Samvera Connect Meetings

Created by Bill Branan
Last updated: Jul 19, 2021 by Heather Greer Klein
3 min read

Samvera Connect meetings are the major annual event in the Samvera year. Samvera advertises them with the slogan "as a Samvera Partner or user, if you can only make it to one Samvera meeting this year, this is the one to attend!"

The three-day meetings are preceded by an optional day of workshops.  The meeting proper is a mix of plenary sessions, lightning talks, show and tell sessions, and unconference breakouts.  The evenings are given over to a mix of conference-arranged activities and opportunities for private meetings over dinner and/or drinks!  The meeting program is aimed at existing users, managers and developers and at new folks who may be just "kicking the tires" on Samvera and who want to know more.

Hydra Connect January 2014 was held at UCSD in San Diego during January 2014, and had 93 attendees from three continents.  Hydra Connect 2 - Fall 2014 was held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland from Sept 30 - October 3, 2014, with 170 attendees from 46 institutions. Connect 2015 was in Minneapolis and Connect 2016 took place in Boston with some 260 people from nearly 90 institutions. Samvera Connect 2017 was held at Northwestern University and attracted almost 200 participants, Samvera Connect 2018 attracted some 170 people from 60 institutions to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and most recently nearly 150 people from some 40 institutions joined us at Washington University in St Louis for Connect 2019.  The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in Connect 2020 being held on line, attracting some 350 international participants.



Attendees at Samvera Connect 2019 at Washington University in St Louis, MO (photo Washington University in St Louis)



Some of Connect 2018's participants gathered for the conference poster session (photo Mariott Library, University of Utah)



Hydra Connect 2016 in Boston - October 2016  (photo Boston Public Library)





 Hydra Connect 2015 in Minneapolis - September 2015 (photo Mark Bussey / Colin Smith)








Hydra Connect 2 in Cleveland – October 2014 (photo by Hannah Levy)



Hydra Connect 1 in San Diego – January 2014 (photo by Declan Fleming)



















Samvera/Hydra Connect meetings calendar

Resources for organizers