The International Ombuds Association announced details for its next two annual conferences. In 2026, the conference will be held virtually, much like the 2021 COVID conference. In 2027, the conference resumes an in-person format and will be held in Vancouver. To mitigate the lack of an in-person event in 2026, IOA will hold its September Symposium at a location to be determined.
Here's the full announcement:
We understand some members plan to attend conference 2026 in lieu of Miami, so we wanted to give you an idea of what is planned for ‘26 and ‘27.We find ourselves trying to balance a myriad of issues: the climate in many offices is changing, many members are experiencing decreased travel/professional development budgets, and the cost of live, in-person conferences continues to go up. In addition, we are mindful that only a percentage of our community (in the US and internationally) can travel to in-person events. The Board takes these issues seriously and has been discussing how best to balance all these interests.We have concluded that the best way to address these interests is to intentionally plan for virtual annual conferences every few years.That doesn’t mean there will not be opportunities to get together in-person each year. You may recall the Board’s Education Strategy that was adopted in 2023 added a signature event: The September Symposium. With this addition, we have created one live and one virtual event each year. For the past 2 years, the September Symposium was a virtual event. That is also the plan for 2025.For 2026, we are planning for a virtual Annual Conference and an in-person September Symposium. For 2027, the Annual Conference will be in-person in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and the September Symposium will be a virtual event.For those looking to pick up again in person in 2026, we hope to see you at the September Symposium at a location TBD. For those worried about travel in 2025 and 2026, we hope this provides some relief. For those who are not able to attend in-person conferences each year, we hope you feel seen by these plans.We learned a lot in those pandemic years, and have learned a great deal hosting the September Symposium virtually for the past few years. We do not doubt that the virtual experience, albeit different, will be great!
(IOA Blog.)
The largest IOA membership group is public higher education. Many states prohibit state funds from being used to pay for international travel. Be prepared for low attendance in Vancouver. Since IOA tends to overspend on these events, this decision has the potential to cost IOA half it's liquid assets.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: just the microphones and related AV costs over $100,000. That hardly seems worth the expenditure. IOA is not a giant organization like the AMA or ABA. The annual conference costs IOA way too much. It will be interesting to see whether the conference in Canada will cover its costs.
ReplyDeleteWell, if the current administration follows through on their threats, Canada will either be a part of the US or our economy and the value of the Canadian dollar will be totally devastated by tariffs...
ReplyDelete@1:26 Anonymous: when Canada finally sees the light and joins the US of A, is the plan for each province to come in as a state? Maybe the Maritimes combine into a state and Nunavut and Northwest Territories combine into another? Alas, the danger seems slim, for it would tip the balance in the House and Senate in ways that would not appeal to the current administration.
ReplyDeleteCanada will never be part of the US. And nothing will keep me from a conference in Vancouver!
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