SAM Conference Now Virtual

As you may know we have initially planned to attend the 2022 SAM International Business Conference in-person in Orlando this coming March, and when we initially planned for the upcoming conference the prevalence of Delta variant of COVID-19 was declining rapidly and the vaccination of (or boosting of formerly vaccinated) individuals was underway nationwide and we had no idea that a new variant of the COVID-19, Omicron, will break all the records previously set by previous variants of the COVID-19.

Looking at the theme of the 2022 conference, Advancing Management in a Rapidly Changing World, I as the 2022 Program Chair, with the help of the Conference Committee, Collegiate Competitions Committee, and SAM Executive Committee/Officers and with the approval and guidance of the SAM Board of Directors, decided to practice what we preach and in this fast changing world, manage the upcoming conference based on the best information available to us so far and minimize the potential risks to our stakeholders, namely Students, Faculty, and Practitioners. Many of you have contacted us and raised concerns about potential health risks, university restrictions on travels, and even lack of financial support from your institutions for travel during Pandemic, and other risks involved (cancelation of flights, difficulties associated with quarantining the person who is tested positive or exposed, etc.).

With that said, and despite the fact that I, personally, cannot wait to see each and everyone of you in-person, we as a group, decided to move the 2022 conference online and hold it virtually this year similar to the years 2020 and 2021, and hopefully we will be able to comeback in-person 2023 in Nashville and 2024 in Orlando. We realize that this change might not be your preferred outcome and we respect that and apologize in advance for any inconveniences this decision may cause, but we do believe that collectively for all, a virtual conference this year would work better. Since initially the conference deadline was set by the end of January and given the new announcement, some of you might be able to join virtually, we are extending the deadline for the conference submission to February 28, 2022, and adjusting the conference registration fees to the amounts charged last year. If you have already submitted your paper and are able to join the conference virtually, your submission is all set. The decisions will be made on the conference management system (EasyChair) and you will be notified. If you have not submitted your papers yet, due to uncertainty associated with travelling in-person, please consider submitting your paper, extended abstract, panel, workshop, or symposium as soon as possible, or no later than February 28, 2022 to be considered for presentation. For maximum engagement with other attendees, we encourage attending in synchronous online presentation sessions, however if the conference dates are not convenient for you, we would also offer offline/uploaded/asynchronous presentations on our conference management platform so, please consider using this opportunity as well, if it is the best fit for you. Please start registering for the conference ASAP, or while our early bird registration pricings are available. The collegiate chapters could also consider sending multiple teams to the collegiate competition now that they can save on registration fees, hotel costs, and travel costs.

We will communicate more information with you as we get closer to the conference dates, but we do appreciate if you could forward our conference call for papers to your colleagues, and professional network and inform them about the conference and these changes. On behalf of the conference committee members, please let me emphasize that, as before, we always value your continuous support for the SAM organization, and we are eager to see you all virtually this year and in-person in coming years.

Sincerely,