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My post last week considering options for a new science communication conference series got a pretty strong response, at least relative to most things on this blog. As it turns out, there already are some people in various stages of planning new (un)conferences in the style of Science Online, much like what I was thinking about. I won’t say anything about them here because those people haven’t revealed their plans yet, but I hope they will go public soon!

I also completely forgot that Science Online was not monolithic; it had regional branches around the US and around the world, which were largely separate from the main organization. At least two of them are still holding events: Science Online Leiden and Science Online DC. (There are also branches in Boston, Denver, and Vancouver, maybe others that I don’t know about, but they seem to be inactive.) These smaller groups could play a big role in the future of the science communication community, since as several people have pointed out, it’s a lot easier to organize events that involve fewer people. Perhaps a big international conference is too much to plan for in the next couple of years, but bringing together communicators from a couple of neighboring states? Not so hard. If there’s no science communication group in your area, why not start one? If you do, it’d be an excellent thing to announce on the mailing list!

In fact, the same goes for topical conferences, like the massively successful Science Online Oceans. Again, a smaller conference is easier to organize, and it could build up over time to become something for the whole community.

Of course, there’s no reason for me to only be writing about Science Online affiliates. I just do it because those are the events and groups I know, or can easily find out about. Actually, a lot of people I’ve heard from think that we should see any new conference, not as replacing Science Online, but as an opportunity to construct an event that the science communication community wants, from the ground up. I agree. After all, Science Online had its share of problems; the brand is somewhat tarnished, and any new events would probably do well to set themselves apart from that history.

Toward a new conference

While other people pursue their plans for new conferences, I’ve been musing on the seven-step “plan” (if you can call it that) I laid out in my earlier blog post. Here are some thoughts on the early steps, in light of what people have told me in the past week:

1. Putting together a group with organizational experience: the Science Online “regulars” were no strangers to organizing events. After all, if you want to communicate with people, bringing the people to you is step 1. So the talent and the experience are out there. I’ve actually been in touch with several people who would be very capable of planning a new conference, once they decide it’s time to go ahead and do it.
2. Figure out what went wrong with Science Online: a lot of things. Here’s a (partial) list, in fact. Here’s another one. But this step is ongoing.
3. Gauge interest: Yes, people are interested. Maybe not all the same people who used to regularly attend Science Online events, but a lot of them are interested enough that — as I mentioned above — they were talking about plans for some kind of new event even before my first blog post on the matter. The trick seems to be putting the interested attendees in touch with the interested organizers, which is what I’m trying to do right now.

The rest of the details — time, location, content, name, sponsors — is stuff for the future. For now, I think it’s all about communication. So, whether you’re interested in planning a conference or just want to be kept up to date on what everyone else is doing, please, join the mailing list!