Newsletter
Volume 30 | 2007 | Number 2
Continued Convention Success in 2007!
Recap of ABA 2007 in San Diego
By Dr. Maria E. Malott
The 34th Annual Convention for the Association for Behavior Analysis International in San Diego was a resounding success. We had 4,310 registrants – the highest in ABA’s history. 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 29 countries as well as from 49 U.S. 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. |
The program content, of course, is in great part what makes a very attractive convention. The number of presentations increased 6% over the 2006 program. The contributions of 3,107 authors from over 24 countries to the program assured a rich, varied program. We thank all of the authors and presenters who played a part in the convention.
Figure 4 shows the growth in convention submissions over the past 10 years.
Figure 4. Ten-year submissions for the ABA convention. |
Of 4,039 evaluations sent to attendees, 733 were returned. Of those returned, 91% rated the convention as Excellent – Very Good overall. Figure 5 shows the percentage of respondents who evaluated various aspects of the convention as Very Good to Excellent. |
 |
Figure 5. Percent of survey responses Excellent – Very Good. |
 |
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. |
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.
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 225 jobs posted from 160 employers on the job placement Web site and 158 resumes posted.
The ABA Cooperative Bookstore featured not only presenters’ requested titles, but a book signing fair with over 40 of the field’s most respected authors.
The dedicated commitment and hard work of many individuals made the success of the ABA convention possible. 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. Janet S. Twyman, Coordinator of the Program Board. The Area Coordinators, as well, volunteered considerable time and expertise, and are as follow: Drs. Jack Scott and William H. Ahearn, Autism; Drs. John M. Roll and Jesse Dallery, Behavioral Pharmacology; Drs. Kelly G. Wilson and Ann D. Branstetter, Clinical; Drs. Janet Ellis and Maria Ruiz, Community Interventions, Social & Ethical Issues; Drs. Kent Johnson and Mark R. Dixon, Developmental Disabilities; Drs. Jacob L. Gewirtz and Martha Pelaez, Human Development, Gerontology; Drs. James S. MacDonall and Mark P. Reilly, Experimental Analysis of Behavior; Drs. Timothy Slocum and Ronnie Dietrich, Education; Drs. Timothy A. Ludwig and Alicia M. Alvero, Organizational Behavior Management; Drs. David Palmer and Sam Leigland, Theoretical, Philosophical, and Conceptual Issue; Drs. Pamela G. Osnes and Denise E. Ross, Teaching Behavior Analysis; and Drs. William F. Potter and Matthew Normand, Verbal Behavior.
Dr. Richard W. Malott oversaw the Continuing Education for BACB events in his role as CE Coordinator. His careful review and thought are much appreciated. There were 89 pre-convention workshops offered as part of the event, of which 85 were offered for BACB CE and 76 for APA CE.
The Western Michigan University Design Center, under the direction of Tricia Hennessy, Art Director, and Paul Sizer, Production Manager, once again provided the designs for convention publications. The students who developed our designs were Amy Elberling, Carl Faraon, Tyler Johnson, Kasey Moore, and Melanie Whetstone. Their talent and dedication to their field is to be commended.
I need to thank the ABA staff, who, as usual, was 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 76 people worked the event, including 50 workshop volunteers. Other event staff members were Waleed AlBaloushi, Lotfi Ben Othmane, Astha Chouhan, Margaret Eisele, Mynti Hossain, Jack Lingbeek, Jessica Miller, Joseph Romeo, Lisa Beth Sanchez, Majda Seuss, Michelle Van Wagner, Carol Weatherford, Nancy Wood, and Amanda Wright from the Association for Behavior Analysis International.
Kayleen Buschert, Shelby Crisan, Laura DeRuiter, Christina Eggen, Andrea Scheckel, and Bridget Wisniewski joined us from grand Valley State University, and from Western Michigan University, we had Megan Butler, Sarah Campau, Casey Mogridge, Anam Tareen, and Cody Thompson.
We are already planning for ABA 2008 in Chicago. Event details are being prepared and the 2008 Call for Papers is published on the ABA Web site. The 2008 convention Web site will be updated as the schedule, program, and other details are finalized. In addition, ABA is planning the 2nd Annual Autism Conference in Atlanta on February 8-10.
We look forward to seeing you at one – or all – of these events next year.