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July 1996
Volume 60 |
Number 7
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PRESIDENT'S PAGE
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| Section on Annual
Meeting |
Norig Ellison, M.D., President
In continuing to provide information on how ASA works, I will
provide answers to seven common questions concerning the Section
on Annual Meeting.
1. When does planning for the Annual Meeting begin?
The planning for the 1996 Annual Meeting actually began in 1986,
when the Committee on Annual Meeting Sites, chaired by then First
Vice-President Harry H. Bird, M.D., along with Robert T. Capps,
M.D., and Ellison C. Pierce, Jr., M.D., selected New Orleans.
If a site under consideration has not been visited recently, the
committee will actually travel to the city to examine its convention
center, hotels and other less obvious features such as transportation.
This was not necessary in 1986 since the 1981 and 1984 Annual
Meetings had been held in New Orleans. Other considerations include
when (if ever) ASA last met in a specific city or region.
2. How is a city selected?
In 1994, I chaired the Committee on Annual Meeting Sites, which
recommended to the Board of Directors and House of Delegates that
the Annual Meeting in 2006 be held in Chicago, which last hosted
the Annual Meeting in 1978. Incidentally, the 1978 Annual Meeting
was the last Annual Meeting held entirely in one hotel. Starting
with the 1979 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, ASA has met in
municipal convention centers and has had rooms provided by many
hotels.
City convention bureaus and cooperating hotels are most anxious
to host the ASA Annual Meeting and often go all out to prove they
are the right site. (The economic impact of an ASA Annual Meeting
can be real; if each of the 14,784 registrants at the 1995 Annual
Meeting spent just $250 dollars in Atlanta, that would exceed
$3.6 million!) I can attest to the hospitality of Chicago's convention
bureau and hotels on the basis of personal experience in 1994,
when Jared C. Barlow, M.D., Norman Levin, M.D., and I site-visited
Chicago.
The time line for selecting Annual Meeting sites was extended
from 10 years to 12 years in 1992 because a multitude of organizations
had extended their time line for choosing convention sites to
12 years, meaning there were fewer available sites from which
to choose when looking for a site only 10 years in advance.
The considerations in selecting Annual Meeting sites consist of
much more than a site visit. Component societies must first invite
ASA to hold an Annual Meeting at a city in their state and prepare
a detailed report that includes, among other things, a list of
hotels within a reasonable distance of the convention center and
how many first-class rooms each hotel would reserve for Annual
Meeting visitors.
One interesting detail is that the report must include the date
that the city's municipal and hotel employee contracts run out.
Why? Registrants at the 1966 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia know
the answer. On the day that meeting began, the hotel and restaurant
employees were scheduled to go on strike, meaning guests would
have to carry their own bags, make their own beds and eat dinner
outside of the hotel. Perhaps memories of that meeting explain
why ASA has not met in Philadelphia since 1966!
3. Who runs the Section on Annual Meeting?
In 1994, then ASA President Wilson C. Wilhite, Jr., M.D., actually
selected the Chair of the 1996 Section on Annual Meeting when
he appointed Bradley E. Smith, M.D., to chair the Committee on
Scientific Papers; Dr. Smith automatically moved up to Vice-Chair
of the Section in 1995 and Chair in 1996. Anthony D. Ivankovich,
M.D., is the Vice-Chair of the 1996 Annual Meeting, and John R.
Moyers, M.D., is Chair of the Committee on Scientific Papers.
In November 1995, the planning for the 1996 Annual Meeting began
in earnest when the Committee on Annual Meeting Review, chaired
by Robert S. Crumrine, M.D. (1995 Chair of the Section on Annual
Meeting), met for a full day in Chicago to review the 1995 Annual
Meeting, discuss innovations for the 1996 Annual Meeting and set
in motion the machine that would again produce the biggest and
best scientific, technical and social meeting in the world devoted
exclusively to anesthesia.
While the three-year cycle to chairing the Section on Annual Meeting
provides continuity and an experienced leader, the ASA Executive
Office staff members must be cited for the outstanding job they
do each year. They are real professionals and provide much of
the behind-the-scenes work that results in "the Greatest
Show on Earth for Anesthesiologists."
4. Are there conflicts with other meetings?
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) also meets in October,
and on occasion, our meetings blissfully coincide. Most years,
anesthesiologists are in excess at the hospital one week in October
when the surgeons are away at the ACS annual meeting, and during
another week, the surgeons usually try to schedule heavily to
make up for their meeting week only to find a shortage of anesthesi-ologists.
Ideally, we should always schedule the same week, but the complexity
of scheduling two large conventions simultaneously in different
cities has not yet been surmounted.
5. How are scientific papers selected?
At the 1996 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, 1,201 of 2,232 abstracts
submitted (54 percent) will be presented. The Committee on Scientific
Papers has 14 subcommittees, each with 11 members (154 total),
who reviewed all abstracts submitted to the Executive Office by
April 1. The Committee members' ratings of abstracts were compiled
and abstract authors notified of the results, giving the accepted
presenters approximately four months to prepare their presentation.
6. Who are the participants in the ASA Annual Meeting?
Figure 1 demonstrates the growth in total
attendance and member attendance since 1954, the earliest year
for which records are available. Among the cities highlighted
are New Orleans and San Francisco, two of our most frequently
visited cities and ones with excellent convention facilities,
outstanding hotels and other amenities.
In the April 1995 NEWSLETTER, I commented on the large
number of ASA members who volunteer to serve on ASA committees.
There is no better example of ASA members volunteering than for
the Annual Meeting. All ASA member participants in the Refresher
Course Lectures and Clinical Update Program, panels and workshops
pay their own expenses and receive no honorarium. Without these
many volunteers, the Annual Meeting, which is offered to members
at no charge above dues, could not be so offered.
The most important participant is you, the individual ASA member.
This is your opportunity to obtain information in various educational
formats, see the latest developments in equipment at a time when
you can compare several vendors on the same floor, and meet old
friends.
7. When can "ASA democracy in action" be observed?
I urge each of you to attend one or both sessions of the House
of Delegates, which will be held at the New Orleans Marriott
on Sunday and Wednesday mornings, October 20 and 23. Also, the
reference committees for the House will be held on Sunday afternoon
and, if necessary, Monday morning. Take the opportunity to see
ASA democracy in action.
Members and guests are welcome to observe the House of Delegates,
and members are encouraged to appear before the reference committees
to offer testimony on any and all matters that have been referred
to that reference committee.
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