STM publishes inclusive meetings guidelines for event chairs and session organisers

posted on May 20, 2026
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STM has published its Event Chair and Session Organiser Guidelines, a practical framework to help those planning and chairing STM events build more inclusive, accessible, and representative programmes from the outset.

Developed by STM’s D&I Task & Finish Group, the guidelines cover the full arc of event planning — from assembling diverse planning committees and broadening the speaker search pool, to session design, accessibility, and measurement. They set out working targets across geographic representation, publisher size, career stage, and gender balance, and offer concrete steps to reduce bias in speaker selection and avoid tokenism in programme design.

The guidelines are now available to all STM event chairs and session organisers with full adoption targeted for STM Frankfurt in autumn 2026.

“These guidelines reflect a genuine commitment to making STM events more welcoming and representative of our global community. The D&I Task & Finish Group put serious thought into what practical change actually looks like — and this is the result of that work.”

— Sarah Phibbs, STM’s Consultant for Equity & Inclusion

Download the Guidelines

Watch the introductory webinar:

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