NCA Inside & Out

I am writing to you about an important matter concerning this year's NCA 106th Annual Convention, “Communication at the Crossroads,” which was to be held in Indianapolis, IN. You might have already anticipated this news: This year's convention will be a fully virtual event. Synchronous sessions will take place on the same dates as originally scheduled, November 19-22, with some virtual meetings held on the days surrounding these dates.  

After numerous meetings and careful deliberation amongst the officers, the Executive Committee, and NCA's National Office staff, NCA's Executive Committee has made the decision that the association cannot hold the in-person part of the convention. We arrived at this decision in light of the increasingly concerning news about the wide-ranging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and human susceptibility to it, and with the very best interests of the health of convention attendees and staff foremost in our minds. These considerations took precedence in our deliberations over what we know is the most important scholarly meeting of the year for many of you.

We continue to be hard at work to create the best possible convention experience. Specific details about virtual sessions, virtual events and activities, and ways to participate will be forthcoming through regular updates over the coming weeks. This information will be conveyed via email, through social media, and on NCA Convention Central.

In the meantime, if you have registered for the in-person convention, NCA will automatically convert your registration to a virtual convention registration. If you have made a hotel reservation in Indianapolis, please cancel that reservation. Some of you may have already scheduled plane, train, and/or other modes of transportation; regrettably, we ask you to cancel those as well. And, if you have not registered for the convention yet, please do so here. As a reminder, NCA is not charging members for convention registration this year. And, membership has been significantly discounted. To renew your membership, or to become a member, please visit the NCA website.

For a society at a crossroads, communication is critical to finding our way into the future as a community. We look forward to sharing research, teaching strategies, insights, and lessons learned online, and we especially welcome new and returning members to this year's unique virtual convention.

--Kent A. Ono, NCA President, University of Utah