Evidence for Action:
Encouraging Innovation and Improvement

November 8 - 10, 2018  | Washington Marriott Wardman Park |  Washington, DC

The APPAM Fall Research Conference was a multi-disciplinary annual research conference attracting the highest quality research on a wide variety of important current and emerging policy and management issues. The conference was comprised of panels, roundtables, and poster presentations and was designed to encourage substantive interaction among participants.  It was the biggest and best APPAM conference yet, with an attendance increase of 16% over the previous year's Fall Research Conference in Chicago, IL.   

2018 Conference Theme
Evidence for Action: Encouraging Innovation and Improvement

Why the gem? Ruby is the traditional stone to commemorate a 40th anniversary. Known for its vivid red color, rubies can also exhibit secondary shades like orange, purple and pink. They are a desirable stone due to the bold color, hardness, durability, and rarity. Attendees noticed both the gem graphic and ruby-inspired colors for our 40th anniversary conference, and at our Thursday poster happy hour, they enjoyed the Ruby Red Sangria - an original APPAM cocktail!

The 2018 APPAM Fall Research Conference celebrated APPAM's 40th conference on November 8 - 10 at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, DC. This event focused on improving programs and policies by generating and engaging with evidence throughout the policy analysis and management process.

The 2018 conference also emphasized the iterative and collaborative nature of building evidence. We aimed to engage researchers, policy makers, and program leaders in thoughtful discussions about how best to collect data, capture innovation, measure impacts, and identify actionable and timely recommendations.

What Was New in 2018

Innovation Lounge

A new concept introduced at the 2018 conference was the Innovation Lounge, an easy-to-access space near registration where experienced researchers were invited to meet and share cutting-edge research with conference attendees. 

Innovation Lounge Sessions were 45-minutes in length and were scheduled for the duration of the full three-day conference.  All conference attendees welcome to attend these highly-interactive sessions.  Information about the next conference's Innovation Lounge will be provided in July 2019. 

Super Sessions

The 2018 conference also saw the debut of Super Sessions. Eight of these sessions were held throughout the conference; they each focused on different policy areas, topics or awards. An alternative to the symposia structure of past conferences, the Super Sessions were opportunities to gather with a large number of attendees around a single focus. You can find the full slate of 2018 Super session Offerings here.

Thursday Poster Happy Hour

In lieu of a 3:30 – 5:00 pm block of concurrent sessions on Thursday, attendees participated in a new poster happy hour. This session served as one of the conference’s three judged poster events and featured hors d’oeuvres, beer, and wine. This happy hour flowed directly into the Welcome Reception with heavy appetizers and a full bar. All attendees were welcome to attend both.

Schedule at a Glance

Wednesday, November 7

Thursday, November 8

Friday, November 9

Saturday, November 10