San Francisco — Rosemary G. Feal, the MLA’s executive director, is blogging the conference this year. That isn’t the only thing that’s new, as she explained in a conversation with The Chronicle. The pragmatic bent of many of the program offerings (see a previous blog post) is part of a deliberate strategy to respond to “the changing demographics” of the MLA’s membership, Ms. Feal said. That means workshops and more teaching-oriented sessions to supplement panels devoted to lace collars in the work of Jane Austen (Ms. Feal’s hypothetical example of a traditional MLA panel topic).

She said that the group wants to close perceived chasms between different constituencies — language-and-lit professors at research universities and those at community colleges, for instance. The association hasn’t been known to lavish attention on the latter group. “Too often, community-college colleagues suppose that the MLA does not provide enough of what they need to justify being members,” Ms. Feal wrote on her blog.

To help remedy that, the MLA held a workshop this year on “the central move of academic writing” for community-college members. It was well attended, with more than 60 participants. “We really are in this together,” Ms. Feal told The Chronicle.

Look for more workshops and more pedagogy at future conventions, as well as a more competitive distribution of panel time. Certain subject areas won’t automatically get as many sessions as in the past, Ms. Feal said. Instead, they will have to demonstrate that there’s demand for sessions. “I think the convention is going to be more organic, more limber,” she said.

One thing you won’t see in future years: presenting papers during the dinner hour. In 2010 attendees will no longer have to choose between eating and attending a panel.

Also in 2010, at long last, the convention will move from the week between Christmas and New Year’s to the following week, another welcome pragmatic move. —Jennifer Howard