Some have outstanding automated systems that record talks and post them online based on the program maintained online by the organizer. Other workshop centers give organizers a lot of freedom and focus on providing optimal circumstances, including lodging, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Some workshop centers have years of experience, while others have started recently, already building an amazing track record of outstanding participants and speakers, and gaining increasing support from the community and their university. It is clear that we can learn a lot from one another, yet we’ve rarely exchanged notes. The very thing we encourage our organizers to do, we haven’t done ourselves!
This will change: recently, representatives of the staff and management of the Lorentz Center, Banff International Research Station in Banff, Alberta, Canada, Schloss Dagstuhl, Wadern, Germany, the Tohoku Forum for Creativity in Sendai, Japan, and the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) in Bielefeld, Germany, came together for an online meeting organized by Glyn Muitjens and Marieke Brock of the Lorentz Center. The goal was to start comparing notes and explore enthusiasm for a longer workshop on the occasion of our 30th anniversary in 2027.
Needless to say, there was broad enthusiasm for these plans, and we would love to hear from other centers.
