New Orleans! Here we come! Ready. Or. Not.
In just one week we will be coming together for the 87th time as a Society. This time for President Gayle Kaufman’s fantastic program: “Disrupting Binaries”. SSS 2024 will take place April 3-6, 2024, at the Sheraton New Orleans.
In this email we try to bring together all the things you should know as we all are making our final preparations for SSS 2024.
Here, you’ll find information on:
- The SSS 2024 Mobile App
- Pre- and Onsite Registration
- Onsite Accommodations at SSS 2024
- Presenting, Presiding, and Posters
- A Note on Coffee and Post-Pandemic Expenses
- And more!
If you have questions not covered here, please reach out to the Program Chairs for issues related to the program of sessions. All others, please reach out to us at the Executive Office.
Mobile App
Everyone should download the mobile app for SSS 2024. In addition to the PDF of the Final Program, the mobile app is the best way to navigate the annual meeting.
- You can download the Whova app directly on your phone or access the information through a web browser.
- Sign up for Whova to join the event. If you aren’t automatically taken to the SSS 2024 page through the links above, search for “SSS 2024,” click on “join” at the bottom of the event description page and enter the event invitation code: SSS2024SSS.
- Create your own profile and begin connecting with others at SSS 2024 through the Community tab. This tab is also where you can start conversations and create/join meet-ups.
- We will use #SSS2024 to share all things SSS 2024 on the app and social media platforms.
- There is an easily searchable and complete agenda that can be filtered by day. You can also build your own personalized schedule.
- The Executive Office will also send out push notifications throughout the meeting for key events and updates.
- Behavior on the SSS 2024 Mobile App is also covered by the SSS Anti-Harassment Policy.
PreRegistration and Onsite Registration
- PreRegistration and Onsite Registration will both be in the Napoleon Foyer on the 3rd Floor of the Sheraton New Orleans.
- If you have paid both your membership dues AND conference registration fees on or before April 1, 2024, you should visit the PreRegistration tables to pick up your conference materials. To check the status of your dues and fees, visit your SSS Member Portal.
- If you need to pay either your dues and/or fees on-site, visit the OnSite Registration window. We accept card, check, and cash. (At this time we are unable to process AMEX and Discover cards).
- Each attendee with a paid membership and registration will receive a name tag and a lanyard that will be required for access to event spaces.
- Please note that per SSS policy: All conference participants listed in the annual program are required to be current dues-paying members and each author must register for the conference by paying conference fees. To check the status of your registration or to renew your membership, you may visit and/or set-up your SSS Member Portal (access via your email).
Onsite Accommodations
- Lactation Space (Poydras, 3rd Floor)
- Gender Neutral Bathrooms (Napoleon Foyer, 3rd Floor)
- Quiet Space (Edgewood AB, 4th Floor)
- Community Space (Oak Alley, 4th Floor)
- Collaboration Space (Crescent, 4th Floor, previous sign-up required, see email)
- Coffee and Tea (Napoleon Foyer, 3rd Floor, but see note below)
- Free WiFi in all Sheraton New Orleans conference spaces
- Go to “MarriottBonvoy_Conference,” password “SSS2024SSS”
- Organization and Publisher Exhibitions (Napoleon Foyer, 3rd Floor)
- Keep an eye out for book signings from Author Meets Curious Reader sessions
- See program for dates, times, and availability for each accommodation. This list can also be found on the Mobile App!
On COVID for SSS 2024
We are excited to plan an in-person 2024 conference. All those attending SSS will be required to follow any COVID 19-related protocols mandated by local authorities at the time of the meeting. We strongly recommend that attendees receive a COVID-19 vaccination or booster in advance of the conference. Mask use is optional but encouraged. Please do your best to consider your own health and that of your colleagues. Depending on circumstances closer to our meeting in April, SSS Executive Committee may enact stricter protocols.
On Expenses and Coffee at SSS 2024 – And, A Request
We signed the contract for SSS 2024 at the Sheraton New Orleans in 2018 – one of our highest membership and annual meeting attendance years, but, also, importantly, we signed it before a global pandemic. Six years later, as we began planning for SSS 2024, it became painfully clear that expenses would be up across the board at these meetings. Some expenses were as high as 4x-5x what SSS expected.
As a result, our coffee and tea order had to be cut in HALF in order to get even close to the budgeted realities for these meetings, as did some of our A/V needs.
As such, coffee and tea service will be available starting at 8:00am on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in the Napoleon Foyer on the 3rd Floor. However, when the coffee and tea are gone, they will be gone for that day. We expect that the coffee may last until about 10am, or possibly 11am, those days. It is largely unknowable.
If you wish to make a donation to SSS in order to possibly extend the availability of coffee (and to help with other expenses at these meetings), please go to your SSS Member Portal to donate to the general fund or use the onsite donation link. Many thanks for understanding and for considering donating over and above your dues and fees for SSS 2024. Donations are tax-deductible.
Presentations, Posters, Presiding, Oh My…
Both presenters and presiders have already received communications about their responsibilities – please check your email records (and spam!), but here are some of the basics…
- Presiders please ensure that you have communicated to those in your session and familiarize yourself with the role. Communicate the time that each person will have for their presentation and ensure that someone will bring a laptop. When there, make sure to keep time and leave time for Q&A.
- Breakout rooms will be equipped with a projector and a screen but not a laptop. Presiders should have communicated with presenters to ensure that ONE laptop is at each and every session. Some larger rooms will have a small PA for oral (but not computer) audio.
- The projectors owned by SSS have HDMI and VGA. We also just purchased HDMI to USB-C converters for all rooms. Aside from these, and due to the wide variety of laptops and required connections, SSS does not own other converters beyond these. Whichever laptop is being used for the session, make sure to have a converter from whatever output the laptop has to HDMI (or VGA).
- Note that the Sheraton rooms will have WiFi (see access info above and on the Mobile App).
- SSS 2024 attendees should not utilize Zoom, FaceTime, or any other remote or hybrid interfaces at the conference – our bandwidth is much too small, and it creates issues for those in the audience regarding audio and visual needs during the session.
- Presenters should plan on having their presentations on USB drives and/or send them to the Presider (if directed to do so by the Presider) beforehand.
- Each room will have an A/V equipment troubleshooting instructions along with contact information for our A/V Coordinator, Jacob Robinson.
- For those in Poster sessions, SSS has easels and 30” x 40” foam boards along with binder clips for presenters to affix their Posters. Please take your poster with you after your session.
Parking
If you need parking while at SSS 2024. Parking, located directly beside the hotel is $42/day for On-Site Parking and $52/day Valet Parking. SSS attendees will receive 20% off of these parking rates by using the PROMO CODE SSS2024.
Our Collective Responsibility at SSS 2024
At SSS 2024 all members will adhere to the Anti-Harassment policy.
Our annual meeting is convened for the purposes of professional development and scholarly educational interchange in the spirit of free inquiry and free expression. Harassment of colleagues, students, hotel staff or other conference participants undermines the principle of equity at the heart of these professional fora and is inconsistent with the principles of free inquiry and free expression. Consequently, harassment is considered by SSS to be a serious form of professional misconduct. See the Mobile App and/or visit the Registration Desk for information on reporting incidents of harassment at SSS 2024. This year we have several trained SSS Advocates ready to help keep our meeting free from harassment.
We hope you will thoroughly enjoy SSS 2024, President Gayle Kaufmann’s theme, D’Lane Compton and Hiromi Taniguchi’s Program Committee’s full-to-bursting program of sessions and events, the Local Arrangement Committee’s (headed up by Heather O’Connell and Kevin Smiley) advice on engaging with all things New Orleans, and Vice President Irene Browne’s Honors Convocation and slate of SSS candidates (you can meet some of them at the Welcome Reception, the Student Mixer, and other spaces – look for their buttons), and, a variety of new and traditional elements as we come together for the 87th time at SSS 2024!
We are very excited!
Stop by and say hello.
Sincerely,
David L. Brunsma, SSS Executive Officer
Elizabeth B. Roberts, SSS Assistant Executive Officer