Right about now, if Isaac hadn’t interfered, I’d be arriving in New Orleans to enjoy its local food and cocktail culture for a few days.
I was going to tag along as my boyfriend attended a conference that was to start Tuesday. Late last night, the conference was postponed, so there’s a good chance I’ll get to have my New Orleans adventure another time, most likely with better weather. But the members of the American Political Science Association aren’t so lucky.
On Sunday while watching Isaac’s westerly turn toward New Orleans, I noticed some #apsa2012 tweets in the #nola stream. The tweets were about the cancellation of their Wednesday pre-conference sessions. What a mess, I thought. Making the decision to cancel my boyfriend’s conference was a no-brainer since it was scheduled to run the day before, during, and after Isaac. But what would APSA do?
As I mourned my missed vacation, I checked the #nola stream earlier today. A slew of WTF-type tweets from #aspa2012 registrants dominated the stream. “Make a decision!” was the most common plea. People were wondering if they should get on the plane or cancel their plans. They kept asking APSA for information but nothing was forthcoming.
If APSA had taken the time to address or ask about people’s concerns, they may have stemmed some of the negativity that took over the conference hashtag.
Finally, the announcement came: the conference would start on Thursday as scheduled. If your flight to New Orleans was canceled, you could apply for a registration refund, but questions about that policy went unanswered.
Some of the tweets took the decision in stride, focusing on short lines in bars, but most of them leaned negative. Some wondered whether their concerns about traveling to the eye of the storm were even taken into consideration.
APSA’s in a tight spot. Imagine the hotel liability, and lost exhibition, sponsorship, and advertising revenue if they were to cancel. What do you do with the members and exhibitors who are flying less cooperative airlines than my full-credit-on-canceled-flights Southwest? Ask them to pay for another flight to the conference when it’s rescheduled?
What about members and speakers who can’t make it? Did they try to find out who would be able to come and use that data in their decision-making? What kind of experience will attendees have if many of the attendees and speakers can’t make it?
Imagine attendees getting to New Orleans on Thursday, the earliest they’ll be able to arrive, in what shape will the city be?
We can say to ourselves, “Man, I’m glad that’s not my association,” and the obvious, “Why would you ever schedule a conference during hurricane season in New Orleans?” Well, because I bet you can get some good deals, ask my boyfriend’s company.
Associations must consider dozens of factors when making a decision to either hold a conference during a hurricane, or postpone or cancel it. It’s a revenue question, I know that, but you can’t forget your mission. Is leadership making an expedient short-term decision or do they have the capacity (and the balls) to make the right decision?
I don’t know anything about APSA’s situation so I’m not suggesting this is a bad decision, although their members on Twitter seem to think it is. They’re a vocal minority, but do they represent the views of the majority of attendees?
Poor APSA gives the rest of us in the association community the opportunity to watch and learn.
Update: Tuesday afternoon and the conference is still on despite signs of weak attendance by members and exhibitors. Check out the comments on this blog post, Are You Going to APSA?
Update #2: Tuesday, 5:49pm APSA made the conference cancellation announcement on their website, later followed by a tweet. News of the cancellation leaked to Twitter about 20 minutes earlier. They announced, “In light of revised information we have from local officials about the trajectory of Isaac, we now anticipate the potential for sustained rain, flooding, power outages and severely restricted transportation into the city on Thursday.” I hate to say it, but after watching The Weather Channel Jim and I were anticipating those conditions when our trip and his conference were cancelled on Sunday. One of APSA’s members agrees.
August 28, 2012 at 6:39 am
I sure hope APSA has event cancellation insurance – this is the situation the coverage is designed to cover. But more importantly the association should have thought this through especially when it scheduled a conference in New Orleans on the 7th anniversary of Katrina. They should have a contingency plan in place but the Twitter stream seems to indicate the association does not have such a plan.
Every meeting planner and other key personnel need to do through the “what if” exercise – what if there is a hurricane, another oil spill, the convention center is damaged, a conference hotel is damaged in a fire, an outbreak of West Nile, etc. With contingency plans it is much easier to make the necessary decisions. Even if you did not consider the exact situation, you were probably close enough in your analysis to know what to do.
I hope it works out for APSA and other associations use this as a cautionary tale.
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August 28, 2012 at 7:11 am
Thanks, Leslie, for your truly expert opinion on this. I feel bad shining the spotlight on them, but I believe it is, as you say, a cautionary tale that can help the community deal with similar situations in the future.
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August 28, 2012 at 9:10 am
Great post. Really does highlight the value of cancellation insurance as Leslie points out. ASAE has learned a lot about that from both winter storms and threat of hurricanes. Big take away: not only have insurance, but open conversations with your provider as soon as potential scenario starts to develop. Early communication – with insurance providers, vendors, and participants are all crucial.
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August 28, 2012 at 9:27 am
Thanks, Greg. I thought of ASAE’s Tech Conference that was cancelled because of that monster blizzard in DC a few years ago. I was here in NC but watching the twitterstream and recall there being a heck of a lot more communication and transparency.
A few people on the #apsa12 stream have suggested virtual panels which also made me think of the virtual Tech conference organized by the member community in place of that Tech Conference. I know that wasn’t an official ASAE event but a few ASAE staff participated as content experts and it seemed to have ASAE’s unofficial blessing.
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October 3, 2012 at 4:08 am
[…] Their conference was scheduled in New Orleans for the days Hurricane Isaac was due to hit, and they took far too long to make a cancellation decision. In the interim, job seekers scheduled for interviews felt compelled to go forward with travel […]
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October 26, 2012 at 4:39 pm
[…] needing to present findings sans the rest of his panel. Deidre Reid of Reid All About It wrote a detailed account of her experience with the association and the effect the decision had on attendees online. APSA was widely […]
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February 27, 2013 at 11:58 am
[…] Association in the eye of a Twitter storm, about APSA’s mishaps around an annual meeting scheduled for the week before Labor Day in New Orleans, also known as when Hurricane Isaac made landfall just southeast of the city. My first association job was at APSA, so I was particularly interested in how the furor developed and how APSA responded. […]
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March 14, 2013 at 12:26 pm
[…] Association in the Eye of the Twitter Storm […]
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