Circumarctic Conversations: Using Strategic Communication to Engage Participants and the Community in the 2016 Arctic Science Summit Week

Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) is the annual gathering of international organizations engaged in supporting and facilitating Arctic research. The University of Alaska Fairbanks hosted the 2016 ASSW and several associated side meetings that attracted over 1,000 participants from 30 nations. Unlike most scientific conferences, a strategic communication plan was developed to engage key audiences and stakeholder groups to achieve the goals of (1) advancing stakeholder collaboration in the Arctic and (2) increasing awareness of America's role in international collaboration in the Arctic. Beyond ensuring that the conference was well attended and participants had the information to have a successful meeting, the communication plan also included several objectives to engage the broader community in opportunities to benefit from subject area experts attending the conference and learn about Arctic science. The strategic communication effort was instrumental in the success of the conference and several community events. However, introducing strategic communication into a process and to people with no prior experience also added some challenges. In order to be successful, we had to develop a shared understanding of the strategic communication process and discipline-specific terms with our colleagues in the biophysical sciences. The outcomes and lessons that will be shared in this poster are valuable to anyone in science or environmental communication, planning conference communications, and/or those who are adopting strategic communication approaches where they haven't previously existed.