LIVE
INTERACTIVE
PLANETARIUM
SYMPOSIUM
What is LIPS?
The Live, Interactive Planetarium Symposium is an annual gathering of professional planetarium presenters to share best practices for delivering live, audience-driven planetarium presentations, emphasizing active engagement with audience members.
LIPS’ goals include:
- Providing a participatory and practical professional development opportunity focusing on live presentations
- Offering an opportunity to network with others doing live, interactive shows
- Sharing information about available resources and products
- Sharing ideas for improving programs: content, teaching tips, classroom management, etc
- Exploring what is required to start or improve an outreach program or business
How is LIPS different from other planetarium conferences?
LIPS is not a full-dome movie festival; instead it focuses on skills and techniques for live lessons. While there are sponsor demonstrations, these are live, interactive teaching demonstrations.
There are no true “lectures” at LIPS; all sessions should be interactive. Prospective presenters: Remember that attendees are coming to LIPS because they do (or want to start to do) live, interactive lessons. This audience wants to actively take part in sessions, not observe passively.
The audience size is limited to 40 to 60 attendees, based on host capacity. For 2024, the cap is set at 60 attendees. This limit is so that all attendees participate in all events together; there are no session tracks. Limiting attendance leads to a unique sense of cohesion by the end of each LIPS.
Scholarship Fund
LIPS maintains a modest fund for scholarships, supported by voluntary donations.
LIPS 2024 • September 4-6
Haile Planetarium
Northern Kentucky University
Registration Fees (USD)
- Member of the International Planetarium Society (IPS): $185
Learn about IPS membership benefits - Non-IPS member: $200
- Student (actively enrolled): $125
- Sponsor (one registration included): $450
Learn about sponsorship benefits
Overview
LIPS 2024 will kick off with an optional evening social event on Tuesday, September 3. Wednesday and Thursday, September 4 and 5, we will have sessions from about 9 am to 5 pm. Friday, September 6 we will have sessions from about 9 am to 3 pm, to facilitate travel home.
This year will feature a theater skills workshop by Dr. Dan Dennis. Dan has a Master’s of Fine Arts in Theatre Pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Arts from Ohio University, where he now teaches. He has decades of theater and musical performance experience.
Dan is also a former supervisor of Pacific Science Center’s Willard Smith Planetarium. Since he knows from experience what types of skills are needed for successful interactive planetarium programs, Dan’s LIPS exercises are sure to be practical and valuable for all attendees.
