In our inaugural Alethea blog post, we shared how we are navigating the decision-making process for conference attendance. We shared the questions we now ask ourselves to determine which conferences we attend, exhibit, and sponsor, as an organization that is trying to advance climate justice and system-wide emissions reductions in international education. And, while it has been a challenging process to unlearn default assumptions and consider impact through various lenses, we feel pretty good about the choices we’ve made, the organizations we’re supporting, and our overall conference schedule for the upcoming six months or so!
We are excited to, once again, pull back the curtain, and share some thoughts on our decision-making and outcomes when aiming to “do business differently than we always have”.
You’ll find Alethea Global supporting and attending the following conferences:
Conference of the Americas on International Education (CAIE)
Las Vegas, USA, November 5-8
We are proudly serving as a Silver Sponsor at CAIE. The conference is a natural alignment with Alethea’s sustainability values just by virtue of the frequency of the event and its accessibility for those in Central and South America. CAIE is unique in that it is a signature conference for several organizations in the Americas, but it only takes place every two years rather than annually.
Why you’ll find us there:
- The bi-annual frequency clearly aligns with our environmental sustainability values
- It also aligns with our values around justice. I was once told by a CAIE staff member that a bi-annual conference meets the needs of their members in Latin America who tend to have fewer resources to attend/exhibit at big conferences (we can relate!).
- The bi-annual model also allows for partnerships to develop more deeply over two years before attending the next conference!
- The conference organizers strategically partnered with The Forum on Education Abroad to offer the Career-Integrated Global Learning Conference (CIGL) back-to-back and in the exact location. This benefits attendees to maximize their time, be more fiscally responsible, and reduce their emissions!
- The team at the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (OUI-IOHE) and CAIE are committed to increasing the knowledge of climate justice for their team and membership, by investing in training.
The Forum on Education Abroad
Mutiple Events and Location, and virtual!
I actually haven’t been to an event put on by The Forum on Education Abroad before, but what really made me want to pursue this partnership is The Forum’s commitment to sustainability and climate justice values. It was clear to us that The Forum would be a dream conference provider that Alethea could partner with and allow us to explore how we might be able to engage with the sector in a way that respects our boundaries on travel emissions.
As mentioned above, The Forum’s collaboration with CAIE and CIGL back-to-back in Las Vegas very much aligns with our values and emissions budgeting – more conference and collaboration opportunities with the same amount of emissions! Another consideration was the location. With the event in Las Vegas and some of us based in Vancouver, the overall emissions are less than if we had to fly to Toronto at twice the emissions in a Boeing 737 Max 8 (the most common aircraft on that route), and three times more emissions in older aircraft. Also, we just so happen to have an Alethea member who will be in the area at the time.
The Forum’s European Institute in mid-November is entirely focusing its two-day program on wellness, sustainability, and diversity, equity, and inclusion… and those topics and values are deeply aligned with our own. And equally importantly, Alethea has some members based in Europe so we can have a team member attend the conference with minimal emissions!
And lastly, OH MY GOSH, The Forum continues to offer a virtual conference in advance of their in-person annual conference in March!!! That’s all I have to say about that for now, so we’re obviously going to be there and hope to see you online as well.
With that, this is where you’ll find us at events with The Forum:
- November 8-10: CIGL Conference, Las Vegas, USA
- November 16-17: European Institute, Strasbourg, France
- March 6-7, 2024: Annual Conference – Virtual!
The Annual Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) Conference
Vancouver, Canada, November 26-29
Full transparency on this one: CBIE is a client of Alethea Global Cooperative. CBIE is a dream client who is doing all the right things to lead in the climate justice space and naturally, given that we’re primarily based in Canada, CBIE’s annual conference is an important part of our development.
This year’s conference was a no-brainer for us for a few reasons:
- Several Alethea members are based in Vancouver, which makes it easy for us to keep our emissions low to attend – and overall costs – as these two things are related!
- CBIE has taken a number of steps to implement sustainability initiatives at the conference like choosing a double-LEED certified venue, implementing Meatless Monday, and using sustainable materials
- CBIE chose David Suzuki, renowned environmental activist, as the opening keynote speaker for the conference and we are heartened to see the matter of climate justice at center stage and are exceedingly proud to be its sponsor
CBIE is committed to being a leader in climate justice in international education. They have trained their full team, from top to bottom, on climate justice in international education and are committed to ongoing reductions. CBIE is exactly the type of organization we want to support!
Future Plans:
We can’t say for certain that our plans won’t change but at this point in time, we’ve balanced our conference attendance in a way that we feel aligns with our values, our business needs, and our careful consideration of travel emissions.
There are obviously some high-profile and important conferences on “the circuit” that we are choosing not to attend at this time and for various reasons, be that values alignment, proximity of Alethea members (distance is the leading determinant of emissions impact for global travel), or relevance to our business objectives.
While we eagerly await the day when there are more opportunities to engage with virtual conferences, or conferences switch to a reduced-frequency model, we will continue to make difficult decisions on where to go and whom we support and aim to demonstrate that business can be done differently than the way it always had been.