The 2016 Ecsite Annual Conference, the largest gathering of science communicators in Europe, is just around the corner. 

Make sure you register online by 19 May - after this date registration will only be possible on site in Graz, at a higher rate. 

Conference hosts ScienceCenter-Netzwerk, the Children´s Museum FRida & freD and the Universalmuseum Joanneum, together with Ecsite, are taking steps towards a more sustainable conference - with your participation. 

Special efforts taken to reduce the conference’s footprint:

• We will be having vegetarian-only lunches;
• We will be drinking tap water instead of bottled mineral water;
• We won't be using disposable plates or cutlery;
• We can choose to opt out of the paper programme when registering;
• Lounge areas in the Business Bistro will be equipped with furniture from a social upcycling initiative;
• We will be able to use green transport: a bike rental service on offer at the convention centre and low priced tickets for public transport on sale at the conference's welcome desks (at the airport and train station) and at the registration desk.

Sustainability tips for participants

• If you must travel by car or plane, you can arrange a CO2 emission offset payment;
• Use your hotel’s eco-friendly services and switch off all lights and electronic devices when leaving your hotel room;
• Reduce, reuse, recycle: when eating out choose drinks served in glasses, food served on reusable dishes, and avoid products in disposable packaging;
• Dispose of your waste by using the separate recycling bins in your hotel and at the conference venue;
• Use public transport, walk or ride a bike;
• Bring your own pens;
• Limit your meat consumption if veggie options are being offered. 

"Ecsite for all" - meet the locals

Thanks to this initiative from our hosts, the conference will have a wider reach than professional attendees: the "Ecsite for all" public event will be involving Graz inhabitants from schools classes, kindergarden groups, universities and companies - and of course Ecsite conference participants. In the spirit of a Rube Goldberg machine, we will be building a giant chain reaction, transmitting an impulse along a series of "circuits" built on wooden pallets.

Attend the machine's first kick-start on Tuesday 7 June at 12.00 in the convention centre's Hall A, and take part in further iterations on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. The most successful elements of the chain reaction will be featured on stage during the conference's Opening event.

Bring your own materials to Graz, for example a special or unique object from your country, museum or science centre! The impulse will be traveling from palette to palette (20,5 x 10 x 205 cm) in a domino-like effect involving wooden board.