Keys include starting with priorities, asking other associations for reviews on vendors




Nov. 20, 2020
By Kathryn Walson

Like many associations, the American Psychological Association had to quickly select a virtual conference platform for its annual convention this past August.

“We didn’t even know where to start. There weren’t a lot of examples (of digital association meetings) to look at,” said Alicia Aebersold, chief communications officer. “And then when we started calling vendors to do demos, the vendors were almost laughing at us, like, ‘There’s no time for a demo. You’d better book a day because we’re filling up so fast.’

“It’s funny even to say it now, but we didn’t even know what questions we needed to ask,” Aebersold said.