General Meeting Information

MARAC holds semi-annual meetings in the spring and fall, offering members opportunities to discuss archival concerns and obtain new training through breakout sessions, workshops, and guest speakers. Tours and receptions highlight cultural institutions and historical organizations in the immediate area. Conferences rotate among member states, ensuring members have a meeting nearby every few years. 

Typically, conferences begin on a Thursday with workshops, tours, and a volunteer project. Often, a New Member meet and greet reception takes place on Thursday night. The meeting continues on Friday and Saturday with plenary and luncheon talks, breakout sessions, social events, and the semi-annual business meeting. The reception on Friday night is a great way to network and catch up with colleagues and friends.

Topics for conferences are drawn from ideas and needs expressed in membership surveys and breakout sessions are driven by member proposals. Any member is eligible to participate in the planning and execution of a meeting. To learn more about ways of getting involved, contact the Chair of the Meetings Coordinating Committee, Mary Mannix at [email protected]. 

To learn more about meeting registration, please see our Registration FAQs.

If you are not currently a member we would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to consider joining MARAC. Membership dues are just $45 for regular members and $20 for student and retiree members. Membership provides significant cost savings on events throughout the year. We have members from a wide range of repositories and records management programs that offer a great community where members share ideas, information, and support, area meet-ups and workshops, etc. Click here to learn more and join us. 

We Want to Hear from You!

Do you want to bring MARAC to your hometown or favorite city? Do you have an idea for a program session? Do you have any thoughts about what you would like to see or experience at an upcoming MARAC meeting? Contact the Chair of the Meetings Coordinating Committee, Mary Mannix at [email protected].

Code of Conduct
MARAC is committed to providing a harassment-free environment for its members and others who participate in its conferences, events, and meetings. All attendees are required to comply with our Code of Conduct.

Show your institution the value of attending a MARAC meeting
Attending a MARAC meeting is beneficial to both you and your institution. Demonstrating how you will be more valuable to your institution after attending MARAC is a crucial strategy in asking for time off and support for registration and travel expenses. To request funding for professional development, be prepared with solid reasoning and facts to convince your institution to send you to MARAC. Let us help you with these simple steps.

1. Explain to your supervisor how you will help make your institution more effective when you implement ideas, strategies, techniques, and new technologies you bring back from MARAC.

2. Review the workshops to see if any can help build your skills, which will have a direct impact on your institution.

3. Go over the program with your supervisor to identify sessions that can help you to meet your institution’s mission.

4. Talk with colleagues who are not planning to go to see if there are sessions that they would like you to attend and ask them what kind of information you can bring back for them. Show how you attending MARAC can benefit their work.

5. MARAC’s schedule is flexible. You can attend workshops independent from the conference or register for Saturday only

6. Determine the exact cost (including registration, hotel, and travel) and show how much you can save by registering at early bird rates and booking your hotel room before the room rate discount expires.

7. Establish a plan for how you will pass on what you learned at MARAC. Show how you will share session notes and vendor information with colleagues. Explain how you will implement one new idea you learned at MARAC. 

8. Show how your institution’s reputation will grow by being committed to professional development and how your institution’s network will strengthen as you engage with fellow attendees.

9. Apply for one of our meeting and travel scholarships to help defray registration and travel costs.