Welcome to the Live, Interactive Planetarium Symposium website!

LIPS 2023 will be held September 12 through 14. Our host will be the Michigan Science Center in Detroit. Stay tuned for details coming soon!

Basic information about LIPS:

What: LIPS will specifically focus on live, interactive planetarium lessons: connecting with your audience; enhancing performance skills; classroom management techniques; sample activities; etc. LIPS' goals include:

• To provide a participatory and practical professional development opportunity focusing on live presentations.

• To offer an opportunity to network with others doing live, interactive shows.

• To share information about available resources and products.

• To share ideas for improving programs: content, teaching tips, classroom management, etc.

• To explore what is required to start or improve an outreach program or business.

LIPS is different from other planetarium conferences in several key ways:

• This is not a full-dome movie festival; instead it focuses on skills and techniques for live lessons. While there are sponsor demonstrations, these are live, interactive teaching demonstrations.

• There are no true "lectures" at LIPS; all sessions should be interactive. Prospective presenters: Remember that attendees are coming to LIPS because they do (or want to start to do) live, interactive lessons. This audience wants to actively take part in sessions, not observe passively.

The audience size is limited to 40 to 60 attendees, based on host capacity. This limit is so that all attendees participate in all events together; there are no session tracks. This leads to a unique sense of cohesion by the end of each LIPS. For 2022, the cap is set at 60 attendees.

LIPS 2022 information:
If you are curious about what happens at a LIPS, this information will give you a taste. The LIPS 2022 schedule is posted on the sessions page.

Key information:

Days/dates: Wednesday, August 3 through Friday, August 5. There will be an optional half day kinesthetic astronomy workshop with Cherilynn Morrow from 1 to 5 pm on Tuesday, August 2. Sessions will run from about 9 am to 5 pm on Wednesday, August 3 and Thursday, August 4, and from about 9 am to 3 pm on Friday, August 5.

Host: Fiske Planetarium at the University of Colorado Boulder. https://www.colorado.edu/fiske/

Contact Karrie Berglund, karrie@DigitalisEducation.com with any questions or for assistance.

Live-Input System

Note that Fiske is equipped to project your digital devices LIVE with a new live-input system. Your laptop, cell phone, or other digital devices can be projected in rectangular or fisheye format onto the Fiske dome up 2160p, 60 frames per second. Up to 3 devices can be used simultaneously.

This works best with Macs and PCs, and certain linux machines. Additionally, Fiske is flexible with ingesting any media you would like to use or see in their dome up to 8192x8192 resolution, 60 frames per second.

Special events for 2022:

It's been a VERY long time, since we've been able to meet up in person! We will celebrate our first in-person gathering since 2019 with an opening reception from 5 to 7 pm on Tuesday, August 2. There will be hearty hors d'oeuvres and non-alcoholic beverages. This reception is included in the LIPS registration fee.

We will have a special performance of Matheatre's live planetarium musical Voyagers the evening of Wednesday, August 3 in the Fiske Theater. This performance is included with LIPS registration. See information below about Voyagers.