For a number of years now, in addition to the main Stoicon conference, followed by Stoic Week, local organizations, schools, and institutions have hosted their own events. Early on these were listed as “Stoic Week” events, but in recent years they have developed into Stoicon-X events. 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.
In previous years 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 the Stoicon-X Military and Stoicon-X Women: Paths To Flourishing events held earlier this year.
The main Stoicon 2021 conference will take place on 9th October this year. And Stoic Week will run 18th-24th October. We anticipate Stoicon-X events throughout October, with some probably taking place in September and November as well.
Most likely some of the Stoicon-X events will be online, and some will be face-to-face events in different locations around the world. So there’s somewhat less of a concern with overlap in dates and times than last year, when due to the pandemic, all of the Stoicon-X events (with the exception of Stoicon-X Moscow) were held online.
Just to be clear, Stoicon-X events are not run by us at Modern Stoicism; they are run by you, the Stoic community. We don’t control them and so cannot take any liability for them, although we are happy to publicize events here on our website and via our social media channels. If you would like to attend an event, but there isn’t one planned near you, perhaps this is your chance to organize one. You might be the first person ever to organize a Stoic event in your city or even your country!
If you’d like some inspiration and encouragement, you can read here some reports gathered last year from people who successfully organized Stoicon-X events.
Stoicon-X Events Confirmed At This Date
Right now, there are three confirmed Stoicon-X events.
Stoicon-X in London, UK – 25 September, 9.30 AM – 5.30 PM – The Aurelius Foundation and Modern Stoicism will be hosting an in-person event, “The Stoic Journey”. Venue is yet to be announced, but information and ticketing are available here.
Stoicon-X in Paris, France – October 16, 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM – Stoa Gallica and Opium Philosophie will be hosting an in-person event. Venue is yet to be announced, but information and ticketing are available here.
Stoicon-X, in Melbourne, Australia – 30 October, 9.45 AM – 5 PM – The Melbourne Stoics and Deakin University will be holding an in-person event at the Greek Centre for Contemporary Culture. Information and ticketing available here.
Later on, as we get closer to Stoicon and Stoic Week, we will publish a follow-up post will full information about more Stoicon-X events. So if you’re hosting one, you’ll need to get your information to us, and your event page set up (preferably sooner than later).
Organizing a Stoicon-X Event for This Fall
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, you will want to get in touch with Pete Fagella (click here to email him). He is the chair of 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 – and specially Pete- for further advice.
Third, 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.
Fourth, 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).
We look forward to what will hopefully be a packed season of Stoicism, with many Stoicon-X events on the calendar, as we approach Stoicon and Stoic Week in October!
