By SIOP President Kurt Kraiger
Despite the turbulent economy, the attendance at this year’s conference is one of the highest in SIOP history! Every year, the program committee does an outstanding job putting together a timely, informative program, and this year is no exception.
The biggest complaint we get each year is that there is too much interesting program to see, and I suspect you’ll find that true this year as well. Be sure, though, to make time for our Thursday and Saturday theme tracks. If you don’t know, the theme tracks are a “conference within a conference,” almost an entire day devoted to a single topical theme (attendees can receive CE credit). The Thursday theme focuses on evidence-based management. One of Gary Latham’s initiatives during the past year has been to build a relationship with SHRM such that SIOP is the “go-to” scientific source of best practices in human resources. The Thursday theme is all about what evidence-based management is all about, and how attending to it makes us better scientists and practitioners. The Saturday theme is very timely, corporate social responsibility. Come learn what we know about business ethics, corporate sustainability, global leadership, and other related topics.
The program committee has also lined up a set of interesting keynote speakers. Learn what’s on the mind of top executives and thought leaders and how they look at organizational psychology. On Thursday, Lon O’Neil, president and CEO of SHRM, closes out the theme track. On Friday, Dr. Peter Gollwitzer, a professor of psychology and noted researcher at NYU, will speak on how goals and plans affect cognition and behavior. On Saturday morning, Dr. James Bray, the 2009 APA President, will give an invited address on the future of psychology practice and science education. Dr. Bray is the first APA President to attend a SIOP conference. He has reached out to Division 14 in the past year and I encourage you to hear what he has to say. Finally, Dr. Steve Kerr, senior advisor at Goldman Sachs and former chief learning officer, will be the closing plenary speaker.
Congrats to the Program Committee (chaired by John Scott) and the Conference Committee (chaired by Julie Olson-Buchanon) on another tremendous conference lineup!
If you are a conference veteran, you know that SIOP is not just about great programming, but it’s also a great opportunity for networking, re-connecting with old friends and making new ones. I’m something of a conference geek, so my favorite activity is to grab some coffee at the coffee break and hit the posters and meet the people behind the research. (They are in front of the posters, but behind the research!) There are also two general receptions on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, and a number of smaller ‘niche’ SIOP-sponsored receptions for groups such as the Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs, international members, the Leading Edge Consortium, and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Committee. I want to put a special plug for the closing reception Saturday evening (for those of you staying over). Last year’s reception was very classy and enjoyable, and this year’s will be too, featuring a “Taste of New Orleans” and one of the Big Easy’s best jazz bands.
Finally, if you are reading this, you know about the new SIOP Exchange blog. Keep checking the blog during the conference for more updates and experiences from our bloggers. I won’t be blogging, but if you want to see how I’m spending my conference, I invite you to follow me on Twitter (K_Kraiger). I will, however, blog periodically after the conference, so make sure you check back to The SIOP Exchange often to see the newest posts. And, whether you’re reading my tweets or not, if you see me at anytime during the conference, please come by and say hi!
Enjoy the conference!
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