In-Person Attendees

• Dietary information: We ask you about your dietary needs in the registration process to ensure we have enough meals for lunch and networking events, so please make sure you don't miss this part of your registration! We will have options for vegetarians, vegans, and those requiring gluten-free foods at each break and luncheon at the convention center. We cannot guarantee cross-contamination or further specific requests. Please use the registration form to let us know about your needs or any additional dietary concerns.
  
  
• Editing or adding to registration: You can view or modify your registration at any time to add tickets and RSVPs. Once you're logged in, select Modify Registration. If you run into any issues updating or adding to your registration, contact us at meetings@culturalheritage.org.
  
  
• Reminder: one lunch ticket comes with your onsite registration, but you will need to select it.
  
  
• Offered Add-Ons: you can choose to add a tote bag, printed program, or several other AIC/FAIC items during your registration. Please add to your registration by April 1.
  
  
• Adding tickets onsite? Skip the line by buying tickets for any available tours, seminars, and receptions throughout the meeting by modifying your registration.
  
  

Hybrid (All) Attendees

• Online Community: when you register for the meeting, you're automatically added to an online community where you can find timely updates about the program and connect with other attendees.
  
• Switch from In-Person to Online or the opposite at any time.
• You can find our Refund Policy on our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Virtual Tour

The Palais des congrès offers a virtual tour of our meeting space. Our meeting will take place on the 5th floor in rooms 517-525. On the tour, navigate to Level 5, then Foyer 517 (click forward 3-4 times) to explore!

Entering the Palais

Our sessions are on the north end of the Palais, the Rue Saint-Urbain side, not the Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle side. We recommend entering from the Avenue Viger Ouest side. You can find a guide to getting to the Palais from the DoubleTree Hotel and surrounding areas here: Getting to the Palais des congrès Guide.pdf 

Entrances closest to our rooms are: 

• Pathway Jeanne-Mance: This passage runs through the Palais with two entrances to the Palais, one on Avenue Viger and the other one on Rue Saint Antoine. If you walk straight down Jeanne-Mance from the DoubleTree on street level, this is the first entrance you see. The other side of this passageway is an entrance on Saint-Antoine.
• Place D'Armes: Corner of Avenue Viger Ouest and Rue Saint-Urbain. This is kitty-corner from the Holiday Inn Montreal Centreville, also findable as an entrance to the Place-d’Armes metro stop. This is a good entrance if you’re coming from further North and East of the Palais. If entering here, you’re on the first floor and take the escalators or elevator up to the session spaces.
• Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle: Accessible entrance for drop off or walking, but be advised, you will need to walk through the Palais to reach our session rooms.

Sustainability Information

The Palais is dedicated to sustainability. They will not have water stations with disposable cups, but they do have water bottle refill stations alongside their water fountains. There is also a vending machine to purchase reusable/recyclable aluminum water bottles. Food will be served on reusable trays and food waste will be collected for composting.

Spaces

• Quiet spaces: the Palais offers first-come-first-serve seating in several areas around the session rooms, which you’ll find marked on our onsite map. 
  
  

• Small meeting spaces: the Palais offers first-come-first-serve seating for meetings at several tables on the fifth floor near the session rooms, which you’ll find marked on our onsite map. Some of these seating areas have a sliding door, as well. 
  
  

• Lactation Room: there is a dedicated Lactation Suite on the 4th floor, easily accessible via a two-minute walk and short elevator ride. The suite is adjacent to a restroom and has fabric partitions that separate two spaces for lactation use. There is a chair, foot stool, side table, and outlet in each space. If you anticipate that you will need accommodation beyond what is provided in this space, please let us know by emailing Katelin Lee at klee@culturalheritage.org.  

• Restrooms: there are several restrooms available on the floor of the Palais where we are meeting. There are also restrooms in the middle of our meeting space, adjacent to the general session, that are all-gender restrooms. 
  
  

• Powering your Devices: There are many outlets available throughout the meeting space. If you need to charge a device on the go, the Palais offers free, reusable power banks that can be borrowed at stations throughout the convention center. 

• Grounding Statement: read the statement from Program Co-Chairs Abed Haddad and Kyna Biggs: Grounding Statement   
  
  
• Code of Conduct & Green Pledge: please review our Attendee Code of Conduct and Green Attendee Pledge.
  
  
• Dress code: the dress code for all events is business casual. 
  
  

• Remember to pack:

  • a reusable water bottle

  • a tote bag (or order a "Friends" tote bag to pick up onsite)

  • Passport (for our non-Canadian attendees) and/or Visa information

Please let us know about accessibility concerns as soon as possible but by no later than March 31. If a request for accommodation is made after this time we will still do our best to meet it, but our ability to do so may be limited. 

Mobility Accommodations and Concerns

• Palais des Congrès: All areas are accessible by wheelchair or other mobility aid. Flooring is all tile or low pile carpet. Maps of the Palais and hotel will have elevators marked. All session rooms in the Palais are on the fifth floor, limiting travel distance between rooms and elevator usage.
  
  

• Conference Hotel: the DoubleTree by Hilton Montreal, is roughly 15-20 minutes by foot from the Palais. Attendees staying in the conference hotel can access the Palais either on street level outside or through underground connections through Montreal’s Underground City (RESO) network. However, construction in the RESO between the hotel and Palais may lead to potential mobility challenges, and we cannot guarantee the RESO will be fully accessible. There are also hotels that are closer to the convention center. While it’s important for us to meet our commitments with our conference hotel, we understand if you would like to book closer to reduce travel distance and ensure access to the Palais. If you would like information on access to the Palais from other hotels, please reach out to Katelin Lee at klee@culturalheritage.org.
  
  

• Parking: if you are driving to the Palais, there is a parking garage on site with accessible spaces. The elevators in the garage go directly to the meeting level of the convention center. The maximum daily fee is $30 CAD. 
  
  

• Session Room: some session rooms will include stages for speakers, which come with steps. We will provide ramps or lifts for any speaker upon request. Please see our speaker section below for more information. 
  
  

• Reserved/Priority Seating: If you require reserved/priority seating in either the front or back of the room to be able to more easily navigate session rooms, please indicate this in your registration form.

Audio Accommodations and Concerns

• Captioning of session audio is provided through Wordly. You will need to provide your own device (smart phone, laptop, tablet) to access captioning. These captions can also be offered in additional languages, see the Translation Information section below. 

• If you need reserved/priority seating in either the front or back of the room, including to be able to run a device for captioning, please indicate this in your registration form.

Visual Accommodations and Concerns

• There is static wayfinding signage on Level 1 of the Palais as well as braille and voice system announcements in the elevators. 
• If you need reserved/priority seating in a room for improved visibility, please indicate this in your registration form.

If you have any questions about available accommodations or need accommodations not described above, please contact Katelin Lee at klee@culturalheritage.org.

We will provide live translation to all attendees through Wordly, which supports several languages. Attendees will need to use own device (smart phone, laptop, tablet) to use this service. We recommend downloading the Wordly app in advance of traveling to the meeting.

You can find our guide to using Wordly onsite here: Wordly User Guide

New to conferences? Learn more about networking, meeting others, and maximizing your experience! Don't forget to attend our first-time attendees reception on Wednesday at 2:30pm before the Keynote. If you're attending virtually, the AIC Member Engagement Subcommittee is hosting a Zoom meet and greet on Monday at 12:00 PM PST / 1:00 PM MST / 2:00 PM CST / 3:00 PM EST.

• Networking Tips 
• Attending a Conference as an Introvert 

Connect with your community. Looking for a roommate or to share rides from the airport? Start connecting with fellow attendees in our annual meeting online community! We automatically add registrants to the community.

Discover Montréal. We encourage you to explore Montréal to the fullest while you're in town! Our colleagues with CAC have compiled an incredible local guide to the city full of recommendations for neighborhoods to walk through, restaurants to dine in, cultural institutions to visit, and more.

• Speaker Ready Room: Room 521. Presenters should load their slides the day before their session in the speaker ready room. Techs are available to assist.
  
  
• Speaker Ready Room Hours: 
  Tuesday 1:00pm – 5:00pm
  Wednesday 8:30am – 5:00pm
  Thursday 7:45am – 5:30pm
  Friday 7:45am – 5:30pm
  Saturday 8:00am – 4:00pm
  
  
• Presentation Template: Speakers may use our presentation template (format is 16:9) and have permission to use the AIC logo in their slides. If you are planning to include video clips in your presentation, try to embed them for best playback. However, the laptops will be connected to the internet and should be able to access clips and websites. 
  AIC2026 Presentation Template
  
  

• Poster Guidelines: Read our complete guide for poster authors. Poster authors must be present at the meeting; posters cannot be brought by other attendees and hung in the hall. 
  
  
• Microphone protocols: Our audio feeds go through the microphones, which impacts our ability to capture content clearly for accessibility and recordings. Please ensure you're speaking directly into the microphone by adjusting it to your height or holding it close to your mouth. Limit body movements as much as possible to prevent audio loss. All audience questions should come through a microphone and/or be repeated by a person with a microphone to make sure they're captured.
  
  
• Ramps for stage access: Some session rooms will include stages for speakers, which come with steps. We will provide ramps or lifts for any speaker upon request. Please contact Katelin Lee at klee@culturalheritage.org by March 1 to help us ensure that your session room is set up correctly. 
  
  
• Speaker Accessibility Tips: Make your presentation more accessible to all! 
• Accessibility Guides
  
  
• Provide materials in advance: you can help colleagues by sharing your presentation materials, such as your script and powerpoint slides, before the event so they can be prepared for your talk. We encourage you to share these in our  annual meeting online community! You can post about your talk and attach your slides and script to your post, or upload to the library in the Presentation scripts and handouts folder. 
  
  
• Add to our glossary: our translation and captioning program allows us to add to a glossary to help more accurately capture uncommon words, places, and names that are part of your presentation. Talk to your session chair to share words we should add to our glossary so your talk is more accessible and accurately captioned. 

Montréal Land Acknowledgment

We begin by acknowledging that we are located on unceded Indigenous lands. The Kanien’kehá:ka Nation is recognized as the custodians of the lands and waters on which we gather today. Tiohtià:ke/Montréal is historically known as a gathering place for many First Nations. Today, it is home to a diverse population of Indigenous and other peoples. We respect the continued connections with the past, present and future in our ongoing relationships with Indigenous and other peoples within and around the Montréal community.

Montréal Reconnaissance territoriale

Nous aimerions commencer par reconnaître que nous sommes situés en territoire autochtone, lequel n’a jamais été cédé. Nous reconnaissons la nation Kanien'kehá:ka comme gardienne des terres et des eaux sur lesquelles nous nous réunissons aujourd'hui. Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal est historiquement connu comme un lieu de rassemblement pour de nombreuses Premières Nations et, aujourd'hui, une population autochtone diversifiée ainsi que d'autres peuples, y résident. C’est dans le respect des liens avec le passé, le présent et l'avenir que nous reconnaissons les relations continues entre les peuples autochtones et autres personnes de la communauté montréalaise.

Livestream

We will have a streaming portal available to all our online attendees. The portal is now live. You should have received the URL and login instructions both through an email from our streaming provider and from us. If you did not get this email, please email us at meetings@culturalheritage.org.

Once you log in, you will see a schedule and can create bookmarks to quickly tune in to your sessions. For more information, download our streaming provider's Virtual Experience Attendee Guide .

Online Attendee Meet-up

We invite all online attendees to an informal meet-up on Monday, April 27 at 3:00pm EDT.  Hosted by AIC's Member Engagement Subcommittee, we'll have ice breakers, a tour of the streaming site, and a chance to meet others in small groups. Our Zoom has automatic captions.

Recordings

Recordings will be available usually about a day after the livestream. Luncheons are not livestreamed; recordings are available after the meeting ends. You can return to the portal to rewatch any recorded session for about 4 months after the meeting. 

Participating in the Sessions

All users can converse with one another and the speakers using our online chat system. During livestreams only, those in the presentation stream can chat with other viewers and ask questions of the presenters. We will have a volunteer monitoring the chat in the room at the convention center; that volunteer will read aloud the questions posed to the authors. The chat is NOT recorded so you may use it to socialize with other online attendees.

Accessibility

We are using a live captioning and AI-assisted interpretation program to allow for captioning and translation into more than 60 languages. You will receive instructions on accessing this feed in each session. For more information, you can find our guide to using the program here: Wordly User Guide