20th March: Update – registration is now open. View the new program here and sign up for one or all sessions here (please note you have to sign up for each session separately).
Thanks to our sponsors, it’s free to participate.
16th March 2020
Society Street Virtual: 2020 Announcement
Society Street has been monitoring the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation carefully and regularly over the last few weeks and has recently made the decision to replace Society Street USA on the 26th March 2020 with a virtual conference.
Many of our speakers are still very keen to participate, and we would like to provide a venue for our society partners and colleagues to talk about the challenges societies face in a world where business can be disrupted so suddenly and dramatically.
Therefore, we are planning on holding a virtual event on the same day (26th March) which will be open to anyone who wishes to attend.
This is a new venture for us so please bear with us whilst we sort out the details – we are working hard to deliver an event that is informative, challenging and useful. One of the focuses of the new program will be on how societies are / can / should respond to COVID-19 through all their activities.
The virtual conference will be live streamed on 26th March 2020 and will be available for delegates after the event. Please make a note in your diary and please sign up here if you would like to be kept up to date with our plans. More details will be forthcoming when we have finalised plans in the next few days.
We would like to thank our sponsors for their ongoing support.
We will update everyone with more information as soon as possible.
13th January 2020
Society Street – Programme Update Announcement
Over the past few months we have been busy pulling together the program for Society Street 2020 to be held in Washington DC on 26th March. It is the conference for leaders and future leaders of learned and professional societies and we are happy say the program is almost complete and we have a day lined up we think you won’t want to miss.
We know societies are facing an increasingly complex environment, with every day bringing new and more challenging questions that need to be answered.
Through the organizing theme of #EmbracingTheMission, we will be looking at:
- What early careerists want from their societies
- What it means to be a convener of a community
- How to run engaging and meaningful meetings
- How important advocacy is – and how to do it effectively
- How do we respond to the threats and opportunities provided by our publications activities?
- How do we actually create change?
We have a great line-up of speakers who will be sharing their knowledge and insights, as well as inviting discussion with the attendees.
We start off the day talking about the varying needs of society members (including early career professionals, practitioners and researchers). The morning is focussed on understanding and meeting the needs of your community and there will be plenty of time for discussion and sharing ideas.
- Ed Liebow, American Anthropological Association
- Beth Craanen, The Electrochemical Societ
- Margaret Vitullo,, American Sociological Association
- Steve Smith, American Political Science Association.
After lunch we break into parallel sessions focussing on Advocacy, Publications and Conference and Meetings. Speakers in these parallel sessions include:
- Susan Dentzer, Center for Health Policy
- Seth Denbo, American Historical Association
- Elizabeth Landau, American Geophysical Union
- Violaine Iglesias, Cadmore Media
- Paco Nathan, Derwen. ai
- Diane Kovats, International Society for Computational Biology
- Alexa Tullet, Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science
- Paul Gee, American Medical Association
- Julie Gill, American Medical Association
- David Sampson, The American Society of Clinical Oncology
We end the day with two inspiring keynote talks from change agents familiar with the Learned Society community before we open up the floor for discussion.
- Mary Williams, Features Editor, American Society of Plant Biologists
- Cindy Sparrow, Acting Deputy Chief – Community & Support Services at Red Deer Emergency Services
We hope to see you there — don’t forget the early bird discount ends on January 17th. View the full programme and book now at https://www.societystreet.org/usa
About Society Street
March 26th, 2020, Washington, DC – Find out more and register
June 10th, 2020, London, UK – Find out more and register
19th December 2019
Renew Consultants to Bring Conference for Society Leaders to the USA
Renew Consultants has been providing strategic consultancy to learned and scholarly societies from all over the world for the last 15 years. The UK-based consultancy has found that its work helping societies build strategy for their publications program increasingly merges into strategy for a society’s membership, conferences, community and mission. As societies plan for a future where there is added pressure on publications revenue, working holistically across society activities will become a key to success.
Simon Inger, Society Street Co-Founder and Consultant at Renew said “We recognised there was a need to support societies that were actively working on breaking down their internal silos, but we found there was no venue for that discussion. Whilst there are conferences that address some of these issues, we never found one that looked them holistically. Therefore, Renew decided to find a partner and launch a conference of our own and Society Street UK was born in 2018”.
The UK event was so successful it became clear the event would be welcomed by societies beyond the UK – March 2020 will mark Society Street’s inaugural year in the US. Both conferences address the theme of “Embracing the Mission”, have a similar programme and will support society leaders who wish to break down those internal barriers.
Matt Cianfarani, Executive Director at the conference management company Mark Allen Group said “The decision to take this conference to the US was an easy one for us. These issues are not going to go away, and we have seen from Society Street UK there is a crucial gap in the conference calendar. We are looking forward to taking the conference to Washington DC, which is the heart of the US society and association community. We have a programme packed full of influential and inspiring speakers who are excited to be involved in this event”.
A key focus of the 2020 conferences will be on “how to meet the needs of the community” and in particular the future of the community. A number of younger scientists, practitioners, and researchers have been invited to share views on what they want from their societies. It will also cover how to deliver practical activities for your membership: advocacy, conferences/meetings, and publications; and how to implement change – a crucial theme of the conference.
Sam Burrell, Programme Chair said “We recognise that societies are facing a whole host of difficult decisions. However, we are also seeing many societies using these challenges as an opportunity to re-evaluate their organisations and create new ways of engaging with their communities. Societies who are able to bring together publications, meetings, governance and membership teams to meet a common goal are finding they are reaching and serving their communities in a more effective way. We think we have delivered a conference programme which will spark optimism and excitement about the future”.
About Society Street
March 26th, 2020, Washington, DC – Find out more and register
June 10th, 2020, London, UK – Find out more and register
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