Page 11 - Summer 2021

Figure 1. Logo for the Acoustics in Focus virtual meeting, Spring Meeting, 2021
the future by the TCs. For example, the Lightning Round Sessions enable many short 5-minute presentations of new research and ideas, followed by a fully interactive discussion. Lightning Rounds can be paired with a ses- sion of invited presentations where these short talks can be added even after the program is published. The other two session types that offer new formats as technical ses- sions are Tutorials with attendee discussions and focused Panel Discussions.
To address the AVE problem of not seeing faces in ses- sions, all three of these session types use Zoom in its interactive meeting mode to allow live questions and discussion following the oral presentations. Another important aspect of these sessions is that they are initi- ated more by a TC as a whole, in contrast to individuals submitting their own abstracts.
Finally, the ASA expects to have an in-person meeting in Seattle, WA, from November 29 to December 3, 2021. This is a long two years since the 2019 San Diego meeting.
Nonetheless, it is already obvious that future meetings will incorporate virtual elements into their sessions as hybrid meetings.
New Approaches
As a virtual president, it was possible to imple- ment new approaches to ASA activities and communication. In my AT winter 2020 column (see acousticstoday.org/from-the-president-5), I discussed that the EC now holds monthly meetings. This has become a cost-effective and efficient way to govern the Society. It is cost effective because for deliberations
of important budgetary and compensation decisions, we have replaced in-person meetings that required travel of ASA officers to headquarters in Melville, NY, with online meetings. These meetings offer efficient use of offi- cer and staff time as well because two-to-three hours of online meetings spread out over a few months replace an overnight trip. Monthly meetings have also made a very efficient use of time for attendees of the EC and Techni- cal Council at the beginning and end of meetings week. Considerable policy, strategic planning, and governing work are conducted during the monthly EC meetings, reducing time during meetings week by 60%.
Other important innovations for meeting events have been implemented by me. The first was the Plenary Ses- sion that required a great deal of rethinking for me and the staff to host it on a virtual platform. The hybrid plan of videos for shorter speeches and live presentation of the medals and awards by the president and the recipi- ents was implemented for the fall and spring meetings. Headquarters staff skillfully created videos and slides as well as implementing the complex hybrid scripts for the live broadcast. An unexpected challenge was to broadcast the Plenary Session from my living room while the sun kept shifting (Figure 2). For the Spring Plenary Session, a real studio is being used to prepare and broadcast the ceremonies. Due to concerns from the honorees that the Fall Plenary Session was only available to registrants, the spring session is an open broadcast. I predict that making the ceremony available to all colleagues and families of the honorees will become a permanent part of the Ple- nary Session through hybrid technology.
Figure 2. Adapting as necessary, I had to use my sunny living room as a broadcast studio while directing and presiding over the Acoustics Virtually Everywhere (AVE) Plenary Session.
Summer 2021 • Acoustics Today 11