Why attend a Science Centre World Congress?

Each year the major regional science centre networks organise excellent conferences to cater for the needs of their members, both local and abroad. These conferences have gone from strength to strength, especially since the World Congress first met in Finland in 1996. Why then attend a World Congress?

There are several reasons:

• World Congresses are truly international events where delegates from the developed world share sessions, participate in debates, and meet at an informal level, delegates from throughout the developed and developing world
• The format of the parallel sessions at the World Congresses makes it compulsory for delegates from at least three, usually more, continents to speak in the same parallel session
• The topics that are addressed at World Congresses transcend regional and even continental boundaries, and focus on issues of truly global importance to all science centres as well as interactive museums, visitor centres, aquaria, zoos and botanical gardens
• World Congresses provide established and new science centres with the opportunity to grow their programmes as a result of their exposure to new environments and opportunities that they would not otherwise encounter during the normal course of their work
• World Congresses provide newly-established science centres with the opportunity to learn from the expertise and experience of seasoned science centre professionals from throughout the world
• World Congresses provide developed and developing science centres with the opportunity to create productive, ongoing partnerships with one another
• World Congresses make it possible for science centres to use their collective expertise and experience to expand the science centre network worldwide, and especially in the host continent
• World Congresses facilitate the development of collaborative programmes to address urgent global needs, such as those defined by the United Nations Millennium Goals
• World Congresses make it possible for science centres to work together on a global scale to raise funds and develop mechanisms to create a better future for all through engagement with science- and education-related issues at the local, regional and global level
• The theme of the 6th Science Centre World Congress – 'Science across Cultures' – encourages reconciliation and respect in an increasingly divided world
• World Congresses provide the international community with the opportunity to assess the progress that it has made over the past three years, and to set priorities and benchmarks for the next three years.

Don't miss the opportunity to make YOUR contribution to the 6th Science Centre World Congress in Cape Town, South Africa, in September 2011. It promises to be an unforgettable event.

Namkelekile e Africa – you are welcome in Africa!

Mike Bruton
Chair: LOC and IPC of the 6SCWC
MTE Studios, Cape Town, South Africa