Good morning,

 

Have you ever volunteered on a program committee for the NDSA’s annual Digital Preservation conference? If so, thank you! We want to give you the opportunity to be a part of the NDSA Long-Term Conference Planning Working Group to help examine our annual conference and event practices.

 

We have shifted the last two DigiPres conferences to virtual events. We made those changes in times of crisis, but they have nonetheless expanded the scope of what convening means. NDSA wants to use the momentum we’ve gathered to interrogate event equity, climate impact, sustainability, and inclusivity. Ultimately, the working group will deliver their recommendations to the NDSA Coordinating Committee (NDSA CC).

 

I have volunteered to co-chair this working group, so in addition to asking for volunteers to serve on the committee, I’ll also ask one of you to serve as co-chair with me. Again, we prefer this group be composed of folks who have experience serving on a DigiPres program committee. We will close the call once we’ve formed a reasonably sized and representative group. Please reach out to me or anyone else on the CC with your interest.

 

For your information, these are the high-level objectives of the charge:

 

• Gather information from other organizations on hybrid, decentralized, and joint conference models
• Make in-person NDSA events more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable
• Expand virtual conference programs throughout the year to amplify NDSA members’ work 
• Mitigate barriers inherent to in-person events
• Define NDSA Leadership’s roles and responsibilities in the conference planning, programming, and execution

 

Thanks for your interest,

Courtney