Opinion: IOA Should Seek Strategic Partners for its Annual Conference

Our professional organization has made some remarkable progress during its first decade.  The International Ombudsman Association has largely integrated its predecessor organizations, formalized its internal structures, and built a reliable training program and annual conference. However, the strategic goal of, "an outreach program to promote the understanding, visibility and development of Organizational Ombudsman roles and offices," remains underfunded and ad hoc. 

Fortunately, IOA's well-established annual conference provides an opportunity to advance this goal: IOA should partner with other organizations to hold joint conferences. 


There are many organizations with members who would be interested in IOA's pre-conference training and conference sessions. And, of course, many organizations have training and conferences that also would be relevant for Ombuds.  Many of these conferences even take place in the springtime.

For example, the American Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution holds its annual conference every April, often on the same dates.  The event attracts attorneys, mediators, judges, law school professors, and even Ombuds.  This year, four Ombuds and the leading attorney on Ombuds-related law are scheduled to be speakers.  (Notably, none are endorsed or sponsored by IOA.)  What if IOA worked with the ABA DRS to hold a joint conference in 2017?  

There are other likely candidates for strategic conference partnerships:

• The Society for Human Resource Management holds its Talent Management Conference & Exposition in Marchits Employment Law & Legislative Conference in April, and its HR People & Strategy Annual Conference in April;
• The ABA holds its National Conference on Equal Employment Opportunity Law in April; and
• The National Employment Law Council holds its annual conference in April.

All of these events attract people who should know about the role of Ombuds.  Looking at other times of the year might identify other conferences with a better fit.  It should not be difficult to find a different strategic partner every year.

There may also be financial benefits from simple economies of scale. Planners should be able to negotiate greater concessions for more hotel bookings. Organizers also might be able to attract and pay for keynote speakers with higher profiles. 

I urge the Board to consider the many good reasons for a interdisciplinary annual conference.