Conceptual Issue; and Dr. William Potter, Verbal Behavior.
Dr. Richard Malott oversaw the CE for BACB events in his role as CE Coordinator. His careful review and thought are much appreciated. There were 81 pre-convention workshops offered as part of the event, of which 70 were offered for BACB CE and 65 for APA CE.
The Western Michigan University Design Center, under the direction of Tricia Hennessy, once again provided the designs for convention publications. The students who developed our designs were Austin Bedell, Kelly Birg, Jayoung Kim, Kenny Nonthaweth, and Sarah Sherman. Their talent and dedication to their field is to be commended.
I would also like to thank David Celiberti and the Parent Professional Partnership SIG for promoting the ABA convention to parents. The SIG also provided information packets and orientation services for parents who attended convention.
The contributions of 3,077 authors from over 28 countries to the program assured a rich, varied program. We thank all of the authors and presenters who played a part in the convention.
I need to thank the ABA Staff, who, as usual, were the highest-rated aspect of the convention in the survey results. This team of professionals, made up of ABA employees and convention volunteers, worked incredibly hard behind the scenes to ensure the event went smoothly. A total of 89 people worked the event, including 50 workshop volunteers. Other event staff members were:
Association for Behavior Analysis:
Waleed AlBaloushi, Andrea Allen, Lotfi Ben Othmane, Margaret Eisele, Maria Malott, Michael Preston, Majda Seuss, and Amanda Wright.
Georgia Institute of Technology:
Aaron Bozorg, Sara Cantu, Ejoktan Garnett, Charles Gaston, Nikhil Patil, Elizabeth Van Patten, and Jordan Wills.
Grand Valley State University:
Sarah Begeny
Gwinnett Technical College:
Sharon Baker, John Bowers, Denise Cole, Laura Killelea, Gabe Maloof, and Latosha Smith.
Marcus Institute:
Shuki Kathuna
May South:
Amy Shymanksky
Western Michigan University:
Jennelle Blanchard, Megan Butler, Sarah Campau, Danielle Gureghian, Muhannad Harrim, Danielle Kazakos, Catrina Litzenburg, Erick Marmolejo, Jessica Miller, Casey Mogridge, Stephanie Skunda, Laurel Swarthout, Rebecca Viau, Nancy Wood, and Michelle VanWagner
We are already planning for ABA 2007 in San Diego. Event details are being prepared and the 2007 Call for Papers is published on the ABA Web site. The 2007 convention Web site will be updated as the schedule, program, and other details are finalized.
Please note, two other ABA events are scheduled in 2007: A two-day conference on the Progress and Challenges in the Behavioral Treatment of Autism (February 2-4) and the 4th International Conference in Sydney, Australia (August 12-14).
We look forward to seeing you at one – or all – of these events next year.