Virtual AMC FAQ

The Virtual AMC will take place on several different digital platforms. Please review the Virtual Spaces section of the How to Virtual AMC Guide for instructions.

We are in conversation with session presenters about increasing their session capacities.  This requires additional tech and moderation support, so we also have to ensure we can provide the support that folks need, before making this shift.

Webinar session recordings will be made available post-AMC only at the request of presenters.  We will not be recording any “meeting” style sessions, out of respect for participant privacy. For sessions that choose to be recorded, we will make recordings available to the public within one month of the AMC.

There are still open sessions. If the session you were most excited about is full, try something else.  Part of the magic of the AMC is found in places where you least expect it.

Even if you cannot attend a single interactive session, there are still 13 amazing events that have unlimited capacity (the opening and closing ceremonies, four plenaries, two community dinners, two film screenings, and four parties).

Make space for others. If you were lucky enough to secure a seat in sessions across all four session blocks, consider withdrawing from one or two so that others can get in to at least one. Also, don’t add sessions to your schedule unless you’re totally sure you can attend.

Ensure that queer and trans, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), disabled, and low-income people can attend interactive sessions. If you are participating in a session as an ally to the folks most impacted by the issue being discussed, consider giving up your spot so that people who need to be at the center of the conversation can participate.

Self-organize! While we cannot add any new sessions to Sched, you can organize your own content and promote it to the AMC via Slack and social media. See Digital Safety in the Holistic Safety section of the How To Virtual AMC guide to read about safer platforms for self-organized conversations.

If you signed up for a session and did not receive a waitlist message you are in the session. Zoom links for sessions will be sent via an email from Sched 15 min. before session begins. For more information about joining sessions, see the Virtual Spaces page.

If a session was cancelled, or it was a network gathering that was invite-only, it would have been removed from Sched.

If a session is full, you can choose to be added to the waitlist. If someone who was able to reserve a spot removes that session from their schedule, the person at the top of the waitlist automatically takes that spot. If folks don’t show up, unfortunately the people won’t be able to come off the waitlist automatically, so please show up for any session you add to your schedule, or remove it to open a spot for someone else. There is no way to track clickthroughs from the Sched link to the session in Zoom.

The AMC provides interpretation from English-to-Spanish, Spanish-to-English and ASL. Email accessibility@alliedmedia.org  if you would like to coordinate interpretation services ahead of the conference.

Certain sessions will be recorded if requested by presenters. We will not be recording sessions by default to respect privacy.

The Safety Team will be available for the virtual conference.The goal of the Safety Team is to practice transformative justice and to support the emotional health and well-being of our participants.

If you or someone you know experiences a situation of harm or abuse, is trying to negotiate sharing space, or is going through a rough time and needs some support, the Safety Team is here for you. We will be updating how to contact them during the virtual conference soon.

The AMC is for people of all ages! We have programming specifically geared towards kids and families. Sessions are geared towards learners of all levels including beginning, intermediate, and advanced.

Learn more about sponsorships opportunities here. If you are interested in supporting the AMC, please contact us at amc@alliedmedia.org to discuss our various sponsorship packages.

We encourage you to document and share your experiences online through social media and blogging. Be sure you have the consent of anyone whose face or voice appears in the post. Tag the @AlliedMediaConf in your posts.

We know the financial impact of COVID-19 has hit our community directly. For this year’s conference we are offering sliding scale registration from $0 to $600.

AMCers who pay for registration help ensure that we can keep our plans to pay artists and contractors who support in the production of the AMC. Those registrations will be considered a tax-deductible donation to Allied Media Projects. You can purchase registration online on the AMC website.

There is no deadline to register. As long as there are tickets remaining, you can register online through the last day of the conference.

We do not offer a separate large group registration rate or process. You can register up to 10 people at one time on the online registration page.

When you register for the AMC, please let us know if you have an accessibility need such as ASL interpretation.

You can also email accessibility@alliedmedia.org advance of the conference with specific questions about what we will be able to provide.

Under normal circumstances, the AMC takes place in Detroit at the Wayne State University Student Center and other nearby campus buildings. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 AMC will take place online.

Network Gatherings are one- or two-day mini-conferences convened by a local or national network at the AMC. Through an open call for proposals, the AMC accepts a total of 20 Network Gatherings.

The purpose of Network Gatherings is to provide focused space for planning, skill-sharing, and community-building within the AMC for networks of people who are already organizing together around an issue or shared identity.

In order to coordinate a network gathering, you need a team of at least two people – with a minimum of one person who has attended the AMC.

• Convene a group of up to 150 people in your organization, network or community for a one day or two day-long gathering on the Thursday and Friday of the AMC that explores how to apply media-based organizing or visionary organizing within the context of your work.
• Support your participants in proposing and presenting at least two sessions during the AMC that connect with the content of your network gathering.
• Fundraise to support the participation of presenters and participants who will enrich your content area.

Because of the large number of proposals for Network Gatherings – we only accept proposals from teams with a minimum of two fully committed coordinators. If you are unable to have at least two fully committed coordinators, please consider proposing a session or community meet-up at this year’s conference.

Coordinating teams will have the opportunity to add or remove coordinators after the proposal has been accepted.

Absolutely! We are really excited to receive content that is youth-driven. We would like youth submitting proposals to have adult allies with whom they can work to coordinate logistics and other details.

The general timeline is as follows:

Fall
Select and finalize descriptions of Network Gatherings.

Winter
Coordinators recruit sessions related to their content
Coordinators participate in virtual planning meetings
Each Network Gathering releases their Call for Participation
Coordinators begin fundraising for their Network Gathering.

Spring
Network Gathering fundraising and logistical planning continues.

Summer
The AMC happens!

The time you spend coordinating will vary and may be more like two hours per week earlier in the year and closer to 15 hours in the final weeks leading up to the AMC.

AMP staff will advise on the development of the vision and content of your Network Gathering and facilitate connections between coordinators, potential participants, and potential funders.

Coordinators must have at least one representative present for virtual planning meetings. AMC2020 Planning Meetings will cover essential information and skill-development for the AMC organizing process: facilitative leadership, popular education, grassroots fundraising, communications strategy, and accessibility.

All coordinating teams receive:

• Complimentary registration for your coordinating team
• Support from AMP staff in planning your gathering through a series of virtual meetings
• Support with fundraising and a mini-grant (up to $1,000) to seed grassroots fundraising efforts
• Assistance with recruiting participants
• Support with managing registration

Yes. All Network Gathering participants will need to register for the AMC.

Yes! Email amc@alliedmedia.org.

Based on feedback from our community during the Year in Chrysalis, we were already planning for a more robust virtual component of the AMC.  The AMC will now be fully virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We announced our decision to go virtual on March 31st and launched a survey to gather our community’s feedback on this decision.

We decided not to postpone the in-person conference because we cannot predict when it will be safe to gather in large numbers again. We know that we need the strategy conversations, skill-sharing, and collective joy-making of the AMC right now.

The Virtual AMC will take place July 23rd-26th,2020.

Over four days, AMCers will engage in a range of dynamic content, from the opening ceremony, plenaries, up to 100 transformative sessions, and of course AMC@NIGHT. Details  regarding speakers, performers and special events will be shared as they become available, you can check out the schedule overview here.

Yes! Network Gatherings will convene from June 25th – July 31st. For more information view the list of AMC2020 Network Gatherings here.

This will depend on the type of session and the number of people a presenter can healthily and responsibly facilitate. When we release the conference schedule, each session description will include how many people can participate.

Yes! Email accessibility@alliedmedia.org to share your accessibility needs with us.

The AMC is partnering with Tiny Gigantic to help us develop holistic safety guidelines for the virtual AMC. This includes reviewing virtual platform policies on data and security, advocating for changes needed to fit our conference’s needs, and co-developing guidelines for how we’ll share space in a virtual AMC.

We know the financial impact of COVID-19 has hit our community directly. For this year’s conference we are offering sliding scale registration from $0 to $600.

AMCers who pay for registration help ensure that we can keep our plans to pay artists and contractors who support in the production of the AMC. Those registrations will be considered a tax-deductible donation to Allied Media Projects.