The 2008 National Social Norms Conference: An Overview

This year's National Conference on the Social Norms Approach, held July 20-22 at the Hyatt Regency in Burlingame, California, was a resounding success. Co-sponsored by the BACCHUS Network and the National Social Norms Institute (NSNI), the conference hosted 190 attendees from 33 states and 5 countries. Drew Hunter, CEO of the BACCHUS Network, opened the conference, followed by Dr. jennifer bauerle of NSNI, who presented an overview of NSNI and its priorities . Dr. Jim Turner, Executive Director of NSNI, presented the Opening Plenary session with "The Power of Misperceptions in Setting Social and Political Agendas". Keynote speakers also included Dr. Clayton Neighbors, associate professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Wasington, who discussed the state of the field of social norms, and Sherri Michelstein, President of Alembic Health Communications, who gave a lively talk on engaging the media.

The optional Pre-conference Workshop, led by Michael Haines and Dr. Wes Perkins, continued to be a highlight of the conference. This intensive seminar is designed specifically for those conference attendees who are relatively new to the social norms approach and who wish to gain a solid understanding of the underlying theory and its application to the field of health promotion.

The conference had a marked increase in high school practitioners, which lends further confirmation to the vitality of the social norms approach. In addition to attendees meeting with leading researchers and practitioners in the field, participants also benefited from a variety or presentations. A total of 29 sessions were held with topics ranging from qualitative data collection to quantitative analysis. Normative topics covered peer education, alcohol, celebratory events, bullying, violence, body image, personal normative feedback, service learning, and working with the media.

For more information about specific sessions, please see the schedule-at-a-glance and a summary of all sessions.

Buoyed by the success of the year's conference, we are busy working on next year's to make it the best one yet. The 2009 conference will be held in beautiful Minneapolis, Minnesota from July 12-14th. Save the date !!

See below for pictures of 2008 conference highlights :

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.