A:
There will be just over 300 sessions at the conference this year, plus a number of special events including policy area super sessions, receptions, lunches, and networking mixers.
back to top
A:
Online registration for the Fall Research Conference opened August 9, 2021. Onsite registration is also available.
back to top
A:
All registrations in advance must be completed at APPAM.org. Registrations can be made using Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express cards. Domestic checks can be mailed to the APPAM office at 1100 Vermont Ave NW, Suite #650, Washington, DC 20005. We cannot accept foreign money orders or bank transfers from individuals. Please note that during the registration process, you will be given the opportunity to print an invoice for your registration. You must send that invoice, along with your payment, to the APPAM office.
back to top
A:
No. APPAM members are very active in our conference, with 75% of attendees fulfilling at least one role as a participant. As such, we do not offer participant discounts.
back to top
A:
APPAM offers a 15% registration discount for all government employees. To take advantage of this rate, you must have a .gov email address. Contact Ryan Martz, rmartz@appam.org, for a special registration code and further information.
back to top
A:
There will be four session types available to accommodate as many session participants and attendees as possible:
- In-Person Sessions – This is the traditional APPAM session format that will take place in an Austin meeting room and will only be available to participants and audience members in Austin.
- Live Streamed Sessions – The APPAM Membership Breakfast and Awards, the Presidential Address and Awards, and all 11 Super Sessions will take place in Austin and live streamed out to the remote audience so both in-person and virtual attendees can enjoy these events.
- Hybrid Sessions – These sessions will consist of 50% or more in-person speakers with a select number of virtual speakers. These sessions will have a dedicated meeting room in Austin for our in-person participants and audience, and they’ll also live streamed for our virtual speakers and audience.
- Virtual Sessions – All session participants will be virtual and presenting from a location of their choosing. This format will be available to the in-person audience in a dedicated meeting room in Austin, as well as the at-home audience.
In short, all session types will be available for our in-person attendees that join us in Austin, Texas. A select number of sessions will be live streamed to the virtual audience. All session times will be in US Central Time.
back to top
A:
We asked presenters to notify us by July 30th with any presentation changes and we heard from many of you. To accommodate as many participants as possible, we added 11 more hybrid sessions to the 2021 APPAM Fall Research Conference. This means we will offer 22 hybrid sessions, 26 virtual sessions and 11 in-person Super Sessions will be streamed live, as well as the Membership & Awards Breakfast and the Presidential Address & Awards. In short, more than 60 sessions (about 20% of the total content) will be accessible by a virtual registrant.
As such, we’re no longer accepting presentation change requests. If you are scheduled to present in person but are unable or unwilling to travel to Austin, we ask that you let us know as soon as you can, and we will remove your work from the program. The session participant cancellation deadline is September 15.
back to top
A:
We look forward to seeing you in Austin—but only if you’re vaccinated. We will ask during the registration process about your vaccination status, but we will not require presentation of vaccine information. We trust our members and attendees to be truthful and to adhere to public health safety guidelines. If you are not vaccinated, we encourage you to attend #2021APPAM virtually, for everyone’s safety. If you haven’t gotten vaccinated yet – please do so! We want to see you in person.
back to top
A:
Because we are only welcoming vaccinated attendees, we are not requiring masks right now. But that might change. We will be monitoring conditions in Austin and will adjust these guidelines as necessary.
back to top
A:
We are committed to being as creative as we can to ensure safety at #2021APPAM. We’re considering limiting the capacity of session rooms, setting rooms for 75% or 50% of their capacity and beyond, encouraging traffic in one direction, adjusting meals/receptions to discourage using communal condiments and serving utensils, etc. Whatever we can reasonably do to make the conference itself a safe one, we will do.
back to top
A:
We're sure some of you are asking this question and it's a valid one. A few reasons:
1) Overwhelmingly, our members and attendees have said they are ready to attend an in-person conference. We know in-person conferences are far more valuable for our attendees and we want to do everything we can to make this happen. We are confident that we can adopt safety protocols to keep all attendees as safe as possible. We’ll continue to monitor the situation and will keep everyone apprised to changes no later than October 1.
2) Virtual meetings are fine if there is no other option. But they are not the same as in-person meetings for networking, making connections, and sharing research with peers. We are committed to trying to hold #2021APPAM in-person because it's a better way to meet, particularly for young scholars looking for a job.
3) While we were able to have about 20% of sessions offered virtually, some sessions could not be shifted to virtual because of logistical and technology limitations. We accommodated as many changes as we could but we unfortunately cannot make all sessions virtual at this point. We understand not everyone is comfortable with an in-person event but we want to make sure we can welcome as many attendees as possible, in whichever format that may be. APPAM staff is doing their best to ensure everyone feels safe participating however they are able to do so.
4) A month ago, covid metrics were good and vaccinated individuals were encouraged to resume life as it was, pre-pandemic. The delta variant has changed that. But vaccination rates have increased in the last two weeks, and we hope they continue in that direction. It's a fluid situation and there really is no telling what the COVID-19 infection rate will be like in three months. We’re actively monitoring the situation and will provide updates no later than October 1.
5) Finally, the health of our members and attendees is our first and foremost priority but we also can’t ignore the costs associated with going 100% virtual now. We have a contractual obligation to hold the meeting in-person and breaking this contract will have significant, and detrimental, financial impacts on the organization. Unfortunately, event insurance policies no longer include coverage for COVID-19 concerns and APPAM, as a nonprofit organization, is unable to absorb the financial implications of cancelling the event given the current pandemic status.
back to top
A:
Access to all hybrid sessions, all virtual sessions, all streamed sessions (Super Sessions, Presidential Address and Membership Meeting), as well as recordings of all these sessions afterwards. Hybrid and virtual sessions will be held as Zoom Meetings so virtual attendees can interact directly with the presenters. All streamed sessions (Super Sessions and special events) will be held as Zoom Webinars so virtual attendees may submit their questions via the Q&A feature but will not be able to speak directly to the presenters.
back to top
A:
Probably not. As public health recommendations change, we will adapt this advice. But we wanted to be proactive and let you know where APPAM leadership stands right now, in early August, so you can plan accordingly. We will let you know by October 1 of any changes to the conference.
back to top