ITAKOM Organisation

ITAKOM was hosted by the Salvesen Mindroom Centre (SMC). They are a leading Scottish charity based in Edinburgh, and work to support, inform, and empower children and young people who are experiencing barriers to learning. Through their outreach support services, their training and advocacy projects, and their research partnership with the University of Edinburgh, they are forging a new future for neurodivergent people, ensuring that the right policies and practices are put in place to enable them to flourish and fulfil their potential. SMC’s vision and focus is to help create a neurodiverse world in which no mind is left behind. SMC has hosted five international conferences since the charity launched in 2001.

ITAKOM had two co-chairs, who led across almost every aspect of the conference. They were Sophie Dow, a founder of SMC, and Professor Sue Fletcher-Watson of the University of Edinburgh, director of the Salvesen Mindroom Research Centre (a neurodiversity-focused research group) and a long-time collaborator with SMC. Conference decision-making was further supported by the Neurodiversity Squad, described below. A pool of external researchers and other neurodiversity experts volunteered as reviewers for scientific submissions and grouping the content into programme sessions.

Other members of the SMC leadership team and trustees led on finance, sponsorships, and driving conference attendance (in partnership with Integrity Events).

Hear Sue talk about the big ideas behind the headline “It Takes All Kinds Of Minds”

The organisers wanted to make sure that ITAKOM had neurodivergent voices built in throughout, feeding into the decision making and speaking throughout the conference programme. They recruited a neurodivergent advisory committee (the Neurodiversity Squad) to support and guide the conference co-Chairs. The Squad members brought a range of experience in research, science, the third sector, entrepreneurship and event management.

The members of the Neurodiversity Squad were: Bethan Davies, Karen Leneh Buckle (Leneh), Nancy Doyle, Natalia Zdorovtsova, Rebs Curtis-Moss, and Tumi Sotire.  In addition to this group, ITAKOM organisers also sought ad-hoc verbal advice from two adults with a learning disability.

The ITAKOM organisers were supported by a wider group of professionals, including an event organising company, Integrity Events. Additional support for communications and digital content was generously contributed by Maclean Creative, Four Marketing and PR Agency, and Fusion Medical Animation. The official conference photographer was Jess Shurte. Her pictures appear throughout this website and the conference reporting.

In addition, the ITAKOM team worked closely with the venue staff at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC). The Example Materials for attendees include details of this venue, and also a copy of the briefing for venue staff.

The ITAKOM programme was organised around four main themes (Healthcare, Education, Workplace and Community). The programme included a mix of invited speakers and sessions, and those who were selected following an open call for submissions and a review process. See content about calls for submission and reviewing in the Example Materials section.

The conference offered 8 types of sessions, generally in 50 minute blocks (including Q&A for most sessions). These were a mix of speakers and presenters directly invited by the organising team, and those who submitted content for competitive review and selection:

1. *Keynotes: everyone watches a long talk from the same speaker together
2. *Big Talks: a long talk from a single speaker, sometimes pre-recorded
3. *Neuro Thinkers: two mid-length talks from experts in neurodiversity theory
4. *Panel Discussions: a group of experts having a live discussion and taking questions
5. *Research Reports: four short talks from researchers who submitted their work
6.  Storytelling: a showreel of pre-recorded video stories submitted by neurodivergent people
7. *Topic Sessions: two mid-length talks from research, practice and lived experience
8.  Workshops: interactive sessions featuring discussion opportunities

In addition to these sessions, ITAKOM included:

9. Poster sessions: submitted research presented in poster form during themed sessions (running concurrently with breaks).
10. Exhibitions/marketplace with stands from conference sponsors, other paid exhibitors, and organisations involved in hosting/producing the conference.

There were up to five sessions running concurrently in most time slots. Some were available in-person only. For session types with an asterisk, recorded content from most speakers is available in the ITAKOM video collection.

Posters are not currently available through the ITAKOM legacy site/media collections, but some individual speakers may have shared these through social media or other channels.

No exhibitor/marketplace content is available through the ITAKOM legacy site/media collections.

ITAKOM was a hybrid/virtual conference. Approximately 20% of registrations were for online attendance. In conference feedback, some attendees reported attending both in-person and online, and even more mentioned using the online conference platform for “catch-up” in the days after the event. More feedback details are available on the reporting page.

The conference had tiered ticket prices, with lower costs for those who were self-funding their attendance (rather than funded by employers) or who were on reduced incomes. A further bursary scheme supported approximately 140 places, aimed at making the event accessible to all those who wish to attend - regardless of financial constraints. Anyone could apply by e-mail for a discounted or complimentary place. In their feedback, multiple bursary recipients stressed how important this measure was to their attendance, and how much they appreciated the opportunity.

The Example Materials section includes more details around ticket pricing and sales timelines.

All attendees had access to a free conference app. This could display the programme and related information (dates, times, speakers etc) as well as be used to create a custom programme. It also included venue maps, exhibitor info, and features to message/network with other attendees. During Q&A sessions, all audience members were asked to submit questions using the app, to achieve greater parity between in-person and virtual attendees.

Example app screenshots appear below.  As of June 2024, the app is still available for download on the Google Play Store.

As of June 2024, content on the following accounts is still available (though not actively monitored)

Twitter/X: https://x.com/itakom_conf

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itakomconf/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@itakom6259

The ITAKOM YouTube channel includes a range of short speaker interviews.