One of the hardest parts of a physical conference to recreate online are the passionate conversations with small groups over dubious conference coffee about subjects of mutual interest. Romantic Disconnections/Reconnections is not going to be able to offer exactly this experience, but we would like to facilitate smaller-scale and more conversational exchanges along with the discussions in our panels and plenary sessions. We are keen that these exchanges be led by the interests of BARS’ membership.
To this end, we invite proposals from individuals or small groups who would like to host a salon as part of the conference. A salon will be an informal meeting (on Zoom or another platform) organised around a specific topic of interest for which a limited number of people can sign up. If you’d like to gather medical humanists attending the conference, or meet other people interested in Charlotte Smith, or have a really intense discussion about Julian and Maddalo, or just have a social chat with some like-minded people, please consider proposing a salon.
We will look to schedule most of the salons on the weekdays between the main two conference blocks (so on Monday 16th, Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18th August). Proposals should give a title, a contact person, a short description of the proposed topic of discussion, a preferred time slot, and a maximum number of attendees. The conference committee will try and ensure that there aren’t too many clashes, and will set up a directory of salons for delegates to browse. We will also handle Eventbrite sign-ups and set up Zoom meeting rooms as requested (although as a host, you’re welcome to handle sign-ups yourself, or use an alternative platform).
To aid organisation, we ask that proposals for salons reach us by the same date as paper proposals: Monday 28th June 2021.
Please submit proposals for salons using this Google Form.