2026 AFS Annual Meeting: Updates on Deadlines and Formats

As we prepare to release the call for proposals for the 138th Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society in Asheville, North Carolina, we want to share an exciting update about presentation formats that will enhance attendee experiences at this year’s conference. 

The 2026 meeting will offer multiple ways for members to participate and share their work. 

To support a strong in-person experience and make the best use of meeting spaces and technical resources, we will not offer fully hybrid sessions that combine in-person and live virtual presentations within the same panel. Instead, in-person sessions at the Asheville meeting will be designed for presenters attending onsite, while pre-recorded presentations and digital posters will be shared through the asynchronous online platform. 

Alongside the in-person program in Asheville, we will expand our online offerings through an asynchronous digital component hosted on the FourWaves platform. As part of the October meeting, presenters may share pre-recorded presentations and digital posters that attendees can explore throughout the conference, with opportunities to view, comment on, and engage with this work online.

Rather than scheduling live virtual presentations within the conference timetable, these recordings and posters will be uploaded by presenters and available on the meeting platform throughout the event and following it, allowing attendees to watch and return to them at their convenience. Abstracts for review should be submitted in English, but recordings may be presented in a speaker’s preferred language with English captions.

We are excited to expand opportunities for both in-person and remote participants to engage with this body of work through the online presentation library and poster hall on the meeting platform. 

Several events from the Asheville meeting, including keynote sessions and the Presidential Invited Lecture, will also be livestreamed and available to virtual attendees.

Looking ahead, we are also planning a fully virtual AFS symposium in Spring 2027, which will focus entirely on formats designed for online participation, including panels, workshops, and interactive discussions. We will share more details about this event later this year.

At the same time, the October meeting in Asheville will remain a vibrant, primarily in-person gathering, with the range of session formats that members are used to at AFS Annual Meetings: pre-organized panels, assembled panels, plenaries, workshops, and social events. Additionally, we are planning a program rich in local events, including both collaborations with local organizations and sessions held in community venues across Asheville.

Taken together, these formats allow us to strengthen the in-person meeting while continuing to broaden access to AFS programming for members who cannot travel. We hope this range of options will create new opportunities for participation and exchange across the field.

More details will be included on our Annual Meeting pages where you’ll find the link to submit your proposals, and we are available by email and office hours to answer your questions. Stay tuned for more details about the fully virtual meeting that will take place in Spring 2027!

We look forward to gathering with you in Asheville in October.

Sincerely,

Jessica A. Turner, Executive Director 
AFS Annual Meeting Program Manager: Martha C. Sims
AFS Annual Meeting Team: Charish Bishop, Cassie Rosita Patterson, Martha C. Sims, Chunfen Zhou