JANUARY 22-23
Social Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry (London, England)
Big Pharma wants to “friend” you. This gathering of industry execs and social media experts will look at how drug companies can move beyond TV commercials to digitally-driven marketing campaigns. Organizers note that, with the “two-way channels of communication” social media offers, “the industry-consumer relationship is extended well beyond the point of sale.” Jill, you look a little sad in your Tumblr selfies. Try Prozac!
With the rise of same-sex marriages and single parenting, we’re increasingly abandoning ideas about mating once considered sacrosanct. Is monogamy next?
JANUARY 30-FEBRUARY 01
Managing Popular Culture? (Karlsruhe, Germany)
Pop culture is both a bottom-up and a top-down phenomenon: some hits emerge from nowhere, while others are manufactured and marketed by big business. This interdisciplinary academic confab will address the complex ways economic and social forces influence creativity, and explore such new phenomena as crowd-funding and “app culture.” How do you say “Kickstarter” in German?
FEBRUARY 21-23
The Future of Monogamy and Non-Monogamy(Berkeley, California)
With the rise of same-sex marriages and single parenting, we’re increasingly abandoning ideas about mating once considered sacrosanct. Is monogamy next? This conference tackles that question with a look at “polyamory, open marriages, polygamy, ‘swinging,’ and other forms of consensual non-monogamy.” Panels will include “legal paperwork for alternative relationships.” Those three-way prenuptial agreements can be tricky.
This post originally appeared in the January/February 2014 issueofPacific Standard as “Conference Call.” For more, consider subscribing to our bimonthly print magazine.
