Royal Commission for AlUla | Delivering the AlUla World Archaeology Summit and Symposium

Shared Planet was retained by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) Culture Sector Planning to support the external positioning, stakeholder engagement, and delivery of the inaugural AlUla World Archaeology Symposium (AWAS) in 2024. The objective of AWAS is to foster open dialogue and a broad conversation on archaeology and cultural heritage, while positioning AlUla and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the new gathering place for the archaeological and cultural heritage community.

The approach to this work happened across several phases. Methods included: identifying key lessons from the AlUla World Archaeology Summit in 2023; benchmarking and analysis of the existing archaeology conference landscape; developing a comprehensive programme and agenda for the 2024 Symposium; conducting stakeholder mappings to identify attendees and speakers; supporting the planning for the  Symposium, including through speaker invitations and outreach, website development, communications support, programme development and finalisation, among others. Shared Planet further supported RCU in the delivery of the 2024 Symposium through direct on-site involvement, which included support to speakers, the facilitation of workshops, and development of concrete outputs for AWAS.