NABE/AUBER Spring Meeting Valuable for AUBER Attendees

AUBERites at the NABE/AUBER spring meeting in Washington. Seated (from left): Janet Speyrer, Marshall Vest, Lorena Akioka. Standing (from left): Tim Hogan, Ashvin Vibhakar, Littleton Maxwell, Jerry Wall, Cindy DiPersio, Jeff Collins, Stephen Smith, Andy Brod, Essie Adibi, Jerry Conover.

Once again, the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) and AUBER cosponsored a spring meeting in Washington, DC. With a good mix of general and concurrent sessions, the March 25 and 26 conference, titled "Economic Policy in Transition," featured policymakers, analysts, and practitioners discussing a wide variety of topics. AUBER, represented by about 30 conferees, hosted a well-attended networking reception. The general consensus among AUBER members was that this was the most productive NABE/AUBER collaboration yet, with stimulating panels of interest to the memberships of both NABE and AUBER. AUBER cohosted panels on "Fiscal Stress and State Governments" and "Economic Impact of Offshore Outsourcing," and hosted "Uses of Federal and State Statistics" that featured two Bureau of Labor Statistics speakers who addressed the complex issue of the discrepancy between the household and payroll employment surveys.

To gauge member interest in continuing to gather in Washington, AUBER's Spring Meeting Committee surveyed the membership in early March on their attitudes toward the spring meeting and reported the findings to the AUBER Board in Washington. Out of an AUBER membership of 83, an impressive 49 separate units responded. Although space constraints prevent a comprehensive summary of the findings here, a few important items should be mentioned. First, many respondents indicated that they were not aware that the spring meeting is open to all unit staff, not simply unit directors. Second, respondents, both those who had attended in the last five years and those who had not, agreed that AUBER still needs a second meeting every year, in addition to the fall meeting. Third, it was clear from the results that meeting with representatives from federal agencies is no longer as important to many units as it once was; however, the programming offered by AUBER and NABE under the current arrangement, and the importance of maintaining contact with colleagues and board members, remains sufficiently important among AUBER members to justify the (regrettably but understandably high) cost of meeting in DC.

In discussing the survey findings, the board concluded that the current arrangement with NABE more than meets the goals of the spring meeting (to facilitate board and member communication, to educate members with quality programming, and to recruit new AUBER members and raise the profile of the organization). The board overwhelmingly supported a continuation of the NABE/AUBER partnership. With more and better promotion of the meeting's benefits for both researchers and research communicators at AUBER units, we can continue increasing attendance at the spring meeting and be even more productive next year.

Bruce Kellison
University of Texas at Austin
AUBER Spring Meeting Chair

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