Carol Tobin knows about transition. In 1992 she was one of eight staff members who moved with AIHA from Akron, Ohio, to northern Virginia, close to the regulatory heart of occupational health and safety. When the Fairfax office opened its doors on Nov. 1, the Ohio transplants were joined by dozens of new staff. “Fifty people all started the same day, at the same time, in an office that had just been rebuilt from a cement floor,” Tobin recalls. “That was the utmost transition experience anyone could ever have. I mean, we’re having a lot of staff transition now, but nothing compares to back then.” To make matters even more challenging, AIHA’s Permanent Conference Committee was in town that very day to plan the 1993 AIHce. “There were people who were sure that the 1993 conference was going to explode, that there was no way we’d be able to pull it off with all that staff transition,” Tobin says. “I’m not saying that it was easy behind the scenes, but to most members, it looked pretty seamless.” A seamless experience is the goal of every professional in Tobin’s position. The average member’s conference begins when the lights go up at the opening session and lasts the better part of a week. For Tobin, AIHce is a year-long project requiring a high level of coordination among staff and dozens of volunteers. “There’s so much that goes on behind the scenes that no one knows anything about,” she says. Asked to reflect on the ways AIHA has changed over two-and-a-half decades, Tobin focuses on technology. For many years, building the AIHce program involved a series of face-to-face meetings among dozens of staff and volunteers. The annual session arrangers’ meeting was a lively affair where volunteers bargained with each other to get their preferred presentations into their sessions. “The room would start to buzz just like the Wall Street stock exchange,” Tobin says. “People would start bartering and swapping and shopping abstracts. It was a big negotiation, face to face.” When the bartering ended, the PCC would resolve conflicts and schedule the presentations. “If a session arranger wanted to appeal a PCC decision, they would have to march up to that head table and talk to the two conference co-chairs and make a case,” Tobin says. “It could get pretty passionate.” Technology has somewhat muted that passion, Tobin says. Today’s session arrangers use Web-based software to swap abstracts, and negotiations are carried out via phone or e-mail. While Tobin takes pride in having successfully moved this process online, eliminating travel expenses and saving time, she recognizes that technological improvements come with intangible costs.