Atlas Summit 2015 Preparation Guide

This guide will help you make the most of your time at the 2015 Atlas Summit.

Atlas Summit 2015
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Nashua, NH  
Sessions: June 18 – June 21, 2015

Download a PDF of this Preparation Guide

The Atlas Summit will begin on Thursday, June 18, with the Objectivist Education program starting at 9:30 a.m. Main Atlas Summit registration will take place from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and our opening reception will begin at 5:15 p.m followed by the opening cookout-style dinner at 6:30 p.m.

(Students and any other early arrivals are invited to a student reception and welcome dinner, Wednesday, June 17, 6:15 p.m., in the Hunt Club at the Crowne Plaza.)

The conference will end with a closing luncheon event on Sunday, June 21, from noon to 1:30 p.m. You can expect to be free to depart on trips or spend your day as you like from 2 p.m. on June 21.

Conference Site

All conference activities will be at the Crowne Plaza Nashua, 2 Somerset Parkway Nashua, NH 03063 Tel: 603-886-1200

Conference Staff

Conference Director:  Will Thomas
wthomas[at]atlassociety.org   (202) 370-6880

Asst. Conference Manager:  George Johnson
gjohnson[at]atlassociety.org   (954) 658-0604

Asst. Conference Manager:  Laurie Rice
lrice[at]atlassociety.org     (715) 252-6346

Contact us if you have any question or problem.

Session Times, Meals, and Common Room

Starting June 18, the daily schedule runs from 9:30 until the dinner event is completed around 9 p.m. each day. See the full schedule at http://atlassociety.org/objectivism/atlas-summit. Except for commuter registrants, registration normally also includes lunch and dinner throughout the conference. There will be coffee and tea available in the morning and juices, water, and soft drinks available in the main afternoon break.

The Atlas Summit’s central socializing place will be the Common Room located in the Library at the Crowne Plaza (except June 17 when it will be in the Windsor Suite, Room 218). Common Room hours are from 9 p.m. until around midnight June 17, 18, 19, and 20.

Shuttles and Transport

There is free parking at the Crowne Plaza Nashua.

If you are flying into Manchester Airport (MHT) , the Crowne Plaza offers free shuttle service to and from the airport (call ahead to reserve a seat: the shuttle isn't always available). If flying into Boston’s Logan airport, consider the Boston Express Bus service http://www.bostonexpressbus.com/and also consider Greyhound bus or private car services.

If you are arriving in Nashua by bus, you may be dropped near the hotel, or you may need to call for shuttle service. If the hotel can't help you, contact one of the conference staff, or take a taxi.

Conference Registration

At conference registration, you will receive a name tag that will be your primary participant identification. You will also receive a 3-ring binder containing abstracts and outlines of the Atlas Summit sessions, a program schedule, faculty biographies, bookstore hours and other useful information.

Registration for the conference will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 9:20 and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, June 18 at the conference registration desk to the right of the main lobby. If we aren’t there, look for us at the opening reception and cookout in Ballroom A/B immediately adjacent. Students and others attending the student-welcoming reception and dinner on Wed., June 17 can register there.

If you cannot make it to registration at those times, track down the TAS conference staff at the conference sessions, by phone, or at the late-night Common Room, and we will register you for the conference.

Meals at the Atlas Summit

All lunches and dinners from lunch on June 18 to lunch on June 21 are being being served at the Crowne Plaza. If you have any special dietary requirements, please inform the conference director. We have tried to accommodate most special requirements in our planning. There will also be coffee and tea available in the mornings and a refreshment break with water, juice, and soft-drinks at 3:30 p.m.

Breakfast is each participant's responsibility: options include the Crowne Plaza breakfast buffet ($13), local fast food, and a nearby supermarket that can provide for most needs. The Crowne Plaza has some in-room refrigerators it can make available on request.

All Atlas Summit full-conference registrants may partake of any of the conference meals.

Commuter-price registrants, while welcome at all program sessions for the day(s) for which they are registered (including meal-time programs), are not allowed to partake of conference meals unless they have purchased meal tickets for the meal in question. Last-minute Atlas Summit registration and meal tickets will be available for purchase during the conference.

Opening Reception and Cookout

To open the main program of the Atlas Summit, TAS will host an opening reception and cook-out-style dinner from 5:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in and around Ballroom A/B. It will feature food stations (but if you’re very hungry or have a restricted diet, you may want to dine separately). There will be free soft drinks and a cash bar for alcohol. Come meet everyone, get to know the speakers and staff, and get into the swing of things.  

What to Bring

We suggest a “dress casual” clothing style: not stuffy, not sloppy. Ties and nice dresses are acceptable, but not required. Summer weather in New Hampshire is unpredictable far in advance: check before you come to see what the Atlas Summit weather pattern is likely to be. It may be hot and moderately humid, or it may be cool and spring-like. It may rain or it may not.

If you want to take notes on the Atlas Summit sessions, a pen or pencil and some loose-leaf notebook paper might serve you well, though your conference binder has at least a page for each session that you can use to take notes.

Conference Sessions Format

The most common format at the Atlas Summit is a lecture to a large group. Some sessions are small group seminars or workshops. Sessions will start and end at the posted times: arrive at least 5 minutes before the start to have time to get comfortable. There will be an M.C. at each session to introduce the speaker and moderate the session.

Speakers in lecture sessions will leave time for questions from the audience: we will have microphones placed in the aisles of the lecture halls where participants should line up to ask questions (this is necessary for the recording). Keep your questions brief and to-the-point: your views are very welcome, but others may have questions, too.

Workshops at the 2015 Summit

The Atlas Summit features several special workshops designed for active engagement and to get you involved in expanding your values, creativity, or ideas. Workshops and seminars are held in the Hunt Club. They are not recorded and do not use microphones. Make these part of your Atlas Summit plan:

Great Connections Seminars on “Concept Formation” and “The Psycho-Epistemology of Art.”

• Read the essays in question in advance and come prepared to discuss and think!

Value Analysis Workshop in two parts

• Examine what matters to you in guiding your life choices. Carol Ventresca will help you learn a rational method for creating a rational hierarchy of values.

Workshop in Story Plotting

• Unleash your creativity in this intense session in story creation.
  

Saturday Night Dance Party

A late additional to the Summit social schedule! There will be dance party from 9pm to around 11pm Saturday, June 20, in the Hunt Club. Bring your own digital music and your dancing shoes. Music and dance styles may vary from waltzing to Euro-beat, and anything in between.

Industrial History Tour After the Summit

On the afternoon of Sunday, June 21, Robert Hayden has offered to lead a group on a tour of the regional sites where a good part of the industrial revolution was created. These sites are absolutely inspiring for those who admire industrial creativity. See more information and to contact him, see http://oddblogs.org/sites.html, or talk with him at the Summit.

Internet at the Atlas Summit

There should be WiFi internet access in the lobby at the Crowne Plaza Nashua.

Website and Online Program

The Atlas Summit website is http://atlassociety.org/objectivism/atlas-summit. Go there to see the conference schedule, see who else is attending, and create your personalized program. You can download the program onto your mobile device, too. After the conference, the Atlas Summit website will be your source for follow-up information and for online recordings. Check out the 2014 Atlas Summit sessions that are online there now: http://atlassociety.org/objectivism/atlas-summit/atlas-summit-blog/5607-2014-videos.

Rate the Atlas Summit Online

We depend on your feedback to improve the Atlas Summit. You can find the surveys online.

Rate individual sessions: (log in as often as you need to): https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AS15ratings.

Rate the Atlas Summit as whole (no repeated log-ins, so don’t take this survey until you are leaving the Summit): https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AS15overall.

Please complete your surveys by June 29.

Participant/Sponsored Sessions

These sessions (at 5:15-6:15 pm Friday, June 19, and Saturday, June 20) are for sponsored events, lectures, meetings, and other participant-run activities. You could give a talk you have prepared, or simply host a discussion of a favorite topic or one of the Summit’s presentations. You might even persuade a faculty member to join in or field questions.

To book a session, provide the conference director (William Thomas) with a description of your talk and any time or room preferences. We will keep an up-to-date list of PSSes in the online schedule. We try to accommodate all reasonable proposals, but note that only a limited number of rooms are available.

Although the rooms available may be equipped with audiovisual equipment, they also may not. Any audiovisual arrangements are ultimately the responsibility of the participant, as are any special costs for the session. If you will need A/V equipment, check with the conference director to see if your room will automatically come with A/V support.

Conference Policies

The Atlas Summit exemplifies The Atlas Society’s two-decade tradition of open, rational, benevolent conversation about philosophy, politics, the arts, and the art of living. We encourage you to take every opportunity to engage with the people and ideas we have gathered. We trust and expect that you will do so in a civil, courteous, and even friendly manner, so that you and your fellow participants can have an enjoyable, educational experience.

All participants are responsible for complying with the policies of the Crowne Plaza Nashua. Moderators and conference assistants are responsible for the orderly conduct of sessions; we ask that participants comply with their requests and exercise respect for speakers.

During Seminar sessions, audio and video recording is not permitted, except with permission of TAS. There will be official recordings of most sessions. Speakers on the program speak for themselves: their views are not necessarily those of The Atlas Society.

The Atlas Society reserves the right to limit or deny further participation in the Atlas Summit to anyone who violates these policies. On this and on all other matters that may arise during the Atlas Summit, the decision of the conference director shall be final.

Finally, it is our policy to try to make this conference as excellent an experience as it can be! We hope you will have an enriching and delightful time at the Atlas Summit.

The Atlas Society

Email: ConferenceDirector[at]atlassociety.org

Telephone: 202-AYN-RAND (202-296-7263) Ext. 8