Membership

Become a science.events member!

You’re passionate about live, in-person events.

Maybe you enjoy participating in them, but you are definitely fired up about being on the other side: being the creative force inventing great experiences, the productive force wrangling all of the variables in an event, the empathic force delighting in the way events connect people, or the strategic force utilizing live events to drive forward long-term plans.

You’re interested in finding others like you.

You may work with public science events full time, but it’s more likely they are only one part of your professional role, a side gig, or a volunteer role. What matters is that you are interested enough in public science events that you are eager to connect with others and talk shop.

You’re curious about how “science” fits into things, even if you don't use the word often.

Maybe you’re curious about how the values of your science-related mission can come to life in public events. Maybe you’re curious about how integrating science into events can support, connect, or create change in your local community. Maybe you’re curious about how mashing up science and culture can make things more interesting, provoking, or fun. You're likely curious about how people use the word "science" differently. Wherever your curiosity lies, you definitely do not need to identify as a scientist.

Sounds like you belong here!

Membership is free.

All members must meet three criteria.

Members must be oriented humans operating in the US or Canada

We welcome new members with an orientation and introductions to other members. In turn, all members are expected to respectfully honor the collegial spirit of the relationships they build here. Membership is about fostering genuine human connection. As much as we appreciate our colleagues in other regions, we only have the capacity to do this in the US and Canada (for now!).

Members must participate actively in our community

Every member should be in contact with other members every year. There are many ways to do this. To help, each member is assigned to a regional group. Part of this participation also involves providing information about your activity every year, which can be as simple as completing a short questionnaire.

Members must be affiliated with an Event Initiative

Members are affiliated with live, in-person events that connect public audiences and science/STEM in some way. This should be reflected with an affiliation to at least one Event Initiative registered at science.events. As the word “Initiative” implies, these are not one-offs, but ongoing campaigns (such as an annually recurring festival, an ongoing event series, all of the public events associated with an organization, etc.). If this doesn’t fit your situation, we’ll try to find an arrangement that does.*

*To those that are just starting out, are events alumni, or are event researchers/evaluators: We know you belong too, and we're working to include you. Reach out to us, tell us why you are interested, and we'll let you know the moment we're ready.

Start your membership now

1. Complete a simple individual membership profile.

2. Affiliate with a registered Event Initiative. You must be approved by the point of contact for an existing Event Initiative. If you are registering an Event Initiative for the first time, we’ll be in touch.

3. You’re in! Make sure you complete an orientation and check in with your regional group.

It’s really free? What’s the catch?

Membership is free: There are no financial obligations. But there is a catch, as explained above. This community of practice is for its members, so we all should participate actively. That participation can take many forms as long as it involves substantial contact with other members at some point in a given year. We also need to know about it, so once a year you will be required to provide information about your activity.

I’m still not sure. Should I join?

Answer coming soon...

Wait, what am I joining exactly?

Answer coming soon...

I feel like this should be for me, but I don’t seem to fit

Answer coming soon...

How do I display or talk about my membership?

Answer coming soon...

What about the Science Festival Alliance?

It's still alive and well! We'll be keeping sciencefestivals.org updated, but individuals affiliated with science festivals start here at science.events and then select their science festival as their affiliated event initiative. We'll still have science festival-specific conversations but now we can finally do that as part of a larger, inclusive community of practice.