We are thrilled to report that the 2020 ACBS World Conference ONLINE had our highest number of conference attendees ever. Thank you and welcome to our first time attendees! We had over 1,300 in attendance, with 112 oral presentations, over 100 posters, 21 Ignites, plus networking rooms and chats. Despite the online setting, the Conference was a highly engaging event due in large part to our generous community. A fantastic lineup of presenters, limited Spanish language interpretation, an extended schedule, and staying safe from the comfort of home (plus lower registration fees than normal) were big keys to the success of the 2020 ACBS World Conference ONLINE.
On Thursday, July 16th, Program Committee Chairs Jennifer Gregg and Matthew Boone kicked off the conference and welcomed everyone to the first ACBS World Conference ONLINE. At 8:15am (CDT), the seven concurrent sessions began with panel discussions, symposiums, and workshops which continued throughout the day. At 10:00 am, the first plenary speaker, Amanda Diekman, presented her lecture “Gender as Embedded in Societal Structure, Social Context, and the Self: Opportunities and Obstacles.” The busy day had a some breaks built in so that attendees could watch the Ignite presentations, read the posters, or join the Chapter or Special Interest Group networking sessions. Thursday concluded with Michele Gelfand presenting her plenary lecture “Tight or Loose? The Key to Unlocking Our Cultural Divisions.” Friday’s plenary speaker was Joseph LeDoux, who spoke about “As Soon as There Was Life There Was Danger: Fear Is a Human Invention.” Saturday’s morning plenary featured four speakers, Lisa Coyne, Julia Fiebig, Anthony Biglan, and Tiffany Dubac, who discussed “We’re all in this Together: A Coalition of Behavior Science Organizations to Combat Climate Change.” The symposiums, workshops, panel discussions, Chapter networking meetings, and Special Interest Events continued throughout the conference. ACBS President Dennis Tirch presented the Saturday evening plenary on “Reclaiming Ourselves and Restoring Our World Through Compassion.” Immediately after Dennis Tirch’s speech, the Follies were hosted by DJ Moran and Dayna Lee-Baggley. ACBS members sang, performed skits, and even tap-danced in short videos. DJ and Dayna did a fabulous job making the spirit of the Follies come alive online. On Sunday morning, the conference continued with panels, symposiums, and workshops. All told the ACBS World Conference ONLINE resulted in 4 wonderful and jam-packed days in July!
Transitioning from an in-person to an online event in the short timeline we had was no small feat. A big thank you goes out to our volunteer Conference Program Chairs, Jennifer Gregg and Matthew Boone, and the Conference Program Committee members who had to do a large portion of their work twice. Thank you also to the Conference Strategy Committee, (now) Past-President Dennis Tirch, and the entire ACBS Board. In many different ways nearly every ACBS Committee contributed to the success of this conference. We couldn’t have done it without your hard work and flexibility!
Whatever happened with New Orleans? With the uncertainty caused by the COVID pandemic, most hotels and conference venues continue to hold out hope that they would be able to hold events "soon." The trouble with that is the venue wouldn't permit cancellations far in advance without ACBS paying massive penalties. Therefore, while we could not officially cancel the New Orleans conference, ACBS was busy behind the scenes making contingency plans, which obviously resulted in this very successful online event. ACBS was then finally able to renegotiate with the New Orleans Sheraton. Not only were we able to exit our 2020 contract without penalty, but we can look forward to holding World Conference in that terrific venue in 2025.