Engaging with the Local Community

As visitors to conference host cities we share space with residents and contribute to their economy. We can be more than transient tourists by learning about and connecting with host city communities. This process of reciprocity can enrich our time there and give us insight into ways that we can engage with and serve both our host and our home communities.

We invite conference participants to join us in thinking about how we can meaningfully engage with host communities while attending conferences. Questions to get the conversation started include:

• How can we connect local experience, culture, and knowledge with our conference?
• How do we demonstrate reciprocity with the community where the annual meeting is held?
• How could engaging this experience, culture, and knowledge influence our research?
• How could the process of incorporating local perspectives benefit the communities living where we hold our conference, allowing us to give back in a way that uses both our expertise as BER practitioners and humility as guests of the community?
• What can we learn from the local community about different ways of living, knowing, and loving each other?