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innovative meetings Katie Kervin

Regional Focus 6,184 sociologists gathered in New York City to discuss inequality.

Local News

The American Sociological Association’s Annual Meeting provides attendees a glimpse into its host city’s unique sociological issues.

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n the morning of the third day of the American Socio- logical Association’s (ASA) 2013

Annual Meeting, an important decision came down from a federal judge in New York City: The controversial “stop-and- frisk” tactic of the New York City Police Department was ruled unconstitutional. The timing of the decision was

uncanny, as an ASA-record-breaking 6,184 sociology scholars, professors, government consultants, and students gathered at the New York Hilton Midtown on Aug. 10–13 for ASA’s meet- ing, whose theme was “Interrogating Inequality: Linking Micro and Macro.” During the event, as has been ASA’s practice for the last 12 years, a series of in-depth, regional spotlight sessions focused on sociological issues related to culture, development, crime, and immi- grant history in the meeting’s host city. One of those sessions, “Broken

Windows Policing in New York City 20 Years On,” explored the history of law enforcement in the most populous city in the United States over the past two decades, with speakers that included former Police Commissioner William J. Bratton, who is credited with enact- ing community-policing measures that resulted in a steep decline in the city’s crime rate. An extensive portion of the session was dedicated to the stop- and-frisk policy and its impact on both crime rates and the fluctuating levels of citizen trust in the city’s police. ASA schedules the regional sections

with the help of a local arrangement subcommittee, which is selected by the chair of the current meeting. “Usually [the subcommittee chair] is based in the area [where the Annual Meeting is

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being held],” said Kareem Jenkins, ASA’s director of meeting services. “They have their finger on the pulse of the sociologists who can speak to certain areas related to the region.” Members of the subcommittee also write a series of six articles for Footnotes, ASA’s member- ship newsletter, focusing on issues and areas of interest in the host city. The regional focus is not just con-

fined to breakout sessions. This year ASA partnered with NYC & Company, New York City’s DMO, to pull together an extensive list of options for attend- ees to explore throughout the city.

“We get some good hits of things we might want to explore from our local sociologists,” Jenkins said, “but we tap into the CVB to really give us the best resources and put us in contact with local businesses who might want to do discount programs.”

ASA has already begun work on the regional sessions for attendees at next year’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

“Annual Meeting program committees have always been extremely interested in making sure areas of sociological interest are featured on the agenda,” Jenkins said. Sometimes they turn out to be front-page newsworthy as well.

Katie Kervin is an assistant editor of Convene.

BREAKOUT

What Else Is in New York City

ASA also selected several busi- nesses — located from Brooklyn to the Bronx — to receive com- plimentary space on its Annual Meeting’s registration level to sell scarves, mugs, jewelry, and other products. “The space is intended to infuse local culture and commerce into the show,” ASA’s Kareem Jenkins said. “Let’s be honest, when people come to any convention, they are pretty much stuck in one area of town, so we like to give them little snip- pets of what else is in New York City, for example.”

ON THE WEB

Learn more about the ASA 2013 Annual Meeting’s Regional Spot- light at convn.org/asa-regional.

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Innovative Meetings is sponsored by the Irving Convention & Visitors Bureau, irvingtexas.com.