[Skip to Content]

A Welcome Message from the President

Welcome to the 2024 SAA Annual Meeting virtual components pilot!

I am delighted to welcome you to the SAA Board’s most recent effort to make the annual meeting as accessible as possible. To summarize the SAA 89th Annual Meeting online elements:

  • Program participants in symposia, general sessions, forums, lightning rounds, and electronic symposia may present remotely as long as the session organizer or their delegate is in the session room in New Orleans and supports these components. If you are unsure about your session, please reach out to your organizer and urge that they make the session accessible.
  • Registrants may attend symposia, general sessions, forums, lighting rounds, and electronic symposia virtually and send in questions using the chat functions in the Zoom platform.
  • Sessions will occur live following the times published in the final program, which uses US Central Time.

I hope you will let us know what you think of these virtual components by taking the annual meeting evaluation, which will be emailed out on April 22 to all meeting registrants. The SAA Board and I are deeply committed to finding the proper balance between keeping the meeting as affordable as possible (which is one aspect of access) and providing the community with digital options (which is a different facet), and we would really appreciate hearing your response to the 2024 effort.

Welcome!
Dan Sandweiss

Tips for a successful virtual meeting
  • If you are presenting, review the online presenter guide.
  • Read the online attendee guide.
  • Program participants sometimes withdraw. Each day of the meeting, SAA staff announces presenter cancellations in a Daily Digest email.
  • Please understand that our meeting consists of many voices and perspectives. We ask that you be considerate of others.
    • Images of human remains and some funerary objects have the potential to be offensive and unsettling to some members of our community and those communities with whom we work. We ask that presenters disclose at the beginning of their presentations that they will show such images in an effort to create a more respectful environment for all. 
    • The SAA Board expects all meeting attendees to be mindful of others and aware of the harm that can be done through disrespect. We encourage presenters to choose words carefully and respectfully, recognizing that words that deny the existence of, or belittle, another group are harmful and unnecessary.
  • The SAA pays for a meeting ombuds, who is available as a resource for any concern you may have. The ombuds can be reached by email (saaombuds@gmail.com) and phone (949) 293-7515. 
  • The SAA’s Meeting Safety Policy applies to the in-person meeting as well as its virtual components. All meeting registrants agreed to this policy when they registered. If you would like to review the policy, it can be found here.