The 30th Biennial conference of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies was held in May 2026 on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), bringing together hundreds of scholars from four continents and over a dozen countries under the theme “Diasporas: Building Bridges Across Nations.” Participants shared their research in Baltic Studies, built new professional connections, and caught up with old friends, all on the backdrop of a classic, sunny American campus. To learn more about the success of the conference, AABS interviewed its Chair, Dr. Olga Makarova, about how she made it all happen. The transcript below has been edited for clarity.
Olga Makarova serves as Reference Librarian at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Library. She has experience in library reference, acquisitions, and technical services. She holds degrees in Philology and Russian as a Foreign Language from St. Petersburg State University, as well as a MS in Library and Information Sciences from the University of Illinois. Olga’s research interests include gender studies and digital curation. She is also interested in the history of international library interactions.
AABS: Olga, it’s been a couple months since the conference ended. What are your reflections looking back?
OM: It is hard to believe that is over. I think it was very helpful to have as much time as was allocated, so around two years, and to have a connection with the previous organizers. There was a lot of information available about previous iterations, and it was great to be a part of this kind of institutional memory.
With all the challenges we were facing, ultimately we were happy that that the conference took place, it was mostly in person, and people were able to come. It was a good size, and it was a meaningful experience for those who made the effort to get to Urbana-Champaign. It was rewarding to see the smiles on everyones’ faces. The people who came actually wanted to be here, and it made for good discussions. Sometimes with very large conferences, you may attend but you don’t have much to take home.
If you’re running a conference, you’re not fully participating in it. I wish I had the chance to attend more sessions. Even when I was at sessions, my mind was somewhere else: what’s next? Are the mics working? Does someone need me somewhere?
AABS: That’s always hard for a conference organizer! One thing I noticed throughout many of the sessions was the buy-in to the conference theme of “diasporas,” which was quite notable. You and the team facilitated that by getting great plenary speakers, but at some point it comes down to buy-in from the participants. Do you think that has to do with some of the more purposeful nature of people’s participation?
OM: Yes, I think so. The main attraction of the trip is the conference itself. No one knew beforehand about the beauty of Urbana-Champaign!
Regarding the theme, it was interesting for me as someone who was not previously part of the Baltic Studies academic discourse myself. As a librarian, of course I can find information, but being within the network is a different thing, and as an outsider, it was challenging. I did rely on the AABS Board for advice when I didn’t have a feel for the field. It was a challenge, but it was fun to navigate and learn what to avoid, what to encourage, and so on.
When we started receiving applications, I was a little bit concerned, thinking, “Oh, maybe it is a little bit too specific and a little bit too narrow.” If a conference theme is broad or ambiguous, you can tie it to any research you’re doing. But in this case, the specificity made sense, and the conference turned out to be very focused. I think both the location and the motivation of people to come here and present made the conference what it was. The schedule was also important: we cut it down to two days, no fluff.
It’s also important to emphasize the financial aspects of the conference. We are very grateful for the support we received from donors, including great support from the UIUC community: the University Library, the Program in Jewish Culture & Society, REEEC, and the School of Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics. AABS’s fundraising support was also vital, particularly from our Platinum Donor, the Kazickas Family Foundation. We were able to run the conference economically, so AABS funding was available to support a lot of graduate students and young scholars to come. That makes a big difference.
AABS: As you know, conference planning overlaps, and AABS is now getting more involved in the European CBSE conferences. What’s your advice for future conference planners?
OM: I guess one thing is not to be tricked by the amount of time you have. You think, oh, I have two years, it’s a lot of time. I can’t do much right now. But actually there is a lot of work that can be done even before the call for proposals goes out. We had a series of meetings in the beginning where we set the date and then worked backwards: what needs to be here or there.
It was good to have a general understanding about what needed to happen, and then to have a very well organized system when you began narrowing down. I know that the Yale team [in 2024] had a very complex spreadsheet with all the deadlines. I don’t work with spreadsheets like that, so I had a physical notebook. The lesson is to find the tracking system that works for you, is reliable, and can be passed on in a smooth transition in case you need to be replaced.
For future organizers who may be coming from within the Baltic Studies community, you may have a vision of who you want to be at the conference as a plenary speaker or guest. It’s also a good idea to have substitutes in mind, and that needs to be done early on as well.
Relatedly, it’s good to know your strengths and weaknesses. It was very helpful when we talked with the Yale team to learn that they had to put together the program themselves, including arranging individual submissions into panels and naming them. I knew that’s not my forte, so I got the main pieces together but had division chairs do much of that work. Having division chairs you can trust and who understand from the very beginning what they’re signing up for, that’s very important, as is delegating work in general.
This was also important when dealing with people dropping from the conference. When people communicate well and there are understandable reasons, of course, we make adjustments, but sometimes that’s not the case. You have to be flexible.
All that said, none of this would have been possible without the University of Illinois graduate student volunteers and the facilities teams, who both did an excellent job and helped us immensely.
AABS: Olga, you and the team were flexible, adaptable, and did a great job. Thank you for your work to make AABS 2026 happen!