Expect the Unexpected: Embracing and Managing Change, Uncertainty, and Surprise
Submission Deadline: September 15, 2023 @ 6:00 PM
Submit your abstract for our next annual conference, which is May 20 - 24, 2024, at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Specific submission portal links are on the individual call pages, and the general session portal is also linked below. Please also review our Abstract Guidelines and Code of Conduct.
The abstract submission deadline is today, September 15. If you are having technical trouble submitting your abstract, or if you cannot enter the system, please contact the email below and we will consider extension on a case by case basis. You may not hear back until Monday.
Abstracts will start to be assigned to reviewers on Monday and reviewer assignments will finish by 1 pm on Tuesday. Once an abstract is sent for review it cannot be edited during the review process. AIC will reach out to authors with incomplete abstracts and/or attempt to fix any straight-forward issues that are causing an abstract to remain in incomplete status on Monday morning. Please contact rseyler@culturalheritage.org with questions.
Submit Instructions
Meeting Theme
Expect the Unexpected: Embracing and Managing Change, Uncertainty, and Surprise: In his novel
Slapstick or Lonesome no More! Kurt Vonnegut wrote “history is merely a list of surprises… it can only prepare us to be surprised yet again.” For those of us working to study, treat, and preserve cultural heritage our jobs often involve encounters with the surprising and unexpected. We may encounter unanticipated materials on an object, have to change treatment methodology as new information comes to light, uncover new aspects of an artistic practice, discover unexpected advantages of a collaboration, or navigate shifting institutional or client priorities. While these types of uncertainty can be exciting, terrifying, and stressful, they present real opportunities for growth and learning. At AIC’s 52nd Annual Meeting—May 20-24, 2024, at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah—we want to hear your stories of encountering the unexpected, of the surprising things you’ve learned and the pivots you’ve had to make. Through sharing our experiences, we can help our community be prepared to be surprised (yet) again and to embrace and take full advantage of the opportunities presented when the unexpected occurs.
Session Types
We are calling for submissions for the following session types:
Online Broadcast
We will livestream the general and specialty sessions to online attendees and and make recordings of these sessions available on-demand after the meeting to onsite attendees as well. If we accept your abstract for a presentation, we will broadcast your talk to both online and onsite attendees.