This Friday, we visited the conference venue at the Advanced Research Centre (ARC) and set up the space to be ready for all of you bright and early this Monday morning! While doing this, we learned a few things that we thought would be of interest to you to. So despite already promising a ‘last’ update, this one, pre-conference digest 4, is no your last update.
1. The ARC building
All of the conference rooms are on the ground floor of the ARC building, as you can see on the floor plan below.
The conference rooms include:
- Researcher Development (RD) Suite
- Room 225
- Seminar Suite A (237A)
- Seminar Suite B (237B)
- Seminar Suite C (237C)
- Studio 2
In addition to these rooms, we also have a quiet room (224) and a reflection / prayer room. If you would like access to these, please ask the conference team at the info desk or at the ARC reception desk.
Please also note the ‘informal seating’ area. This has been booked for us so you are welcome to take a quiet moment or sit with colleagues. Please make yourselves comfortable.
IMPORTANT ACCESS NOTE: We have been informed that the lift on the level 1 is under repair. This means that you must enter at the main entrance on level 2 for step free access. The ARC AccessAble guide does not include this information.
2. For those who want to know more about conference presentations, please have a look at our 1024 page #SMSociety 2026 conference book of abstracts.
Kudos to Harry for putting this together.
3. We still need a few conference chairs – please get in touch or sign up directly!
We still have a few sessions without chairs, so if you are interested, please do sign up to Chair for sessions that are of interest to you. There is guidance available in every room and are there to provide support if needed.
4. Your conference badge is also your ticket to the welcome reception
If you are planning to join the conference at the Welcome Reception, please let us know so we can confirm your registration. You can email us at: [email protected].
5. Reminder: Please remember to upload your conference presentation in advance
Please upload your presentation, poster, panel or workshop notes to our shared presentation drive. You will see folders organized in this folder by:
- Day
- Room
- Time and title of session
While we will have volunteers in every room who are there to support you and help you set up your presentations, uploading your presentation will make their job much more straightforward.
As a reminder, all presentations should be 15 minutes, with 5 mins for questions. Please aim to go to your session 10-15 minutes in advance, so you can meet your chair, and co-presenters (if you don’t already know them) and just to make sure everything is working.
6. Reminder: Special welcome to newcomers and ECRs on Day 1!
Establishing a supportive and scholarly community is one of #SMSociety’s greatest strengths, which we recognized when we first attended #SMSociety and we are now striving to uphold. As part of this ambition, one of our conference Chairs, Devina Sarwatay, will host a newcomers’ table at the welcome reception. Please do look out for Devina and the other conference chairs, who will all be very happy to say hi.
Finally, if you have any further questions or clarifications, please get in touch with us at [email protected].
Looking forward to seeing you on Monday for the #SMSociety 2026!
Most sincerely,
#SMSociety Chairs BlueSky @socialmediaandsociety.org