Save The Date – Stoicism Events Coming Up In Fall 2022

Since the early Stoic Weeks and Stoicon conferences, going back a decade at this point, Fall has become a “season of Stoicism”.  Not of course that you can’t or shouldn’t practice and study Stoicism year round!  But, with those two main events, and then the smaller, local Stoicon-X events and conferences, it has become somewhat of a tradition that from September into November, there would be a lot of Stoicism stuff to attend and participate in.

We’ve publicized as much of it as we can here in Stoicism Today. The main issue is always that of making sure people send information to us here in a timely way, so we can get it into posts like this one, and those we’ll publish later on in early Fall. So. . .  if you’re organizing an event like a Stoicon-X, you’ll want to contact both of us editors of Stoicism Today – Harald Kavli (email here) and Greg Sadler (email here)  – with as much information as you can provide, well in advance. And we’ll get it out there!

There are two big pieces of news having to do with the main online, worldwide STOICON conference.  The first is that the previously announced date of Saturday, October 15 has been changed to Saturday October 29.  This allows Stoicon to be much closer to International Stoic Week, as has been the case in past years.

The second is that Stoicon will actually run over two days, adding what for those of us here in countries like the USA, Canada, and Brazil will be a “late-night session”.  The time will be just right, however, to incorporate talks, panels, and workshops that will feature Stoics from places like Australia, Indonesia, possibly Japan and the Philippines, and other Pacific countries.  In the past, scheduling across time-zones, the international dateline, and multi-hemisphere daylight savings times made it quite difficult for people in those Pacific locations to be able to attend the online sessions.

What’s Coming Up This Fall so Far

Saturday, August 27 – Plato’s Academy Center – How to Think Like Socrates.  This is a virtual conference on reasoning like a Greek philosopher. Supported by Orange Grove incubator, Classical Wisdom, and the Aurelius Foundation. Tickets available for free or by donation. You can learn more or register here.

Saturday, September 10 – Hannover Stoics – Stoicon-X Hannover.  In-person conference on the theme “antike Philosophie, moderne Lebenskunst”.  Supported by Modern Stoicism and the Humanistischen Verband Deutschlands/Niedersachsen. More information and registration here.

Saturday, October 1 – Paths to Flourishing – Courageous Paths to Flourishing. This is a Stoicon-X Women virtual gathering and conference. Supported by Modern Stoicism, the Aurelius Foundation and The Stoic Salon. Speakers include Nancy Sherman, Christopher Gill, Karen Duffy, Donald Robertson, Brittany Polat, among others.  Learn more here.

Saturday, October 22 – Stoica Gallica – Stoicon-X Paris. Focused on the theme “Stoïcisme et vie en société”.  An in-person Stoicon-X event. Supported by Opium Philo and Modern Stoicism. Early registrations available here.

Saturday, October 29 – Modern Stoicism – STOICON 2022.  The big international event hosted by Modern Stoicism.  Keynote will be given by Christopher Gill, a workshop will be provided by Kathryn Koromilas, and there will be a number of other speakers and panels. More information, including a full schedule, will be published in the coming month

Monday, October 24 – Sunday, October 30 – Stoic Week 2022.  This is the online course developed by the Modern Stoicism organization that lets participants “live like a Stoic” for a week, interact and compare notes with other participants, and see whether it makes a notable difference in their lives.  More information about Stoic Week will be provided here closer to the Fall.

Organizing a Stoicon-X Event for This Fall

As many of you know from previous years, there’s also a host of STOICON-X events before and after the main STOICON.  We picked that name “Stoicon-X”, by analogy to the larger TED and smaller, local TED-X conferences. Stoicon-X offers local Stoic communities a chance to put together and put on their own events, whether in-person or online, throughout the “season of Stoicism” before and after Stoicon and Stoic Week.

Stoicon-X events have been planned and held all over the world. They have included events in Alberta, Bogota, Brazil, Brisbane, Ghent, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milwaukee, Moscow, New England, New York, Orlando, San Francisco, San Leandro, and Toronto. There have also been topically focused Stoicon-X events as well, such as Stoicon-X Military and Stoicon-X Women: Paths To Flourishing events.

Stoicon-X events are not run by us at Modern Stoicism They are run by members of the larger Stoic community and by local groups. If you are planning, or even just considering organizing a local Stoicon-X event, there’s several bits of information that you’ll want to know, a few things you’ll need to do, and several people you’ll want to (sooner or later) be in touch with.

First off, there are clear guidelines and helpful advice  for how to organize and put on a “Stoicon-X” event. If this is your first time putting on one of these events, you’re going to want to check out that short document (developed a few years back), and give some thought to the event you’re planning. If your local Stoic organization already has experience in putting on Stoicon-X events from previous years, you’re probably set.

Second, if you want to bill your event as a “Stoicon-X”, and use that name, you must download, fill out, and sign the licence agreement with the Modern Stoicism organization (you can get that here). You will then return that signed agreement to John Sellars (click here to email him). This is not optional, and you will want to handle that sooner than later.

Third, in order to publicize your Stoicon-X event here in Stoicism Today, once you have your event planned, and you have created a page for your event, you should contact Greg Sadler (email here) and Harald Kavli (email here), the editorial staff of Stoicism Today. Do not wait until the last minute to get in touch and provide information about your Stoicon-X (posts are written in advance in this blog).

Fourth, you might want to get in touch with the Stoic Fellowship Stoicon-X Committee. The Stoic Fellowship is a different organization than Modern Stoicism, ltd., and their role is to help local Stoic organizations develop, put on events, etc. The Stoic Fellowship have helped out in co-ordinating events around the world and they are in contact with many local Stoic meet-up groups. Do get in touch with them for further advice.

Stay tuned for additional information about Stoicism-focused events later on this year!