This is a post that has taken me a while to write, for good reason.
I was able to attend my first in person academic conference since COVID19. This was a conference and I have a very complicated relationship, and it has been this way for the past several years.
This conference is AEJMC.
To be perfectly honest, I have been very vocal about my views of AEJMC for quite some time. I had legitimate concerns about the conference before COVID, and even during the pandemic. The 2020 Conference in my opinion was a case study on what not to do (ex. purchasing a super and ineffective virtual conference platform and charging nearly full price for the event when others discounted or made their events free due to budget concerns).
I was prepared to share my initial views before and during the conference. However, I felt it was necessary to take time to reflect on all of the aspects of the conference. Before jumping into the issues I see with AEJ, there were some highlights and elements I did enjoy and felt were valuable for the event.
ASPIRE Pre-Conference. My good friend Amanda hosted a pre-conference all about pedagogy research with topics related to publishing in journals, GIFTs, pedagogy research strategies and even discussing how pedagogy research can be used for promotion and tenure. I was on the later panel, and this was the only thing I was presenting on at the conference.
This pre-conference had actionable, applied, and great information to use and take away from the conference. I felt this was very good for professors, graduate students, and new professors to have. In many cases, many attendees not only enjoyed the session, but they want this to be a permanent fix at future conferences.
We need more sessions, panels, and activities that are like this across all areas in our field. I also felt the Advertising Division did a good job in their pre-conference as well in bringing in industry professionals. Other conferences such as Adobe Education Summit, ProfCon, Cannes Lions, and others do this as well. This was great to see, and more of this needs to happen.
Graduate Student Showcase. The future is somewhat bright with future PhDs entering the field and embarking on their journey as tenure-track professors. I had a chance to sit in on some sessions and hear what research and areas these graduate students are invested in for their career. It is always good to see what each program is doing to prepare future PhDs, and there were several elements I noticed amongst these students:
- Applied learning means different things depending on the program. Hearing about how some programs think creating a fake client as being applied work is concerning – because if they try to pull that off in their tenure-track position, this will not go over that well. Even taking on an internal university client for a client project will provide more value and experience for the class.
- Branding is necessary. I only saw one graduate student do this very well, and this is a growing expectation at programs for professors to have a personal brand they can work with. This needs to be emphasized more in PhD programs.
- Creating the full package. There is a huge expectation for having a ton of publications for when you are out in the PhD program, but there is more to being a professor than just publications. Other issues that come up related to this can be burnout (what happens when you enter a new position where you are doing a 3/3 or 4/4? How will you tie your research into community engagement or service learning/industry collaborated opportunities? Or there is an expectation you will oversee a student organization that will eat up a lot of your research time?). Graduate students need to be aware it’s not just one thing that is at the focal point for programs – it is the full package.
Seeing former students and colleagues. It was good to see friends after years of only being able to see them on social media or through Zoom. I met some friends who I only met online up to this point, which was great! What I love is seeing former student shine in their new positions as professors or in the industry. I had a chance to meet with two of my former students who are now professors and two who are working with GM.
These were a few positives, now let’s get to the constructive criticism
With all of this being said, I still have with AEJ that were quite present at this year’s event. Some things clearly have not changed due to the pandemic, but with the history of the conference, I was not surprised. I had hoped there would be changes, but sadly there were not.
This may come across as very Anton Ego like in nature. Some may say I am not being fair or could be too harsh on AEJ, but in reality – these are things that need to be discussed in order to see what can be done to move forward with this process.
Conference cost and questioning of value of the conference. AEJ needs to really, REALLY consider what is affordable and what their attendees and members value, because this was a big issue for this year’s conference. When you realize your hotel for AEJ in Detroit cost MORE than your hotel in Cannes for the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity (where you also got a free continental breakfast and other amenities), you know there’s an issue. If I – as a full professor – have an issue of concern about the cost and how it relates to the value of the conference experience, I cannot even imagine what graduate students or new professors are doing.
The hotel room cost is not only the issue here, but the value attendees are expecting to get. For example, I attended one session that I thought would be extremely practical in nature, but one speaker just talked about this new concept being the customer journey and the PESO model. I was expecting something more advanced, applied, and aligned with the industry as a whole.
I was only in Detroit for a few days, but I was able to follow along online, and some of the concepts that were just being introduced in the conference have been around for quite some time. We need to have the opportunity to provide new, innovative, and fresh perspectives to create more value for everyone involved.
COVID hashtag for conference used to out presenters. The conference decided to use the conference hashtag #AEJMCHealth to share news updates if any attendees tested positive for COVID and to provide attendees with information related to health protocols. However, when looking at the hashtag, you did see other attendees outing certain panels and presenters who were not wearing masks publicly on Twitter.
Seeing this literally made me think about this scene from Game of Thrones.
Instead of blasting this on Twitter, there could have been a form that AEJMC could share where attendees could report and sign up for any updates related to health concerns. In addition, there were lanyards that were color coded for different colors: red (no contact), yellow (limited contact), and green (full contact). I did not realize when I chose green I would have several attendees tell me I was in the wrong at the conference. That was fun to experience.
Overall, this initiative from AEJMC could have been handled a bit more professionally and discreetly, so this strategy for the conference did not forecast all of the potential ways that it could be used. AEJMC could have been more proactive on this.
Politics in paper and proposal submissions. AEJ and their associated divisions pride themselves on a “blind review” and ethical process for their papers and panel presentations. Based on my experience, this has not been my case, at least for the last three or so years. I am 0/3 in AEJMC Conference submissions, and it’s not due to the content.
When I told friends and colleagues why I have not presented at AEJ papers for the last few years, I tell them – well, I have submitted, but I guess my work is “not good enough” to be considered.
In fact, a conference panel proposal that was submitted by two colleagues of mine last year on teaching TikTok last year got a -1 rating. When the lowest rating is a zero, I am not sure how we achieved a negative rating, but that must be an accomplishment. Why the low rating? In all three cases where my work was not accepted, I never got any written feedback or guidance for the rationale for these ratings. The only thing that was consistent with these submissions is that my identity was somewhat known in the review process. Instead of reviewing for the material, I was being reviewed personally. This was in 2021, and I did not submit a paper this year for this very reason.
I had a few people ask me why I didn’t submit anything this year, and I said will not submit anything in the future until things change at the leadership level and the paper/proposal review policies become more ethical.
Future of AEJMC is not clear at all. There is an initiative to “Reimagine AEJMC” and where it needs to go, and my answer is simply this – changes need to be made or otherwise attendees will head to other places where they will get the value they are seeking.
There are some who have tried to drive change into what the conference and organization should do in terms of divisions, interest groups, etc. In fact, Amanda and I proposed a special interest group for social media professors based on the growing interest in #SMprofs, but this has been in a no-go situation for the past few years.
Why? Because there were concerns from another division we would be “competing” with them, when in fact we would bring in new members instead.
My view on the situation has of course changed. Why would we want to associate a vibrant community like #SMprofs with a conference and organization on the verge of entering academic hospice? The answer is clear: We wouldn’t.
Summary
This was a lot to handle and discuss, as well as reflect on. Even with all of my criticisms about AEJMC, I was rooting for them to change, listen to their members, and make strides to work towards a vibrant future. There are still some major issues that need to be addressed across the board, and it will not change unless certain actions are taken.
I am not sure when the next time I will be attending AEJMC. We will just have to wait and see if things really change for the better. In the meantime, I will be going to places and other conferences that will provide me the value I need to be successful in and out of the classroom.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
