AIAA New Event Model

January 2013

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Why the New Event Model?

• Our profession is evolving and AIAA must change with it More emphasis in the industry on integrating systems and

disciplines. AIAA must be in a position to support these growth areas.

Our membership numbers are in slow decline and we are not retaining membership in the young professional ranks.

Our conferences have evolved to more focused events that only attract a portion of the aerospace community.

Many in our profession, primarily those in industry (who make up nearly half our membership), do not find our current conference offerings relevant to their jobs.

Goals in Pursuing New Event Model

• Ensure our Institute is relevant to aerospace professionals (academia, government, industry)

• Ensure our conferences integrate a spectrum of topics of interest to the profession (technical disciplines, systems, policy, operations, etc.) and other areas of the Institute

• Ensure our overall events provide meaningful professional development and interaction opportunities to the broad aerospace community (conference papers/presentations, networking, education, exhibits, etc.)

• Ensure our events are financially viable (both for the attendee and for the Institute)

• Ensure that our conferences are “must attend” events for all those in our profession and can accommodate expansion into new technology and program areas 3

New AIAA Forums Approved by BoD in May 2012

• AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition (“SciTech”, Winter timeframe)

• AIAA Defense and Security Forum and Exposition (“DEFENSE”, Winter timeframe)

• AIAA Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and Exposition (“AVIATION”, Early Summer timeframe)

• AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum and Exposition (“Propulsion and Energy”, Mid Summer timeframe)

• AIAA Space and Astronautics Forum and Exposition (“SPACE”, Late Summer timeframe)

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Program Structure for Forums

• Three-Tiered Structure Plenary – provides the aerospace professional insight

into the opportunities and challenges that face the aerospace industry

Integration – provides the aerospace professional the ability to engage in cross-cutting topics and solutions to system level challenges

Discipline – provides the aerospace professional the opportunity to engage in technical exchange on focused topics of interest

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Program Structure: Plenary Tier

• High-level keynote speakers and panel sessions focused on the integrating themes of the event that address critical issues facing the aerospace industry

• Sessions will be at the “Forum” level, be identified by “Executive Steering Committee” for the event, and involve participation and input from other areas of the Institute (Corporate Membership, Education, International, Public Policy, Publications, Standards)

• The target audience will be high level attendees from government, industry, and academia

• Topics could include areas like policy, funding, education, standards, acquisition, etc.

• These sessions should be open to all event attendees and have minimum overlap with other sessions 6

Program Structure: Integration Tier

• Sessions that explore multi-disciplinary topics and integration of systems and technologies

• Sessions will be planned by “Forum Organizing Committee” with representatives across the Institute who are tasked with focusing on bringing together people from several disciplines and identifying topics of interest to broad spectrum of attendees

• These topics will target those from academia, government, and industry that are interested in a more systems or operational focus

• Sessions could involve panel discussions, lessons learned, best practices, case studies, tutorials, seminars, workshops

• Joint sessions typical at current conferences when multiple committees have an interest in the same topic

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Program Structure: Discipline Tier

• Discipline-focused topics typical of the current technical conferences that align within the framework of the overall forum themes

• Technical sessions would be planned by the “Technical Program Committee”, addressing topics that are both consistent with overall forum themes and historical foundational technical areas

• Little or no overlap in topics between individual technical disciplines

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