CIRPA 2022 is our first hybrid conference – enabling people to attend either in-person or virtually! But what does that mean for you? Here is an explanation of fees and what participation will look like.

CIRPA is very excited to finally hold our conference in Burnaby, BC after postponing the venue we originally contracted in 2019 for the 2020 CIRPA Conference; however, the Board recognizes that some individuals may not be ready or able to travel in the Fall and that institutions may have tighter budgets or travel restrictions in place. At the same time, we have contracts with the host hotel that depend on room and catering spending minimums and our virtual conferences have shown that the best networking occurs naturally in person. With all of this in mind, we wanted to encourage in-person attendance while still allowing people to attend virtually.

With the move to virtual conferences for the past two years we were able to reduce our conference fees for our members, while this year virtual and in-person conference registration fees will be the same and will return to 2018 levels of $495 early bird/$595 regular (please refer to the Fees and Terms for full details). Although it may seem odd to charge the same fee for in-person and virtual registration, the truth is that it is more expensive to host a hybrid event than a strictly virtual or in-person event, plus we need to meet our venue commitments.

To ensure that virtual attendees have access to the same great content, including all keynotes and concurrent sessions, we have invested in additional AV support to livestream all sessions. We will use Virtual Attendee Hub, the same conference website/app as used for the 2021 Virtual Conference, to allow virtual attendees to engage and network in a variety of ways, including posing questions during the sessions, interacting with sponsors through their virtual booths, using appointments to easily schedule Zoom meetings with other delegates, and more. Shortly after each session end time, the recordings will also be available for all conference attendees to watch at their convenience. On the financial end, obviously virtual delegates will not incur costs related to travel and accommodations.

We are hopeful that many of you will be able to join us in person! Although we know that institutional budgets have been hit hard, we hope you will see value in travelling to come to Burnaby. We have a great conference hotel guestroom rate of $149 + taxes/fees per night. In-person delegates will have access to free pre-conference workshops as a special bonus this year, as well as breakfast/lunch at the venue, the President’s Welcome Reception on Sunday, and the Social Night on Monday. Watch the website for more details on these social events. In-person attendees will enjoy the natural ease of in-person networking with other delegates and with sponsors at their booths, as well as the ability to connect with virtual attendees by chatting and scheduling Zoom appointments through Attendee Hub. We are also planning an optional local tour (at an additional low cost) on Sunday afternoon to give those who have travelled the opportunity to explore some attractions in Burnaby.

For those who prefer to attend in person but need some financial help to do so, CIRPA is offering a limited number of travel grants to cover up to 3 nights of accommodation per person in the conference hotel. Watch for the travel grant application for more details.

Thank you to our sponsors and members for supporting CIRPA over the last two years as we worked to maintain connections virtually. We learned a great deal and plan to apply this to enhance year round connections in the future, yet we also saw that in-person connections are difficult to fully replace. We look forward to connecting with you both in person and virtually at the 2022 Conference and beyond.