Are you an emerging history professional who plans to attend AASLH’s 2016 annual meeting in the Motor City (Detroit)? If so, the AASLH Emerging History Professionals (EHP) Affinity Community has three initiatives that may interest you. Read on to learn how the EHP committee is working to enhance the experience of AASLH’s EHP members at this year’s annual meeting.

First, if you’re looking for a conference roommate or ride share buddy, check out our new room and ride share forum before you make your travel and hotel arrangements. We’re launching it in the next couple of weeks, so be on the lookout for an announcement from AASLH. On the forum, you’ll be able to connect with other AASLH members looking for conference hotel roommates, as well as people looking for travel companions or carpool buddies. If you live in or around Detroit, you can also use the forum to offer an extra room or comfortable couch to a fellow AASLH member.

Detroit Cadillac Square btw 1910 and 1920

Detroit’s Cadillac Square between 1910 and 1920. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In addition, the EHP committee will provide an EHP guide to the annual meeting. The EHP guide will highlight meeting sessions and activities that focus on issues or projects with particular significance to the EHP community. Ask for it at the registration desk when you pick up your badge or peruse it on our blog from your smartphone. For your planning purposes, we’ll post the guide to our blog in advance of the annual meeting.

The number one do-not-miss event on the EHP annual meeting guide will be the EHP mentoring session. Designed and run by us, your EHP committee, this session will provide EHPs with a chance to speak with seasoned professionals working in a range of fields related to state and local history, as well as a space in which to meet and connect with fellow EHPs. Have a professional goal but aren’t sure how to meet it? Want to know more about a particular field and how to break into it? Feel free to ask these and other questions at the EHP mentoring session.

We’re excited to share the EHP guide and mentoring session with you, and we hope you can use the forum to reduce conference-related costs. Be sure to check our blog and Twitter account between now and September for news and updates. See you in Detroit!