ASTC 2024 Annual Conference
September 28–October 1, 2024
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Call for Proposals
The Call for Proposals is now closed. Thanks for all of your submissions.
Watch the webinar recording about how to build a successful proposal.
Preview the questions asked as part of the proposal by downloading this PDF:
The Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) Annual Conference is one of the premier annual events for science-engagement professionals across North America and around the world. Each year, this event brings together more than 1,400 professionals working in science and technology centers and museums and allied organizations. This includes not only experts and practitioners in informal science education, but also science communication, STEM learning, and the broader intersections between science, technology, and society.
This Year's Conference
ASTC 2024 will be an amazing conference because of you. What makes this a can’t-miss event is the opportunity to learn from each other, to network, to connect, to experience, and to create together.
With a mixture of concurrent and plenary sessions, Intensives, Poster Palooza, hands-on activities, a robust exhibit hall, museum experiences, and tons of networking opportunities and social events, ASTC 2024 will energize, educate, inform, and inspire our community.
In Chicago, we will have the unique opportunity to experience and learn from a wide range of world-class institutions—including our conference host, the Museum of Science and Industry, as well as The Field Museum, the Adler Planetarium, the International Museum of Surgical Science, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, and others in the Chicagoland area.
ASTC 2024 will leverage this wide range of local expertise to ensure that this year’s conference program includes content and discussion on how the full range of ASTC member types are addressing global trends and planning for the future. In addition, we are including a special call for sessions about aspects of natural history museums and other similar organizations that have not been as prominently featured in past ASTC conferences.
Proposals that emphasize interactivity and active engagement of the audience will be prioritized. As professionals in science engagement and learning, we know how to creatively engage audiences. Let’s do that for each other at the ASTC Annual Conference!
Conference Dates
This year’s conference will be held Saturday, September 28 – Tuesday, October 1, 2024 with Preconference Intensives and meet-ups on Friday, September 27, 2024 and the opening plenary on the morning of Saturday, September 28. ASTC 2024 will conclude with Museum Experience Day on October 1.
Conference Location
We will meet in Chicago, Illinois, the “Windy City.” Chicago, the United States’ third largest city, has a metropolitan area population of almost 10 million people. The city is renowned for its museums, including the large number of ASTC members noted above, and other world-class institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan in Illinois, Chicago is famed for its bold architecture and has a skyline punctuated by skyscrapers such as the iconic John Hancock Center, 1,451-ft. Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) and the neo-Gothic Tribune Tower.
The main conference activities, including registration, plenary and concurrent sessions, and the Exhibit Hall, will be held at McCormick Place, Chicago’s state-of-the-art convention center.
Proposal Types
The ASTC Conference Program Planning Committee (CPPC) will develop a program based upon proposals submitted in response to this call and additional topical and timely content curated by the CPPC and ASTC. There are five proposal types for ASTC 2024:
Concurrent Session
Concurrent proposals are for full sessions that feature a diverse collection of presenters from diverse settings, generally across multiple organizations.
Concurrent sessions are 60 minutes in length and should generally have no more than 5 presenters.
Accepted concurrent sessions will be scheduled September 28–30.
If we don’t have the space to accept your proposal as written, we may invite you to consider elements of your session as a lightning or poster presentation.
Lightning Proposal
Lightning proposals are ideal when you have a story or perspective to share, but not a complete concurrent session with multiple perspectives.
Lightning presentations are short oral talks or discussions (about 10 minutes) that will be combined with other lightning presentations on similar themes into a Concurrent Session to be scheduled September 28–30.
Lightning proposals are limited to 1 or 2 presenters or facilitators.
If we don’t have the space to accept your proposal as written, we may invite you to consider your session as a poster presentation.
Poster Proposal
Posters are the ideal way to have one-on-one or small group discussions.
Share your program, research, or ideas graphically and engage with other participants. Posters will be available whenever the Exhibit Hall is open, including during the designated time for Poster Palooza.
At least one poster author is expected to register and attend ASTC 2024 in person, but you may include additional authors who will not be present.
Hands-On Showcase
We tested the Exhibit Hall stage at last year’s conference as a venue for hands-on activities, demonstrations, and other participatory content. Based on positive feedback, you can now submit a proposal directly for a 15-minute Hands-On Showcase.
Activities should be participatory and benefit from the less formal nature of the space. You will have access to standard audio-visual (projector and microphone) and a set of round tables to facilitate small group interaction.
Showcase sessions are generally limited to two presenters. Please note that showcase sessions are NOT appropriate for commercial demonstrations.
Preconference ASTC Intensives
Participatory and highly-interactive workshops on a single topic, including a diverse collection of presenters and facilitators. May be half-day (up to 4 hours) or full day (up to 8 hours).
Preconference Intensives are expected to be scheduled on Friday, September 27. They may be held at McCormick Place or at other locations in the area; proposals for sessions outside of McCormick Place should include a discussion of transportation needs.
These sessions will generally require advance registration and an additional registration fee for participants.
Conference sessions are intended to provide a space for learning, sharing, and discussing topics and issues relevant to our field and are expected to be educational in nature. As such, proposals should not promote or sell specific products, services, brands, or companies. (For inquiries about the potential for sponsored content, please contact us at exhibits@astc.org.)
Topical Areas
Submissions may address any topic relevant to science and technology centers and museums and the broader fields of informal science learning and public engagement with science. We especially encourage you to think about current circumstances, capabilities, and priorities in the field.
For example, perhaps you have a session idea about educational programs to address planetary health or racial justice, experiments to make our science centers more accessible to our community, innovative practices to recruit and retain high-performing staff, evolving business models for our organizations, and successful partnerships with schools or community groups
For inspiration about current topics that may be especially relevant to your colleagues, we encourage you to consult the Trends Framework that ASTC’s Global Trends Committee developed in 2023, and the ASTC’s Leadership and Field Development Committee’s 2023 report on Priorities, Challenges, and an Action Plan for Strengthening the Science Center and Museum Workforce. We also encourage you to consider recent successes and challenges—discussing failure is welcomed and encouraged—your teams and institutions have faced and how those might be translated into lessons for others.
The 2024 conference includes a special call for sessions relevant to work happening in natural history museums and other natural history settings. We value and appreciate the professionals working in natural history settings who regularly propose sessions and present at ASTC conferences. In 2024, ASTC is seeking to leverage the presence of Chicago’s Field Museum—a global leader among natural history museums—to expand the range of topics that are specifically relevant to those working with natural history collections, research taking place in natural history settings, and content focused on natural sciences.
The sessions may cover specific topics such as:
- Authenticity. The notion of what is real—with regard to objects, collections, and data—has evolved and is evolving. What is being learned about how the ongoing digitization of assets encourages or discourages community and audience trust, engagement, and learning? Are there current natural history museums experiments with generative AI and opportunities for institutions to use large language or image generation models to enhance and advance their preservation, mediation, and educational practice?
- Research and Critical Content. The climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and sustainability and regeneration are among the topics that natural history museums continue to be leaders in researching and addressing with the public through exhibits, programs, and activities. Which topics are currently foremost on the minds of communities in which institutions are embedded and what kinds of experiences are they seeking for their well-being and learning? How can natural history museums balance their urgent concern for planetary health with their desire to be trailheads for lifelong journeys of joyful discovery and exploration of nature, science, and culture?
- Repatriation and Decolonization. Many museums—including especially natural history museums—hold objects representing the cultural history of Indigenous peoples in their collections. As institutions are increasingly engaging in reflection of their ethics, policies, and practices and their relationships with their communities, what are the emergent best practices related to repatriation and decolonization? What considerations should be prioritized in building respectful and trusting relationships with Indigenous communities?
We will ask you to assign your proposal to one of eight tracks that have been restructured from past years to help attendees in navigating the conference:
| Track | Description |
|---|---|
| Audience, Diversity, and Inclusion | Topics related to engaging both broad and specific audiences, increasing access, and ensuring inclusive environments for diverse audiences. |
| Community and Partnerships | Informal and formal collaborations, community relationships, and external partnerships |
| Education and Events | Theory, practice, and design of public programs, educational experiences, and events |
| Facility and Exhibit Design | Topics related to the design, fabrication, construction, and renovation of exhibits, learning spaces, and building facilities |
| Leadership and Direction | Topics of interest to Chief Executives and senior leadership, such as leadership practices, organizational strategy, and advocacy |
| Operations and Development | Business and financial operations such as fundraising, marketing, membership, and administration |
| Organizational Culture and Workforce | Topics related to staff development, volunteer engagement, human resources, and internal practices |
| Trends and Innovation | Research and evaluation, current trends, and field-wide innovation |
Session Format
All concurrent sessions are expected to take advantage of the in-person nature of the conference. We encourage you to think creatively about ways to involve and engage all of the participants in the room with full- or small-group discussion, workshops, brainstorming, co-creation, charrette, and more—as well as interactive methods like game shows, scavenger hunts, and more.
We also encourage lightning proposals that incorporate interaction with participants, while recognizing that your portion of the agenda is limited in time.
As part of your submission for concurrent and lightning proposals, you will be asked to identify the primary format for your session:
| Engagement Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| Panel | Moderated discussion between presenters |
| Group Discussion | Moderated discussion where attendees are full participants |
| Experiential | Hands-on experience where attendees actively participate in an activity or practical skill share |
| Solution Lab | Facilitated working session where attendees work together toward a goal (e.g., develop resources, ideas, or solutions) |
By the nature of their format, posters allow the opportunity for one-on-one and small group discussions.
The Hands-On Showcase was created for short, highly participatory, and interactive activities.
Given the in-depth interactive format, Preconference Intensives should involve significant audience participation and engagement.
ASTC Welcome All to Submit
Affiliation with an ASTC-member organization is not required to submit a session proposal nor to be a presenter. We welcome—and encourage—submissions from those at all career stages and in all job roles.
We especially welcome first-time submissions and proposals from people who have not previously attended an ASTC conference.
ASTC is dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic community, including people of all races, colors, religions, political affiliations, sexual orientations, genders, ages, familial histories of education, physical and cognitive abilities, languages used, Indigenous status, and countries of origin, and we encourage submissions from all.
CPPC members are available to support you in proposal development, including connecting you with other possible presenters. We also encourage you to make use of the ASTC General Forum and Communities of Practice (https://community.astc.org/) to connect with others who may be interested in collaborating with you on a session proposal.
Commitment to Engaging Diverse Perspectives
ASTC is committed to incorporating diverse perspectives within each session and across the entire conference. You will be asked to provide two short statements that describe how your session represents diverse perspectives, individually and organizationally. There is no single way to address this requirement, but consider the following dimensions of diversity:
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- Range of personal identities (e.g., age, ethnicity, race, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, ability, nationality)
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- Variety of career stages and job roles
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- Organizations of all types, sizes, and geographies
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- Variety of perspectives and topical viewpoints
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- Content explicitly focused on diversity, accessibility, inclusion, and equity
Your proposal should clearly describe how the presenters are well-positioned to facilitate the session topic.
Your session’s articulated commitment to diversity will be considered during the review process.
The submission form will also ask for you to optionally self-identify on several demographic questions that will be used by ASTC, in aggregate, to assess our performance against our stated values. These additional questions are optional and will not be used in the review of your proposal.
Quick Guide to Submitting
This year’s Call for Proposals will focus on a few key questions, making it easy for you to submit a session proposal.
The ASTC Conference Program Planning Committee, along with the ASTC staff, evaluates all proposals submitted for the conference. The information you include in your submission will be used for the review process, to help ASTC organize the conference, and to help promote your session. As part of the online submission process, you will be asked to provide some descriptive phrases that will help ASTC staff effectively develop a conference program that is easy for attendees to navigate.
Proposals must be submitted via the online portal by Friday, February 16, 2024. We are using a new system to submit your proposal this year, so you will begin by clicking “Join Now” to create your account on the submission portal.
To review the questions you will be asked before beginning your proposal, download this PDF.
The Call for Proposals is now closed. Thanks for all of your submissions.
Please note, due to the limited number of sessions, a speaker is generally limited to presenting at two sessions during the 2024 Annual Conference. In addition, concurrent session proposals should have a maximum of five presenters.
You will be updated on the status of your proposal by the end of May 2024.