ASTC 2025 Annual Conference
September 5–8, 2025
San Francisco Bay Area
Optional Events
This page includes information about optional events associated with the ASTC 2025 Annual Conference. Please check back periodically as additional details and events are added in the lead-up to conference.
- Friday, September 5, 2025
- Saturday, September 6, 2025
- Sunday, September 7, 2025
- Tuesday, September 9, 2025
- Ongoing Opportunities
Friday, September 5, 2025
SOLD OUT – Museum Experience: Experience the Heart of Silicon Valley: Technology, Innovation, and History in Exhibits and Programs
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Computer History Museum and The Tech Interactive (transportation provided)
Exploring technology innovation and history in exhibits and programs.
Start your all-day experience with a visit to the Computer History Museum, where you’ll get a private tour of Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing with Chief Curatorial and Exhibitions Officer Kirsten Tashev. You’ll also get a chance to view CHM’s newest exhibition, Chatbots Decoded: Exploring AI, and take part in a demonstration of the historic IBM 1401 Data Processing System, followed by lunch sponsored by ECI.
Then travel to The Tech Interactive, where you will experience their approach to AI, sustainability and engineering design in AI Sandbox and Dream Garden immersive room, Solve for Earth key hands-on design/making spaces. Opportunities for professional sharing with exhibit and education staff at both locations provided.
Preregistration and payment of $50 fee is required to attend this museum experience. Select as part of conference registration.
Preconference Intensives
9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. (individual schedule varies)
Moscone Center and other locations
Preconference Intensives are a chance for conference attendees to participate in focused learning experiences on a single topic, as as to connect and network with peers with similar job roles and topics interests—before the start of the main conference. See complete information about this year’s Intensives.
Preconference Intensives have limited enrollment, require preregistration, and may require an additional fee.
Select as part of conference registration and pay any applicable fee.
SOLD OUT – Museum Experience: Adventures in AI Panel
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Exploratorium, Pier 15 (Embarcadero at Green Street, San Francisco) (transportation on your own)
We encourage attendees to check a trip planner such as Apple Maps or Google Maps for the most up-to-date public transit and traffic information.
Navigation and Networking Gathering
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Moscone Center
Kick off your conference experience at the ever-popular Navigation and Networking Gathering event! Meet some of your fellow attendees, find out how to get the most out of your conference experience, and have a few snacks before exploring San Francisco.
Open to all conference registrants; first-time attendees especially invited.
Saturday, September 6, 2025
SOLD OUT – Unplug and Play: ASTC Host Party at the Exploratorium
7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Exploratorium, Pier 15 (Embarcadero at Green Street), San Francisco
Pre-purchased ticket availability for the Unplug and Play party has reached capacity. There will be a limited number of onsite tickets available for purchase during the conference at a first come, first serve basis.
Live music, food and drinks, and mind-bending phenomena—join us for a night of discovery at the Exploratorium! Enjoy quintessential Exploratorium programs, from tinkering activities to cow eye dissections and play with 700+ interactive exhibits diving into science, technology, and human behavior. Make your way through our iconic Tactile Dome, an immersive sculpture that invites you to navigate with only your non-visual senses. Sip a cocktail while enjoying an unparalleled view of the San Francisco Bay, then leap into the wild new world of artificial intelligence with our summer exhibition Adventures in AI: play with AI, explore how it works, and debate its future.
Attendees and guests must be 21 years of age or older.
Transportation not provided (limited accessibility shuttle service provided between Moscone West and the Exploratorium beginning at 6:30 p.m.).
Options for getting between Moscone West and the Exploratorium include:
- Rideshare:
- Download the Lyft or Uber apps for easy rideshare pick-up and drop-off to the Exploratorium. Approximately 18-minute trip.
- Download the Waymo app for a unique driverless experience (users must have a Google account to use Waymo).
- Scooter (such as Lime) and Bikeshare (through Lyft) services also available. Pricing and availability varies; check your app of choice for more details
- Walking: approximately 1.5 mile / 35-minute walk through downtown San Francisco
- Public transit (make sure to obtain a Clipper transit card from a BART station or by adding to your Apple or Google wallet):
- BART: from the Powell Street station, travel 2 stops to the Embarcadero station and walk approximately .7 miles / 15 minutes to the Exploratorium. Approximately 30-minute trip.
- Historic Street Car: from the Market & 4th Street stop, take the F line toward Fisherman’s Wharf. Get off at the Embarcadero & Green Street stop and walk approximately 1 minute to the Exploratorium. Approximately 25-minute trip.
- Muni (bus): from the Mission & 4th Street stop, take the 14R toward Main & Mission. Get off at the Market & Steuart Street stop and walk approximately .6 miles / 15 minutes to the Exploratorium. Approximately 25-minute trip.
To attend the host party, be sure to purchase a ticket in advance as part of your conference registration. Funds from registrant tickets ($35 each) will support ASTC’s New Leaders Fellowship Program.
Guest tickets ($60 each) for those not registered for conference are also available for purchase during registration or from the registration desk as supply lasts.
Sunday, September 7, 2025
Public Science Festival
1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Power your curiosity at ConnectFest! Join some of the Bay Area’s leading science centers and children’s museums at this family-friendly public science festival, located outside of the Children’s Creativity Museum at 4th and Howard (across the street from the Moscone West Convention Center). The festival will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Learn more here.
7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco
Join us for an engaging after-hours celebration at the California Academy of Sciences!
Explore the wonders of the natural world in the world-renowned Steinhart Aquarium and take a spin through the three-story Osher Rainforest. Marvel at natural history exhibitions, and be amazed by cutting-edge visualizations in the Morrison Planetarium during a special live show*. And don’t forget to stargaze from the Living Roof! Enjoy light refreshments, casual networking, live performances, and more. Come with your curiosity!
Attendees and guests must be 21 years of age or older.
Transportation provided.
Buses will loop continuously between Moscone West and California Academy of Science from 6:15 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. The last bus will pick up from the Moscone West at 9:00 p.m. and the last bus will depart from California Academy of Science at 10:30 p.m.
There may be as long as a 30-minute wait between shuttle departures.
Entry for the event will be via the main entrance at 55 Music Concourse Drive.
The Music Concourse Garage will be open until 11pm that evening. The garage can be accessed via Music Concourse Drive and the exit from the garage will be right at the front of the museum. More information and rates can be found here.
If you are using rideshare, please be sure to use 55 Music Concourse Drive as the destination address.
*Morrison Planetarium Live Show
The Morrison Planetarium will showcase visualization experts from the Academy and the American Museum of Natural History, revealing how immersive spaces allow for a new experience of natural history museum data. Audiences will journey from the scale of our planet and regional ecosystems to the size of insect specimens—and into the abstract realm of the tree of life. Rooted in authentic data, this program will highlight the potential of modern digital planetariums as visualization theaters.
To attend this event, be sure to purchase a ticket ($35) in advance as part of your conference registration.
Guest tickets ($60 each) for those not registered for conference are also available for purchase during registration or from the registration desk as supply lasts.
Monday, September 8, 2025
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
ASTC Goes Birding
7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Fort Mason Park
You’ll hear about the joys of birding at the conference’s keynote. So, grab your binoculars head to Fort Mason Park before museum open house day and see who’s out and about. We’ll congregate at the small parking lot at the end of MacArthur Ave in the park (it’s 2 1/2 miles from the Exploratorium.) Birders from the eastern US, this is a great spot for west coast species like Brandt’s Cormorant, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Black Phoebe, California Towhee, Anna’s Hummingbird and Pygmy Nuthatch. Plenty of other species are possible, maybe even San Francisco’s famous Red-Masked Parakeets. Event is on unless heavy rain happens. Led by Jonah Cohen, STEM Education Specialist at McWane Science Center. Please RSVP to jcohen@mcwane.org for further details and updates.
Ongoing Opportunities
Free Museum Admission
Throughout the ASTC 20225 Annual Conference, all eight host museums will be offering free museum admission to attendees with their conference badge.
Bay Area Discovery Museum
Friday, September 5 –
Sunday, September 7
California Academy of Sciences
Friday, September 5 –
Tuesday, September 9
Chabot Space & Science Center
Friday, September 5 –
Sunday, September 7
Children’s Creativity Museum
Friday, September 5 –
Sunday, September 7
Computer History Museum
Friday, September 5 –
Sunday, September 7
Exploratorium
Friday, September 5 –
Tuesday, September 9
The Lawrence Hall of Science
Friday, September 5 –
Sunday, September 7
The Tech Interactive
Friday, September 5 –
Sunday, September 7
Use of your conference badge for free admission is based upon the regular operating hours of each host institution and are outside of the general conference program. Transportation, as it relates to these free admission opportunities, is the sole responsibility of the attendee.
You can find more information about how to get to the host museums, as well as local transportation options, on the Travel and Host Information page.
Meet-ups
Time and location varies
Throughout the conference, you can also find many ways to connect with your fellow attendees through meet-ups and special events. Check the full schedule to find your people. Don’t see the group you’re looking for? Post your idea for a community meet-up in the activity feed in the app. Be sure to include a time, location, and date!