IPMAAC '98: a fine time in the Windy City...

Beverly Waldron

IPMAAC's 22^nd annual conference on professional personnel assessment was held June 21 - 25 in Chicago, Illinois. To borrow from Jean Tozer's (this year's outstanding Program Chair) excellent words in this year's program: the conference gave us "the opportunity to hear the views of the leaders in our profession, to see demonstrations of the latest developments, to learn how other assessment professionals from across the country are successfully solving the problems and dilemmas facing us all ... not to mention those invaluable informal discussions with other assessment professionals during breaks, luncheon round-tables, etc." Well chosen words which accurately reflect this year's conference. She only left out one word, fun. In addition to obtaining and sharing large amounts of information, conference attendees enjoyed themselves. The best of all worlds!

Things got underway Sunday. The Board had an all day meeting doing their - job taking care of business (see Jeff's President's Message for a report); many took advantage of a fine assortment of half-day workshops to improve their skills and knowledge; and some of us just took advantage of the day to meet with old friends and new, shop a little, and just relax. That night we all caught up with each other at the opening reception and "officially" got the conference started.

Four guest speakers highlighted this year's conference. Dr. Wayne Cascio opened the conference on Monday as our keynote speaker addressing scientific and social issues in assessment with a focus on the use of banding in a highly contentious case involving the City of Chicago and firefighters. WRIPAC and MAPAC invited excellent speakers to add to our Tuesday and Wednesday programs, Dr. Diane Halpern and Dr. Leaetta Hough, respectively. Dr. Halpern's focus was on critical thinking assessment while Dr. Hough addressed personality testing. (Many thanks to the members of WRIPAC and MAPAC for sponsoring these speakers and for all they do for assessment and assessment practitioners through their own organizations and through IPMAAC.) Dr. Frank Landy closed the conference with a presentation addressing an issue many of us face: the need/demand to test a large number of applicants better and more fairly and with less adverse impact, and, by the way, do it faster and with less money (economy and efficiency). (Good news/bad news: he had no magic answer but he did offer some ideas as to approaches that might be tried including changing the order and weighting of various components of the selection process. The good news was that if you can solve this problem - you can probably purchase your own Carribean island ...)

As always, a large number of great sessions were available. Summarizing all the sessions is not feasible in the ACN but if you are interested check IPMAAC Online! , our website at http://www.ipmaac.org/. In addition to summaries of the sessions you will find many of the presentations available for downloading. (Note: to those presenters who have not sent in their presentations, it's not too late!)

And before you ask, yes, we will have a slide show of pictures from this year's conference available on the web. We've even included a few pictures in this issue of the ACN.

No discussion of the Chicago conference (or any IPMAAC conference) would be complete without a discussion of the informal networking benefits. This year's conference provided plenty of opportunities, both formal and informal, to talk with and enjoy the company of other IPMAAC'ers. Renee Jones and the Host Committee are to be commended for their excellent job in helping all of us to enjoy Chicago!

As previously mentioned, things go underway with the opening reception on Sunday night. Monday continued the fun when 80+ headed to historic Wrigley Field to catch a baseball game. The early sprinkling of rain didn't delay the game or dampen the fun. Included in our price of admission were all the hotdogs, hamburgers, pizza, and wings you could enjoy plus soda and beer. (It should be noted that the IPMAAC members attending the game did their share in the recycling effort. We didn't run out of beer but did run out of cups - recycling those cups became very popular.) Everyone had a great time (except maybe the Cubs fans - the Cubbies lost to the Cleveland Indians, 1 - 3, and Sammy Sosa went 0 for 4).

During lunch hours and the early evenings (and sometimes when they should have been in sessions) many IPMAAC'ers took advantage of the excellent shopping in downtown Chicago and the wonderful museums nearby. (My luggage definitely came back heavier than they went and not all of it was from the excellent papers and handouts I picked up at sessions.)

Our last night in town the gang headed across the street to Timothy O'Toole's (Public House & Victuals). A buffet, open bar, and a DJ playing music provided the foundation for a great deal of fun! In fact, when time was up the DJ was convinced to play for another hour so they dancing could continue. (Pictures will be available on the website. . .)

As always, the IPMAAC conference was a great event for those of us involved in assessment. The opportunities for learning, discussing, and sharing information coupled with just plain fun make it a valuable 4 to 5 days for all of us. Hope you will begin making your plans now for next year's conference. The dates: June 6 - 10; the place: St. Pete Beach, Florida. The call for proposals will be going out soon so it's not too early to starting thinking about making a presentation. The Program and Host Committee chairs would also love to hear from you.! Next year's Co-Chairs for the Program Committee are David Hamill and Déonda Scott. And I'm the Host Committee Chair. You can get in touch with us in a number of ways:

David Hamill
Pittman McLenogan Group LC
6626A Wilson Lane
Bethesda, MD 20817
Phone: 301-320-9500; Fax: 301-320-9525
e-mail: davidh@pittmanlc.com

Déonda Scott, Civil Service Testing Manager
City of Orlando
400 S. Orange Avenue
Orlando, FL 32801-3302
Phone: 407- 246-2061; Fax: 407- 246-2019
e-mail: dscott@ci.orlando.fl.us

Beverly Waldron, Manager Employment & Testing
Pinellas County Government
400 S. Ft. Harrison Ave.
Clearwater, FL 33756-5513
Phone; 727-464-3367; Fax: 727-464-3680
e-mail: bwaldron@co.pinellas.fl.us

If you were unable to attend this year's conference, hope to see you next year! If you made it to Chicago, hope to see you again in St. Pete!