This paper analyzes the spatial patterning of participants attending four annual conferences of the Association of American Geographers (AAG). The four most recent conventions were selected for the study: Los Angeles in 1981, Louisville in 1980, Philadelphia in 1979, and New Orleans in 1980. A conference participant is defined as a person whose name appeared on the conference program as presenting a paper, chairing a session, operating a workshop, or the like. Two of the most common variables in migration studies were utilized: the size of the population at the point of origin and the distance to the destination. For each of the years under review the "Directory of College Geography of the United States" was utilized to determine the number of full time geography faculty in each state. This variable represented the population mass of each state or origin area. Desire line measures were used to ascertain distance factors and were calculated from the geographical center of each state to each conference city. Results show that the number of conference participants did not vary dramatically from year to year, in spite of the fact that some of the conference locations were over 3000 miles apart. This phenomena can be accounted for by the fact that those states with the largest numbers of full time geographers tend to send the largest contingents of participants to the annual meetings. Although the location of the conference did increase participation numbers from nearby states, this factor did not significantly influence the overall spatial patterns of participants. (RM)