MARCH 23, 2020
Dear MOBTS Community,
The MOBTS Board of Directors has continued to gather information regarding the viability of our MOBTS 2020 conference hosted at Purdue Fort Wayne (PFW). Unfortunately, given the escalation of events related to COVID19, the associated knowns and unknowns, and the importance of ensuring the health and safety of our members, we have decided that MOBTS 2020 will not be hosted at PFW. Instead, we will be hosting a virtual experience called vMOBTS 2020 as our 48th annual conference!
We are an organization built upon creativity and finding new ways to embrace experiences. Our Board of Directors and PFW conference team of Gordon Schmidt, Kim O’Connor, and Mike Kirchner have been working tirelessly to lay the foundation to develop this inaugural experience. For now, the virtual conference will simply be taking the place of MOBTS 2020. We have no intention of ever displacing the irreplaceable MOBTS conference and its culture. But if there was ever a time to try something new – much like so many of you are accomplishing in your digital classrooms – now is that time!
If you are a presenter of an already accepted session, you will receive another email shortly with details regarding your options for that session.
In order to best embrace this new virtual platform for MOBTS we will be re-opening a modified Virtual Call for Papers (another email with the Virtual Call for Papers will be distributed shortly). If you have already been accepted into MOBTS 2020, you can review your options here (this too will be emailed to you shortly).
Beyond this fast-adapting academic landscape we are now operating within (that you can undoubtedly share many experiences and thoughts on with us!), this re-opening of a Virtual Call for Papers will offer many of you an outlet to present if you:
- had your other conferences already cancelled;
- are unsure of the viability of conferences that are opting to push forward with their events during increasingly improbable months of June, July, and August; and/or
- were unable to join us at Purdue Fort Wayne, but now have the ability to join us virtually.
Additionally, we have drastically reduced our registration prices for this event. General registration is just $150, while Student/Emeritus registration is only $100.
We hope that you will join us in this first ever vMOBTS 2020!
Sincerely,
Brandon Charpied, Executive Director
Micheal Stratton, President
MARCH 13, 2020
Dear MOBTS Community,
As per our prior update, the MOBTS Board of Directors met on Thursday, March 12th to discuss the status of the annual MOBTS Conference scheduled for June 10-13, 2020 at Purdue Fort Wayne. As per the Board’s timeline, we will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation over the next two weeks, along with directives from the CDC, the host university, and universities across the country and around the world in regard to travel. We feel it is imperative that we perform our due diligence and gather as much information as possible, while also being respectful to our conference attendees’ time and effort. Therefore, we have set April 1st as the date that we will brief you again on the path that we will proceed down. We have exhaustively laid out each potential path and are confident that with the additional information of COVID-19 in the coming weeks, that we will determine the most optimal way in which to ensure continuity of our conference experience. We kindly ask that you remain patient during this time of uncertainty and also recommend that you avoid making travel plans for the June conference until we announce a decision on April 1st.
On a related note, we recognize that many of you are in the midst of making alternative teaching/learning arrangements. We invite you to explore the plethora of pedagogical resources on MOBTS.org (conference proceedings, access to SAGE for JME and MTR articles/podcasts, and our active Listserv) that may inform your immediate decisions about course design and delivery.
Please stay healthy and safe.
Sincerely,
Brandon Charpied, Executive Director
Micheal Stratton, President
MARCH 10, 2020
Dear MOBTS members,
We want to take a moment to update you as to the status of our 47th annual conference hosted at Purdue Fort Wayne this June 2020. It is clear that COVID-19 is having widespread effects on higher education institutions, related travel, and academic conferences scheduled in March and April. Please know that the MOBTS Board of Directors has been actively monitoring and discussing the impacts that COVID-19 may have on our upcoming June 2020 conference.
The Board has a Zoom call scheduled for Thursday, March 12th, at which time several paths and contingency plans will be proposed and discussed. MOBTS leadership has been performing its due diligence these last several weeks. All prospective conference attendees should be rest assured that no option is off the table. Just as is the spirit of our experiential conference and why so many find it invigorating and impactful, we may see that such constraints and roadblocks spark creativity and growth.
While a final decision for MOBTS 2020 may not arrive during the Board meeting this Thursday evening, we will come to agreement on suitable paths and update our membership and prospective conference attendees with what options we have before us later this week. This notice will be disseminated via email, social media, and posted on our website (MOBTS.org).
We appreciate your continued support of MOBTS, our journals, and conferences as we continue to do our best to serve you and the broader management education community.
On behalf of the Board,
Brandon Charpied, Executive Director
Micheal Stratton, President