ACS News
Members' views on national meetings probed Subcommittee of Meetings & Expositions Committee has released results of survey on meeting preferences, problems, and characteristics In an effort to help improve American Chemical Society national meetings, a subcommittee of the society's Meetings & Expositions Committee has compiled a mass of data on members' meeting preferences, problems, and characteristics. Much of the information comes from a member survey on national meetings conducted in February 1977. Among the initial findings of this survey is that 39% of ACS members attend ACS national meetings at least once every three years; 73% of those who do attend meetings are funded by their employers; and the three most important factors influencing attendance at national meetings are pro-
gram content, distance from home, and travel fund limitations. The survey also shows that three fourths of meeting attendees spend two or more days at national meetings and the average stay is three to four days. The need to improve ACS national meetings was perceived several years ago; attendance dropped considerably between 1966 and 1972. In 1975 the Meetings & Expositions Committee and the Divisional Activities Committee, concerned about this declining attendance, appointed a joint subcommittee to develop a program to reverse this trend. The first approach was the proposal for the National Meetings Program Development Fund. Dr. Mary Good (now chairman of the ACS Board) spearheaded board approval and with the aid of this incentive plus major efforts by the ACS divisions and an improved economic climate, meeting attendance has been rising again. To plan subsequent steps to improve national meetings, the M&E Committee appointed a subcommittee to collect data
Meeting attendance patterns have changed Data on ACS national meetings from 1965 through 1977 show that before 1970, New York City, Atlantic City, and Chicago attracted substantially more meeting attendees than other locations. However, with more societies competing for meeting attendance, changing attendance patterns, and other factors, the advantages of these cities have disappeared. Today's mobility and relatively cheap air travel seem to have made other meeting sites equally or more attractive than these three cities. In addition, the number of listeners per paper presented during national meetings declined markedly (from about 7 registrants per paper) until 1970 but has been fairly constant since then, at about 4 listeners per paper, except for the New York Centennial meeting, when the number was nearly twice as high. Data from the ACS Meetings & Expositions Department provide some interesting figures as well on attendance at national meetings (1967-76) from key residence areas. For example, the Northeast area (Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, but excluding New York and New Jersey) with 21 % of the ACS membership supplies 16% of the
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C&EN April 24, 1978
meeting registrants when the meetings are away from home. New York and New Jersey with 19% of the members contribute 1 3 % of meeting registrants at meetings away from home. Combined, this equals 2 9 % of ACS members and also represents 4 0 % of the nonlocal attendees at national meetings (local attendees are usually about 3 0 % of the registration). The North Central area (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin), with 14% of ACS members, supplies 1 0 % of meeting registrants when the meeting is away from home. And California, with 9% of the members, supplies 5% of the registrants when the meeting is away from home. Data also show that 5 to 6 % of the members residing in a given area attend meetings away from home, compared with about 2 0 % who attend meetings in their home area. An outstanding one third of California ACS residents attended the two San Francisco meetings. A 12 % figure, for the Northeast area, is low because each home city counts a substantial number of away members as part of their home area—for instance, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire residents count as home residents for a meeting in Washington, D.C.
about meetings and attendees. The subcommittee consists of William I. Denton (chairman), Roy H. Bible, Edward S. McKay, and Donald L. Swanson. One of the major activities of the subcommittee has been to conduct the February 1977 survey of ACS members. In conducting its survey, the subcommittee mailed 1500 questionnaires to ACS members. Of these, 622, or 41.5%, were returned and 609, or 40.6%, were processed, an excellent response percentage, the subcommittee says. The group then determined that those responding was a representative sample of ACS members by comparing member classifications with those obtained from the 1976 and 1977 salary and employment status surveys conducted by ACS. All of these surveys compared favorably in percentages of respondents at various degree levels and in career description (chemist, chemical engineer, and biochemist). However, the survey sample does contain a higher than normal percentage of division members (43% in the survey vs. 33% in total ACS) and thus the responses from meeting attendees may be a larger sample than the overall survey. In evaluating data from the survey, the subcommittee defined meeting attendees as those who attend national meetings once every three years or more often. These comprise frequent attendees, who attend 50% or more of the national meetings (once a year or more often), and intermittent attendees, who come to about 20% of the national meetings (once every two or three years). Survey results show that 39% of the respondents, and thus of ACS members, attend national meetings once every three years or more often. However, 61% attend meetings of other scientific societies, and 29% attend regional ACS meetings. Of particular interest to the subcommittee is that the percentage of ACS members who attend ACS national meetings compares closely, although it's slightly less, with the 46% of all members who frequently attend other scientific society meetings. In addition, the survey finds that 50% of members attend other scientific society meetings in addition to ACS national meetings. ACS regional meetings attract 29% of the members and this same proportion of members attends regional meetings in addition to national meetings. Another 15% of the members attend regional meetings instead of national meetings. Analysis of the survey data also shows that much larger proportions of nonPh.D. and nonchemist ACS members attend meetings of other scientific societies.
Effectiveness of division programs Division
ι
Rank 3
Importance % of total b
LARGE DIVISIONS6 Agricultural & Food Inorganic Biological Medicinal Analytical Polymer Organic Chemical Education Environmental Colloid & Surface Industrial & Engineering Petroleum Rubber Organic Coatings & Plastics Physical
9 7 4 5 2 3 1 6 13 16 8 15 13 10 12
4.13% 5.71 8.47 7.62 9.95 8.68 10.16 6.14 2.86 2.22 5.08 2.75 3.70 4.02 3.17
SMALL DIVISIONS' Microbial History Professional Relations Pesticide Carbohydrate Chemical Information Chemical Health & Safety Fuel Fertilizer & Soil Fluorine Computers Nuclear Chemical Marketing Cellulose, Paper & Textile
17 23 18 14 20 19 29 21 25 28 27 22 24 26
2.01 0.74 1.80 2.75 1.38 1.59 0.21 1.27 0.64 0.42 0.53 0.85 0.64 0.53
% of 1977 division members 0
Value rating d
2.64% 4.38 6.57 6.43 8.50 8.24 9.69 5.97 3.07 2.52 6.41 3.70 4.96 5,51 4.37
156 130 129 119 117 105 105 103 93 88 79 74 74 73 73
1.25 0.46 1.18 2.16 1.33 1.79 0.24 1.61 0.83 0.80 1.04 1.66 1.37 1.32
161 161 153 127 104 89 88 79 77 53 51 51 47 40
a Effectiveness ratings are ranked by adding three for each first-place (most important) vote, two for each second-place vote, and one for each third-place vote, and then ranking divisions with the highest total votes first, regardless of size—i.e. Organic division with 96 points achieved a rank of one. b Importance converts rank to per cent by dividing each division's total points by the grand point total for all divisions, c Converts divisional membership for 1977 into per cent by dividing each division's membership by total division membership (47,352). d Value rating is importance ratings relative to division membership—i.e. 100 X importance % divided by members %. A high rating indicates the division is attracting more nonmembers or a higher proportion of the division members! e More than 2 % of total division membership, f Less than 2% of total division membership.
P u t another way, ACS national meetings attract a higher percentage of the society's Ph.D. and chemist members than do meetings of other scientific societies. In fact, the typical meeting attendee at ACS national meetings is more likely to be a Ph.D. than the typical ACS member in general (69% vs. 54%), more likely to be a chemist (81% vs. 74%), more likely to be employed by industry (57% vs. 53%), and if not by industry more likely to be em ployed by academia (25% vs. 20%), and more likely to be a division member (63% vs. 43%). These trends are even more pro nounced for frequent meeting attendees, with 82% Ph.D.'s, 84% chemists, 35% ac ademic employees, and 72% division members. The survey finds that the median age of meeting attendees is 42, about the same as that for the general membership (43), but meeting attendees have a higher proportion of ages 30 through 50 (60% vs. 49%) and lower proportions of both the younger (less than 30) members (11% vs.
16%) and older (more than 50) members (29% vs. 33%). The subcommittee's survey also cate gorizes ACS meeting attendees according to various ACS groups. For instance, it finds that only 58% of division members attend national meetings once every three years or more often. On the other hand, according to the survey, only 25% of nondivisional members attend that fre quently. Thus, division members are more than twice as likely to attend national meetings as nondivisional members. Breaking figures down further, the sub committee figures that for the average meeting, with 8500 registered, 63% would be expected to be division members. This represents 17% of the 32,000 division members. The remaining nondivisional attendees represent about 5% of the total nondivisional ACS membership. By employer category, 41% of ACS members employed by industry and 48% of those employed by academia are meeting attendees, compared to only 26% of those with other means of support. A
higher percentage of Ph.D.'s and persons employed by academia are frequent at tendees, and ages 40 to 50 are when members are most likely to attend na tional meetings and most likely to be frequent attendees. In addition to characterizing meeting attendees and various groups of ACS members that attend meetings, the M&E subcommittee's survey investigated fac tors that influence decisions to attend national meetings, including attractions, cost factors, and conflicting meeting dates. The survey finds that the three most important factors are program con tent, distance from home, and travel fund limitations. Other attraction factors in decreasing order of importance are meeting city, the presence of a chemical exposition, and which ACS committees, if any, are meeting then. Cost factors studied other than distance from home and fund limitations are hotel rates and registration fees. Overall, the members surveyed rated the relative importance of attractions almost as high as cost factors and conflicts combined. Related to program content as an at traction to ACS meetings, the subcom mittee's survey compiled data that pro vide some measure of the effectiveness of a given division's program. Division members were asked to list divisions in the order of their importance to meeting attendance. By assigning values and cal culating importance factors relative to division membership, the subcommittee has arrived at value ratings for the various divisions. A high value indicates the di vision is attracting more nonmembers or a higher proportion of divisional mem bers. The highest ratings for large divisions (with membership more'than 2% of total division membership) were scored by the Agricultural & Food Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Biological Chemistry di visions. The small divisions (each with less than 2% of total divisional member ship) scoring the highest were Microbial Chemistry, History of Chemistry, and Professional Relations. Several of the key factors influencing meeting attendance were further studied by comparing their importance ratings by different subgroups. For instance, these comparisons show that meeting attendees place slightly more emphasis on program content than do ACS members in gener al. The most significant differences of opinion resulting from these comparisons were based on the source of funds to cover costs of attending national meetings. When costs are paid by the employer, program content is rated highest (61%) of the three most important factors in fluencing meeting attendance. On the other hand, those who pay their own ex penses rate cost factors such as distance from home and fund limitations more important. Of those who attend meeting! once every three years or more often, 69% said that location (meeting city) strongly in fluences their decision to attend, whereas April 24, 1978 C&EN
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ACS local section tour speakers for May 1978 As a service to ACS members, C&EN publishes listings of speakers at upcoming local section meetings. Each listing includes speakers and their affiliations, topics, sections inSpeaker/Toptc(s)
Section/Date (in May)
Dr. S. E. B. Pétrie, Eastman Kodak Co. Influence of diluent mobility on Upper Ohio Valley, Marietta the piasticization of polymers (10) Dr. David W. Young, Chemical Consulting Service Antonio Stradivari—the artist and Northeastern Indiana, Fort the chemist Wayne (12); Flint (16); Toledo (17); Northwest Central Ohio, Ada (18)
only 31% of nonattendees responding to the questionnaire were concerned about location. Further, 32% of those who pay their own expenses say that the amount of the meeting registration fee is a significant factor in deciding whether to attend. (Only about 5% of those whose expenses are paid by their employer say registration fees are of concern.) Thus, the subcommittee believes this survey confirms that, as would be expected, those who pay their own way (16% of meeting attendees) are considerably more concerned about the location (meeting city) and registration fee than those whose employers pay their way. Study of survey results on cost factors reveals that, in addition to the 73% of meeting attendees who are funded by their employers, 11% are funded by grants or awards. Thus, 84% of meeting attendees have their expenses paid. But even though this majority has its meeting expenses paid, some employers limit this support in a number of areas. For instance, the survey shows that 30% of members whose employer pays their expenses are limited to one meeting per year and another 24% have varying limits on the number of meetings funded per year. Still, nearly half (46%) of those members whose employers pay their expenses have no limits on the number of meetings the employer will fund. Further, a daily expense limit is imposed on about 37% of those whose expenses are paid by employers, but the survey didn't show a consensus daily amount. Of those members not funded by their employers, 85% are granted time off if they wish to attend. Another employer-imposed limitation explored by the survey is that of required participation in the meeting, such as presenting a technical paper. Of those members whose expenses are paid, 22% must participate in the meeting to have their expenses paid, and 16% must participate to attend. Distance limits apply to about 7% of members (10% of those funded by their employers). The survey's study of conflicts in meeting dates as a factor influencing meeting attendance involves mainly the 20% or so of ACS members who are em40
C&EN April 24, 1978
volved, and dates of the presentations. For additional information please contact the local section, or the ACS headquarters Speaker Service at (202) 872-4612. Speaker /Topic(s)
Section/Date (in May)
Dr. Jerold J. Zuckerman, U of Oklahoma Wyoming, Laramie (3); What everyone should know Boulder Dam, Las Vegas about careers (4); Sacramento, Stockton (6); Idaho, Idaho Falls (9) Organotin chemistry—new Montana, Missoula (8); compounds and applications; Montana, Bozeman (10) the existence of the tin-tin double bond
ployed by academia. Of these academic members surveyed, 80% say that meeting dates are important. The fall ACS meeting has been widely represented as the major problem in conflicting meeting dates because it often overlaps with the start of the fall semester at many colleges. However, academic members indicated in the survey that fall is only slightly more of a problem than spring (39% listed fall and 30% listed spring). In replying to specific questions about dates for fall terms, 49% of the academic respondents said that the first week of school is the most inconvenient to get away for a national meeting. The subcommittee says this indicates that August meeting dates give minimum problems; only 4% of the membership and 18% of academic members disagree. Eliminating the last week in August reduces this opposition to less than 1% of the general membership and less than 6% of the academic members. The M&E Committee points out that this information is very valuable, since room rates in some cities are substantially lower in August than in September, and the committee would like to take advantage of these savings. D
Member dues, C&EN, section allotments rise ACS membership dues will increase from $42 in 1978 to $45 in 1979, according to Dr. John Κ Crum, ACS treasurer and chief financial officer. Under Bylaw IX, Sec. 3(a), membership dues for 1979 have been calculated by multiplying the base rate of $31 by the ratio of the consumer price index for services for the second year previous to the dues year (1977)— 194.3—to the consumer price index for services for the reference year 1972— 133.3. The calculation works out to $45.19, which rounded to the nearest dollar amount is $45. The increase in dues is expected to result in an approximate break-even position for dues-supported activities in 1979. The concept of the dues escalator is to maintain the society's programs at cur
rent levels, taking inflation into consid eration. Also rising with ACS dues in 1979 will be the allocation from members' dues to C&EN. Under Bylaw IX, Sec. 3(a), this allocation is set at 23% of actual dues and thus will increase from $9.66 in 1978 to $10.35 in 1979. In addition, the treasurer has an nounced that in accordance with Article XIV, Sec. 3.1 of the ACS constitution, the 1979 apportionment of funds to local sections will be based on the following calculations: The base rate of $850 is multiplied by the ratio of consumer price index for services for the second year previous to the allotment increase, 1977, to consumer price index for services for the reference year 1975, as published by the Department of Labor, with amounts rounded to the nearest $10. This works out to a base allotment of $990 to each local section in 1979, an increase of $70 from 1978. The effective date of this al lotment will be Jan. 1,1979. D
Solicitation notice for chemistry and law articles Four times a year the Patent, Trademark & Copyright Research Foundation of the Franklin Pierce Law Center publishes IDEA: The Journal of Law and Technol ogy. IDEA focuses on issues at the in terface of law, science, and technology, with a particular emphasis on industrial and intellectual property rights. IDEA is soliciting manuscripts for publication in a special issue entitled: "Chemistry and the Law." The interface between these two disciplines has become a focal point of increasing controversy and legal de bate as government increases chemical regulation. Articles for consideration should be submitted by July 3 1 , 1978, for inclusion in that issue. Articles re ceived after that date will be considered for a future issue. Manuscripts should be sent to: Cedric Richeson, Issue Editor, IDEA, Franklin Pierce Law Center, 2 White St., Concord, N.H. 03301; tele phone (603) 228-1541.
