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AAMA kicked off the year by celebrating our 80th anniversary during the 2017 Annual Conference in February. Debuted at that conference was a new meeting format that consolidated content into fewer separate sessions:

  • Enabling broader member participation and better access to meeting content
  • Minimizing scheduling conflicts and content redundancies, and
  • Maximizing access to staff advisors.

The new approach also afforded the opportunity to deliver seminar, roundtable and workshop sessions, some of which were repeated throughout the event to accommodate participants’ busy conference schedules. Though a significant change, particularly for members who have longevity with the association, the overwhelming feedback indicated that the new format generated even greater value and easier connection to important information for those who participated in the event.

As part of the new format implementation, materials related to the meeting content are prepared and delivered to member participants in a new way as well. The primary tools to be aware of are the meeting schedule and agendas with corresponding presentations.

Meeting Schedule

Not only does the schedule tell event participants what meetings are occurring when and where to go for each session, but it also provides links to critical information about each session. For the meetings where association business is being addressed, the schedule links to an agenda identifying all planned topics of discussion. For seminar, roundtable and workshop sessions, the schedule links to information sheets delivering an overview of the subject being addressed and the speaker.

Agendas 

The meeting session agendas do exactly what you would expect – they provide an overview listing of the topics to be addressed. However, they also now include a link to a full presentation file delivering details about each agenda item. These presentations can be saved, printed and forwarded to others in your company for reference. They are available before, during and after the conference through the agendas posted on the AAMA website.

Meeting Presentations

These new comprehensive tools are custom-made for each session at every conference. They provide basic information about every committee and task group operating within the association so members can better evaluate where to invest their time based on the areas of interest to them that are actively being worked on. Additionally, they introduce and guide more in-depth discussion that is slated for each meeting session. They provide an excellent resource for members to plan their meeting session attendance prior to the beginning of the conference and serve as a useful take-away for reference after the event has concluded.

2017 Summer Conference

We’re currently gearing up for our next national conference which will take place June 18-22 in Newport, RI. Watch for agendas to be released in May with meeting session presentation links added a week or so prior to the event. Looking forward to seeing many of you there and hearing about your experience with the new format!