Related posts: IOA Opens Registration for Pre-Conference Training in Portland; IOA Announces Agenda for 2020 Conference in Portland; IOA Seeks Proposals for First Conference Ombuds; IOA Adopting COVID-19 Precautions for 2020 Conference.
March 06, 2020
IOA Extends Cancellation Deadline for 2020 Conference
Related posts: IOA Opens Registration for Pre-Conference Training in Portland; IOA Announces Agenda for 2020 Conference in Portland; IOA Seeks Proposals for First Conference Ombuds; IOA Adopting COVID-19 Precautions for 2020 Conference.
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It is time to pull the plug (even though this will likely hurt IOA's finances).
ReplyDeleteThey should just cancel. Waiting this late in the game to make a decision will only make the hit worse.
ReplyDeleteState of emergency in Oregon:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsweek.com/oregon-declares-state-emergency-coronavirus-cases-double-14-1491135%3famp=1
Are there any discussions going on? I for one have held off purchasing a flight. I suspect that there are others who are waiting as long as possible to act.
ReplyDeleteIf there are discussions going on, or an ongoing process for determining if and how to move forward, greater transparency would be welcome.
According to the IOA website, "safety of our community remains our highest priority" and so they're providing everyone with hand sanitizer. I'm sorry but this is weak. To be clear, we're not talking about the virus spreading in locales in far-away counties. As of 3/9/20, there were 8 cases in the county just a few miles west of Portland. And COVID-19 is where we all currently live and work...the chances of us bringing it to Portland is increasing exponentially every day. This is why major companies are curbing widely attended gatherings. A minister with coronavirus in Washington DC came in contact with over 500 people in a single day. This is good example of how quickly this could spread. Canceling the conference is not an overreaction, it is the only responsible decision that IOA should be making immediately to actually show that they care about the safety of us, our families, communities, and the broader public health.
ReplyDeleteIOA should extend the cancellation deadline to day of, or day before. The alternative is a wave of cancellations on Monday. Transparency with respect to any ongoing discussions concerning the prospects of cancelling the event would be most welcome.
ReplyDeleteIOA is NOT being particularly transparent about what they are doing and what is under consideration. We are adults, folks. Sharing would be welcome.
ReplyDeleteWhile I recognize a decision has already been made to cancel the conference, I want to provide another perspective on the issue of transparency along the way. I think we should take a second to thank all of the wonderful people, including numerous dedicated IOA volunteers, who put a lot of time and energy into coordinating and managing a very difficult situation/decision and keeping people informed as best they could along the way. There is no doubt they had to take a number of important factors into consideration as things changed and new information about the coronavirus and conference participation was coming out by the day/hour. We know how those difficult dynamics can impact critical decisions about communication and information sharing. As an association of ombuds, I want to trust that no participant in those discussions was ignoring the importance of transparency or advocating for less transparency. IOA established a website to share updates and periodically sent out detailed email communication to update the membership on what was going on. In my own experience, they regularly provided scheduled presenters with updates even when they were uncertain about where things might end up. Could they have been more transparent with potential attendees? I suppose. We also have a responsibility to reach out directly and ask for information that will inform the way we make decisions about our own individual and unique situations.
ReplyDeleteIf you disagree with me on the issue of transparency that's okay. I’m just offering a perspective and I'm certainly not trying to discourage people from providing their feedback. In fact, if you feel frustrated by what you see as a lack of transparency and there are specific things that you think IOA could’ve done to address that, I think it is important to share that information directly with leadership.
This leads me to perhaps an even more important point about the delivery of feedback. When this blog is used as a platform to communicate public criticism anonymously and phrases like “we are all adults” are used to express it, not only does it bring into question the way we - as ombuds - address our own concerns, disagreements and conflicts, it can exacerbate problems and discourage current and future members from volunteering to do the important work that drives the functioning of our association. I struggled with the decision to even write this comment on here, but when comments are made anonymously it is hard to reach out to individuals directly to share concerns and/or offer this kind of feedback privately. Unfortunately, I have seen enough of these kinds of anonymous comments over the years that I no longer want to stay silent on the issue. I truly welcome anyone to reach out to me directly (ts13966@gmail.com) to challenge my perspective/assumptions and continue this dialogue. One of the benefits of your anonymity coupled with my offer is that you get to, in theory, avoid the unfortunate feeling of being challenged publicly.
I should note that I do not happen to be one of the above-mentioned conference volunteers. Therefore, I am not writing any of this for the purpose of defending something that I have a personal role/interest in.
Stay safe out there.