Conference Organizing in the Hybrid Age: Lessons from the Fourth International Feminist Geography Conference

Abstract

The 4th International Feminist Geography Conference, Pushing Boundaries, was held both virtually and in-person at the University of Colorado at Boulder, 15–17 June 2022. The goal of the conference was to bring together feminist geographers from around the world to share their work, exchange ideas, and build professional connections toward advancing feminist scholarship. In this article, four of the conference organizers come together to share their experiences with the process of organizing a feminist conference and the lessons learned along the way, as well as at each stage of planning. Our intended audience is people who have not previously organized a hybrid conference (as we had not). By discussing and addressing challenges and recommendations—including, but not limited to conference format, scheduling, budget, technical support, social media, and timeline—we aim to foster more opportunities for organizing inclusive hybrid conferences in the future.

2022年6月15日至17日, 在美国科罗拉多大学博尔德分校(University of Colorado at Boulder)举办了网络和现场相结合的第4届国际女权主义地理学会议——“突破界限”。会议旨在汇聚世界各地女权主义地理学家, 分享工作, 交流思想, 建立联系, 从而推进女权主义研究。在本文中, 四位会议组织者分享了组织女权主义会议的经历、该过程中的教训以及会议筹划的各个阶段。本文的目标读者是没有组织过混合会议的人(就像我们一样)。通过讨论并解决挑战和建议(包括但不限于会议形式、日程、预算、技术支持、社交媒体和时间表), 我们旨在为将来举办包容性混合形式的会议创造更多机会。

La IV Conferencia Internacional de Geografía Feminista, con “Empujando Fronteras” como su tema central, tuvo lugar tanto de manera virtual como presencial en la Universidad de Colorado, Boulder, del 15 al 17 de junio de 2022. El propósito de la conferencia fue reunir a los geógrafos feministas de todas partes del mundo para compartir su trabajo, intercambiar ideas y construir conexiones profesionales que ayuden a impulsar la erudición feminista. En este artículo, cuatro de los organizadores de la conferencia se reúnen para compartir sus experiencias en el proceso de organizar una conferencia feminista, y las lecciones aprendidas en ese intento, lo mismo que en cada una de las etapas de planificación. La audiencia que buscamos era gente que nunca antes había organizado una conferencia híbrida (como tampoco nosotros lo habíamos hecho). Al discutir y abocar retos y recomendaciones que incluían, aunque sin estar limitados por el formato de la conferencia, programación, presupuesto, soporte técnico, medios sociales, y el calendario – pretendemos fomentar más oportunidades para organizar en el futuro conferencias híbridas incluyentes.

Key Words:

• conference planning
• feminist geography
• feminist scholarship
• hybrid conference

关键词:

• 会议筹划
• 女权主义地理学
• 女权主义学术研究
• 混合会议

Palabras clave:

• conferencia híbrida
• erudición feminista
• geografía feminista
• planificación de conferencias

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the conference organizing committee for their meticulous planning and dedication. We are especially grateful to Digital Motion, who provided extraordinary technical guidance and support throughout the conference. Finally, we express our gratitude to conference attendees and to everyone involved for their contributions, which made the conference an exceptional platform for learning, collaboration, and growth.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The support of sponsors (including NSF grant number 2211439) and their belief in our vision made the conference possible and has helped to ensure its legacy.

Notes on contributors

Hanieh Molana

HANIEH MOLANA is Assistant Professor in Geography at California State University, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA 95819. E-mail: [email protected]. She is a feminist political geographer whose work focuses on gender, temporality, resistance, and social movements within the Middle East region. She is particularly interested in collecting stories of resistance, feminist uprisings, and various forms of state violence in Iran and the broader MENA region.

Deirdre Conlon

DEIRDRE CONLON is Associate Professor in Critical Human Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. E-mail: [email protected]. Conlon’s work examines detention and destitution economies or the marketization, commodification, and continued expansion of carceral and quasi-carceral immigration controls.

Jennifer L. Fluri

JENNIFER L. FLURI is Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, CO 80302. E-mail: [email protected]. She is a feminist political geographer whose work focuses on gender, geopolitics, international aid and development, in Afghanistan. Her current project examines the experiences of Afghans evacuated from Afghanistan, women’s leadership in the diaspora and under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. In Colorado, she codirects the CU-Boulder Affordable Housing Research Initiative (www.colorado.edu/bahri), a community-based service-research project that provides information for individuals and organizations seeking, living in, or caring about affordable housing.

Nancy Hiemstra

NANCY HIEMSTRA is Associate Professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794. E-mail: [email protected]. Her recent research examines consequences of U.S. immigration and border enforcement policies both within and outside U.S. borders. Her 2019 book sketches the chaotic U.S. detention and deportation system and traces its geopolitical reverberations to Ecuador. With Deirdre Conlon, Hiemstra investigates economies of immigration detention, through a number of journal publications and an edited volume.