Annual Meeting Update: 8/31/2023
Over the past few weeks, we received concerns from our members about the accessibility of the 2024 Annual Meeting for remote presenters and audiences. In light of this, SCS staff have been working with AIA staff and the SCS program committee on plans to make the 2024 Annual Meeting more accessible. The revised plan for the meeting is that SCS will run two fully hybrid session rooms throughout the conference for a total of 18 fully hybrid sessions accommodating remote speakers and audience. Both rooms will have standardized laptops installed so that panel organizers and session chairs will not have to provide their own laptops. There will also be better technical support than there was in New Orleans, as only two session rooms will be hybrid. In addition to in-person and hybrid sessions in 2024, there will be a limited number of fully virtual offerings.
SCS staff are currently reaching out to panel organizers to identify sessions that will work as hybrid events. We realize that running only two rooms as hybrid rooms does not provide the level of accessibility that we had in New Orleans, but given the technical problems in 2023, we hope that 2024 will provide us the opportunity to figure out what it takes to run successful hybrid sessions in hotels, especially as AIA and SCS have hotel contracts for conferences through 2026. With accessibility and environmental impact as major concerns, we are also in discussion about the format of the annual meeting after 2026.
Registration rates will overall fall into two categories: in-person and virtual, and the SCS will be providing additional financial support for students and contingent faculty, with details to be approved by the SCS finance committee and board.
We invite you to share your ideas and feedback for the Annual Meeting through this link, which will be reviewed by SCS Staff and the Annual Meeting Task Force.
8/29/2023
Interested in how the annual meeting program is built? You can read this resource by former VP for Program Cynthia Damon, Building the Program: the View from the Program Committee
Annual Meeting Update: 7/14/2023
After the 2023 Annual Meeting, AIA and SCS issued a survey to annual meeting participants about the hybrid conference in New Orleans. That survey revealed both the technical difficulties and frustrations that attendees and presenters encountered with the hybrid set up in New Orleans, and the overall desirability for many of virtual participation, which makes the conference accessible to those who are unable to travel.
In light of these results, both organizations worked hard to research the costs and logistics of a more successful hybrid conference in Chicago in 2024. Given the need for additional equipment and paid technical support, the high costs of that AV equipment and technical support in Chicago, and the large number of concurrent sessions at the conference, AIA and SCS determined that that a fully hybrid meeting, of the type attempted in New Orleans, will not be feasible in 2024. Instead, we are planning for a conference with in-person sessions and some fully virtual sessions so that there is a virtual component to the meeting.
This plan has been somewhat complicated at SCS by the fact that a very low number of individual abstract authors indicated at the time of submission that they would like to present remotely. At the program committee meeting last week, the committee determined that fully virtual paper sessions made up of individual abstracts would not be feasible. To ensure that everyone gets an opportunity to present, speakers will be able to zoom in, if necessary, to in-person sessions, but there will be limited interactivity and no virtual audience at those sessions. We are also now reaching out to panel, workshop, and roundtable organizers to determine which organized panels, workshops, and roundtables might be fully virtual so that we can put together a meaningful virtual program.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to navigate this difficult territory.
Updated 5/17/2023
- The Committee on Ancient and Modern Performance (CAMP) is seeking participants for the Lysistrata at the 2024 Annual Meeting. See CAMP's reminder and the original CFP here.
- Interested in how the annual meeting program is built? You can read this new resource by former VP for Program Cynthia Damon, Building the Program: the View from the Program Committee
Older Updates
The SCS Program Committee has issued a special call for seminars for 2024.
The program submission system is now closed at https://scsprogramsubmission.secure-platform.com/site
SCS has a new submission system this year. To log into the system, you will need to use the primary email address (profile address) associated with your member account on the SCS/JHUP membership site. To check the address and to ensure your membership is up to date, go to your member profile at https://scs.press.jhu.edu/membership/log-in
For guidance on accessing and using the new system, see this page.
If you have difficulty using the new system or logging in, please email info@classicalstudies.org
Deadlines for submission are as follows:
- April 24 at 11.59pm EDT for panels (including committee panels), workshops, seminars, roundtables, affiliated group applications, organizer-refereed panel applications, affiliated group panel reports, and organizer-refereed panel reports.
- May 1 at 11.59pm EDT for individual abstracts and lightning talks.
Please note that at this stage, no decision has been made about whether the 2024 annual meeting will be a hybrid event or what sorts of virtual events may be offered if the meeting itself is not fully hybrid. AIA & SCS do anticipate that there will be a virtual portion of the conference.
Calls for abstracts from affiliated groups, SCS committees, and organizer-refereed panels can be found below.