The congress in Palm Springs

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On Sunday afternoon, the Association of Test Publishers Congress started. It was held at the Westin Missions Resort & Spa in Palm Springs (or in Rancho Mirage, to be exact). The congress is held once a year especially for test publishers and their (future) customers. We had submitted a paper for an oral presentation and had expected it to be the usual 20 minute time slot (as normally at such congresses). When we received the notification of acceptance, we were told that our time slot was an hour. Wow! That’s a long time. But there was a lot that we could share with our listeners.

The Westin Missions Resort & Spa is a huge golf resort. There is a hotel, and there are a lot of time share apartments of various sizes. I was given a little apartment with a nice balcony facing the golf course and mountain range. I realised how big the resort was when I walked to registration in the conference centre of the hotel. It took me almost ten minutes to get there!

In the late afternoon, there was a special opening reception for all the participants attending the congress for the first time (they even put a sticker with “first time attendee” on it on our name tags, along with one that had “presenter” on it for me), and then there was the opening reception for everyone with nice food and drinks. On Monday morning, I met our Managing Director Andreas who would present our paper with me. He had arrived from Germany the night before. The congress consisted of different workshops and presentations. In the lobby, various companies presented innovation showcases on big screens, and there were quite a few exhibitors there we could talk to. On Monday afternoon, Andreas and I presented our findings on determinants of performance in IQ tests that impact the test score besides ability. We presented studies on the impact of emotions and moods, stereotypes, perception of one’s own performance due to instant feedback as well as test training. The talk went well, and although we did not have many listeners, there was an interesting discussion in the end.

On Tuesday night, there was a reception again, once more with food and drinks. Belinda came over, and after a little snack and a drink at the reception, we went out for a last dinner. This morning, I left Palm Springs and flew to Phoenix. Tomorrow morning, I will continue to Flagstaff and drive to the Grand Canyon from there. So there are more adventures to come!

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Photos

The congress hotel I
Nice garden that surrounds all the buildings.

The congress hotel II
One of the hotel pools (I did not get to use them...)

My balcony
... at the congress hotel.

View from my balcony I
... towards the mountains south of the hotel.

View from my balcony II
... towards the next bungalow.

My name tag
"First time attendee" and "speaker"