We recognize the ongoing climate crisis and is dedicated to advocating for sustainable practices. As part of this endeavor we are studying the climate impact of our Annual Meeting and surveying our members and meeting attendees to solicit information about your Annual Meeting attendance (both in-person and virtual) and your insight and opinions into what we should do to help mitigate the impact of the meeting.  Your responses will be collated and shared with our  members and will help the board determine how to lower our carbon impact.

The survey should take approximately 5-10 minutes and consists of 12 questions.  In the interests of data analysis, we are asking you to answer each question.  There is a box for optional comments, which does not need to be filled in.  When you are done simply hit the ‘Done’ button to submit your responses.  The survey is anonymous, but you may add your contact information at the end if you wish to be contacted.

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* 1. Describe your role as an AIC Annual Meeting attendee.

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* 2. Where do you currently reside?

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* 3. Which past AIC Annual Meetings did you attend (select all that apply)?

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* 4. Please rank the following factors in order of their impact on your decision whether or not to attend an in-person AIC Annual Meeting, from highest or most important (top) to lowest or least important (bottom). Drag or use the arrows to the right to move each response to your preferred order.

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* 5. Please share any other factors that impact your decision whether or not to attend an in-person AIC Annual Meeting (optional).

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* 6. During the COVID pandemic, professional organizations and academic institutions used alternative formats for conferences and symposia. Based on your experiences, please rank these new formats for most successful (top) to least successful (bottom). Drag or use the arrows to the right to move each response to your preferred order.

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* 7. Please share any other alternative formats for conferences and symposia you have experienced (optional).

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* 8. Please rank the following options for the format and/or frequency of future AIC meetings from most desirable (top) to least desirable (bottom). The estimated reduction of carbon emissions is given in parentheses. Please note that this reduction is in comparison to AIC’s meeting format pre-pandemic, meaning it is a reduction in comparison to an exclusively in-person meeting held every year. Please also note that these estimates are ‘best guesses.’ The actual reduction is dependent upon multiple factors.  Drag or use the arrows to the right to move the responses to your preferred order.

FOOTNOTE: Travel - and air travel in particular - is the largest source of an event’s carbon footprint. 

*Virtual meetings are not impact free, but a study in Nature showed ~94% reduction in CO2 footprint for virtual meetings. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27251-2. Given the size of our meeting, the impact is estimated to be smaller.

**Cutting the frequency of in-person meetings by half should halve emissions. 

***Alternating an in-person meeting with a virtual component (one year in-person with a fully virtual meeting the following year) should reduce emissions by slightly less than half.

****For the 2022 Los Angeles meeting, 28% of attendees opted to attend virtually, reducing the number of travelers.

*****Rail can reduce emissions by almost 40% compared to air travel. Encouraging more attendees to travel by rail or carpool with regional colleagues could provide a nominal reduction in emissions.

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* 9. The AIC annual meeting has traditionally been rotated through large and smaller cities in order to provide a variance in room rates, as large cities generally have higher hotel fees.  Please indicate how important this variance is to you.

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* 10. The AIC annual meeting has traditionally been rotated through different locations in order to help our geographically diverse membership attend, as travel costs and travel time will be lower for them in different years.  Please indicate how important this variance is to you.

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* 11. Please indicate how much you agree with the following statement: Climate change and its broader social, economic, and political impacts are major threats to cultural heritage.

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* 12. Please indicate how much you agree with the following statement: AIC advocates for sustainable practices to fight the impacts of the climate crisis, preserve heritage at risk and improve our field.

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* 13. Please indicate how much you agree with the following statement: Fighting climate change is part of AIC’s mission to support “conservation professionals in preserving cultural heritage by establishing and upholding professional standards, promoting research and publications, providing educational opportunities, and fostering the exchange of knowledge among conservators, allied professionals, and the public.”

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* 14. In the context of an in-person Annual Meeting, what would you be willing to do to help reduce the carbon footprint? (Note some may increase cost of attendance.) Select all that apply.

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* 15. Optional: Please provide any additional comments or suggestions about the AIC Annual Meeting and/or climate impact and its importance to you that will help us in our efforts.

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* 16. Optional: Please provide your name and email address if you would like to be contacted for further discussion.

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