How do you go about planning an event in the middle of a pandemic?
This is the dilemma our committee faced this year in trying to plan the annual WSU postgraduate humanities conference.
The easy part was moving our fortnightly meetings online and rescheduling the conference from June to November. Over the subsequent weeks, we talked a lot about the conference theme. We wanted something positive, something uplifting. But we also knew there was a chance we would still be in lockdown in November, so wanted to avoid words like resilience. In the end we settled on emerge.
A passing remark from one committee members that whales emerge then descend again has become a symbol. I blame lockdown, but all of us have become very attached to our whale mascot and it will feature prominently at the conference. We figure everyone needs something light-hearted to make them smile this year.
The conference is starting to take shape now: we've locked in keynotes, launched our website, opened (and closed) the CFP.
In the middle of what has been a very difficult year for everyone, Emerge has had an incredible response. We have 43 humanities students scheduled to present (including 8 brave undergrads!), covering all disciplines from literature and creative writing, to history and communications; from linguistics to music and visual arts. So far 60-something people are planning to attend.
We've only just made the call that the conference will be moving online. We were so hopeful that an in-person conference might be possible, giving the students and staff a chance to 'emerge'. But that is just looking too unlikely and we wanted to make the call early enough to plan a great online conference. Now we are onto important things like planning the goodie bags, complete with whale memorabilia. We are hopeful that we will get great attendance as interstate and even international students are now able to attend.
On a personal note, I have been grateful for my position on this committee. I have always enjoyed events management so it has been rewarding to plan the conference alongside the amazing committee. But it has also given me an avenue of human contact with other people at the university at a time when isolation and loneliness is far too likely. Hopefully the Emerge attendees feel the same way about our virtual event in November.