Run the Numbers: Data on the 47th Annual Convention

By Jonathan Tarbox

The Program Board looks forward to another strong program at the virtual 47th Annual Convention. Our continued success with this convention is due to the support provided by the ABAI administrative staff and Executive Council. The following is a brief overview of the 2021 convention program.

Program Report

Current call for submissions guidelines state that:

individuals may serve in the following roles:
- presenting author on no more than two posters, and
- presenting author/panelist on no more than one oral presentation (paper, individual symposium presentation, or panel), and
- chair or discussant on no more than one symposia or panel.
presentations involving a single study should be submitted as posters, or submitted as part of an integrated symposium.
for symposia, submissions are encouraged which involve an integrated series of presentations organized around a central theme, involve presentations from multiple institutions rather than from a single laboratory, and contain a discussant outside of the presenting group.

In implementing these guidelines, the Program Board has strengthened the emphasis on submissions addressing diversity, including issues of access (to higher education, services, etc.) of marginalized groups; behavioral science research concerned with topics such as implicit bias in scientific research, interventions aiming to ameliorate the effects of systemic bias, and others; or analyses of discriminatory behavior, of both individual and systems. We have received consultation and support from multiple experts in diversity, including Landria Green, BCBA, and Vanessa Bethea-Miller, BCBA, co-founders of the ABA Taskforce to Eradicate Social Injustice. We invite constructive feedback from the ABAI membership on aspects of the program that are strong, as well as aspects of the program that could be further strengthened. The Program Board will continue to review challenges and explore the need for further clarifications of guidelines as we go forward.

Figure 1. Posters, papers, panels, symposia and tutorials, 1999–2021, compared with total submissions.

There were 979 total submissions for 2021, including 423 posters, 286 panels and symposia, 83 papers, 61 invited presentations/B. F. Skinner Lectures, 46 business meetings, 18 reunions, 108 expo posters, and 58 workshops (see Figure 1). While the total number of submissions has decreased from the original on-site 2020 convention, the total number of submissions is 7% higher than the number of presentations that were given at the 2020 virtual convention.
A final version of the convention data will be provided at the ABAI Business Meeting during the convention and in the summer issue of Inside Behavior Analysis. After the convention, all relevant information will be carefully examined by the Program Board, the ABAI office, and Executive Council.

Area Coordinators

The hard work and effort of the area coordinators resulted in 61 invited presentations, including 17 B. F. Skinner lectures. The individuals who contributed to this process include new area co-coordinators Erica Feurbacher (AAB), Regina Carroll (AUT), August Holtyn (BPN), Daniel Fienup (TBA), and Rocio Rosales (VRB). There would be no convention without the committed work of Program Committee Chair Dr. Amy Odum, all the area coordinators, and the other members of the Program Board. Finally, on behalf of the Program Board, I would like to thank Maria E. Malott and the ABAI staff for their support and guidance.