Program Overview and Session Types

The 2020 physical meeting of the Academy of Management scheduled for 7-11 August 2020 in Vancouver has been cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. A 2020 virtual Annual Meeting is in development. Please click here for an update from AOM President Jacqueline Coyle-Shapiro.

The 2020 Annual Meeting program is not available yet. Please be patient as we convert to a virtual conference. Check this link for updates.

The Academy of Management Annual Meeting program has two major components: the Professional Development Workshop (PDW) Program held on Friday and Saturday and the Scholarly Program, scheduled from Sunday through Tuesday. The Scholarly Program includes traditional paper sessions, symposia, discussion paper sessions, and caucuses. The All-Academy Theme Program that consists of both PDW and symposium sessions as well as the Teaching and Learning Conference take place on Sunday during the Annual Meeting.

The entire program is comprised of four session types.

• Professional Development Workshops (PDW)
• Symposia and Paper Sessions
• Caucuses
• The Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC@AOM)

There are a number of important factors to consider. Submitters do not need to be members to submit a proposal to the Annual Meeting. If a proposal is accepted, participants must register to attend the Annual Meeting. All participants attending the Annual Meeting must be AOM Members and registered for the Annual Meeting.

Annual Meeting Program

The Academy of Management’s Annual Meeting is comprised of several components that take place over the course of five days, which include Professional Development Workshops (PDWs) with roundtable discussions, symposia and paper sessions, caucuses, the Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC@AOM) and various social events. Each Annual Meeting encompasses an All Academy Theme. This year, the theme is 20/20: Broadening Our Sight.

Conference Structure

Professional Development Workshops (Friday and Saturday)

Professional Development Workshops (PDWs) run on Friday and Saturday, from 08:00 - 20:00 each day, with additional All-AOM Theme Workshops scheduled on Sunday. PDWs include a wide variety of session formats with various session durations. These workshops include Doctoral Consortia and Junior Faculty Consortia that are organized by AOM’s Divisions, Interest Groups and Committees. Many of these sessions incorporate the conference theme.

All Academy Theme Sessions (Sunday)

The All Academy Theme (AAT) program, developed by AOM’s Vice President and Program Chair with the aid of a theme committee, contains a mix of accepted symposia and professional development workshops (PDWs) that were submitted directly to the AAT program for review by the committee. AAT sessions address issues of broad interest and are directly related to the conference theme. All AAT sessions are based around participation in a session, which counts toward the Rule of Three + Three. The Rule of Three + Three (no more than three scholarly submissions + three workshop submissions) serves as to ensure broad participation of members.

The Teaching and Learning Conference (Sunday)

TLC is an AOM-wide conference organized in response to the growing teaching related-needs of AOM members around the globe. The goal of TLC is to support members across all divisions in the practice of teaching. The conference engages AOM members as teachers, increases the visibility of teaching both within and outside of AOM, and positions AOM as a global leader in management teaching in addition to its current leadership role in management education research. The day-long event includes a luncheon plenary, access to morning and afternoon sessions, conference breaks, and teaching resource materials provided by presenters.

• TLC Registration -- Separate registration for the 2020 TLC@AOM conference is required. The cost to register for TLC@AOM is USD$130.
• TLC Call for Submissions -- By submitting to TLC, you have the potential to share your research with fellow AOM members who seek to gain knowledge regarding management teaching practices.

The Scholarly Program (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday)

Symposia Sessions are single-blind reviewed, and are judged on overall quality, interest to AOM members, relevance to the Division or Interest Group to which they are submitted, and innovation and contribution. Single-blind review means that author and submitter information is known to the reviewers, but reviewer information is not known to the authors or submitter. In symposium sessions, a number of speakers discuss a common topic or theme in a manner that brings new insights to the subject. Symposia can be submitted to up to three Divisions and Interest Groups (DIGs). Symposia can be singly sponsored by a DIG, or jointly sponsored by up to three DIGs. There are three types of symposia.

• Panel Symposia engage a group of panelists in an interactive discussion.
• Presenter Symposia involve a series of presented authored papers on a current theme. In a Presenter Symposium, titles, authors, and presenters are associated with each presentation. Presenter symposia can involve co-authored presentations. Co-authors will be listed in the printed program.
• Showcase Symposia are the very best symposium submissions received and are expected to attract a large audience, which provides you with the opportunity to share your research with a wide range of scholars, academics, emeriti, and students. The showcase symposia do not need to address the conference theme. Each Division Program Chair may select up to 10% of symposia accepted by their division to be designated as showcase symposia.

Paper Sessions feature the presentation of academic research. There are two types.

• Division (Traditional) Paper Sessions consist of fully developed, research papers. Each author presents his/her work, and the Session Chair facilitates group discussion after all presentations have been made.
• Discussion Paper Sessions are for promising papers that meet the acceptance criteria but would benefit from further development. The focus of these sessions should be on the authors receiving feedback for further development of their papers and sharing of research experiences with others who share similar research interests. Each session has a Discussant assigned whose role is to provide constructive feedback to the authors. Each Division and Interest Group may accept as discussion papers up to 10% of the number of accepted division (traditional) papers for this type of session.

Caucuses provides opportunities for scholars to innovate, share, and discuss emergent ideas that in the incubatory stage. Caucuses are designed to provide a convenient, informal way for AOM members with shared interests to find one another and to develop a sense of community within the larger AOM structure as well as to explore potential collaborations in a forum open to all interested members.

Plenary Sessions help create a stronger sense of member affinity within a division or interest group. The purpose of the plenary session is to help provide attendees the opportunity to experience a sense of community, common identity, and purpose within divisions and interest groups. To help achieve this goal, each division and interest group has an opportunity to organize a 90-minute plenary session.

(Social events will be spread throughout the days of the Annual Meeting.)