SMTE 2025 Attendee Logistics

We are very excited about having all of you at the Symposium on Music Teacher Education at Butler University in Indianapolis.  Please also visit the SMTE Symposium website for further details about the Symposium. We have also created a Band for the 2025 Symposium to help push out up to date changes. You can sign up for the Band by following this invite.

While public transportation exists in Indianapolis, it is far from rapid transit. The easiest way to get to the conference hotel from the airport is via ride share or rental car. Addresses for the conference hotels are:

Drury Plaza Hotel

9625 Meridian St., Indianapolis

Sonesta Select Hotel

37 W. 103rd St, Carmel

• Exit onto US-31 North and then immediately exit onto 106th St. 
• At the traffic circle, head west (under the expressway) to Illinois St south (3rd exit at the next roundabout). 
• Sonesta Select
  • Turn left onto 103rd St., which is the next street. 
• Drury Plaza
  • Stay on Illinois St/Spring Mill Road under I-465 until the roundabout at 96th St East (3rd exit at the next roundabout). 
  • The Drury Plaza will be on your left after the traffic light.

Shuttle service from the hotels to Butler University will be provided by Avante Garde Transportation. See the Symposium website for the schedule of the shuttle bus between Drury Plaza, Sonesta Select, and Butler University. The shuttle bus will be picking up from the bus stop located between Lilly and Dugan Halls at Butler University.

For those driving to Butler University, parking is available at the Sunset Ave. Parking Garage (4682 Sunset Ave, Indianapolis), immediately north of the Schrott Center for the Arts. Daily parking rates do apply.

The registration table for the Symposium will be in the lobby of the Schrott Center for the Arts, located on the Northwest corner of Sunset Ave. and 46th St. For those who have already registered, your name badge will be available at the check in table, as well as posters that were submitted to Campus Impressions (by October 16th with “SMTE 2025” in the comments) and Bands of America credentials for those who signed up with interest in attending the SuperRegional at Lucas Oil Stadium.

A full schedule of the Symposium can be found on the Symposium website. Additionally, a searchable spreadsheet version of the schedule can be found on Google Sheets. These two documents will be maintained throughout the conference with any changes in programming. Please check room numbers and times as some have changed since the schedule was first distributed to make better use of available spaces and to accommodate individuals’ travel schedules.

Abstracts for each session can be found in Google Docs. If sessions have changed times, this document may not reflect the new revised time for the presentation.

Most meals will be served in the atrium of Dugan Hall as noted on the website schedule. At this time, all special accommodations regarding dietary needs have been shared with our caterer and additional requests may not be able to be honored. Seating is available throughout Dugan Hall atrium (upper floors have several collaboration nooks) as well as in outdoor areas behind Dugan Hall (weather permitting). Dugan 118 and 121 will also be available for lunch seating.

For those participating in the Graduate Research Forum on Friday during lunch, box lunches will be provided for you in Dugan Hall 218/221.

Thursday evening’s reception is an open bar for all registered attendees. Entertainment is Rock-E Bassoon and is sponsored by Music for All.

For those who registered in advance for the closing banquet, dinner will be served in the Reilly Room on the second floor of Atherton Hall—enter through the door at the south end of Atherton Hall along Hampton Dr. A cash bar will be available for the banquet.

All sessions in Schrott Center for the Arts and Lilly Hall are located on the first floor. Rooms 203, 218, and 221 in Dugan Hall are accessible via the elevator located in the southwest corner of the atrium. Ramp access to Lilly Hall can be found on the east side of the building. Entrances to the Schrott Center for the Arts and Dugan Hall (on the west side) are flat entrances.

Gender inclusive restrooms can be found across the hall from Lilly Hall 112 as well as on the second floor of Lilly Hall, at the top of the stairs in the West Lobby. In Dugan Hall, gender inclusive restrooms can be found in room 127 and room 227. In Atherton Hall, gender inclusive restrooms are in room 304B and 318.

A sensory limited space will be found in Lilly Hall 177. We ask that this room be used for quiet activities for those needing a space to withdraw to.

A designated lactation room can be found in the basement of Dugan Hall in Room 018. This room does have a small refrigerator for temporary storage.

A group working area will be available in Lilly Hall 112 during all session times except for the ASPA meeting blocks. Additionally, Dugan Hall has dozens of working nooks for small group discussions, including access to display screens.

Wireless access is available to participants through the BU Guest/Open network. No password is required. This network should support basic web functions, including use of presentation videos from web-based services.

All rooms are equipped with a media center that includes an embedded monitor and HDMI connections. Presenters are welcome to present from the embedded monitor using web-based presentation software, Powerpoint, or Keynote. Presenters may also bring their own device that is compatible with an HDMI cable. Please make sure to bring your own dongles.

All sessions of any format that are located in Schrott Center, Dugan 118, and Dugan 121 will be made available for virtual viewing by registered attendees for virtual participation. These sessions will not be recorded or made publicly accessible. Those who have registered for virtual attendance will receive an e-mail on Monday, October 20 with access details for virtual sessions.

Regular presentations are scheduled for 25 minute sessions, including a 20 minute presentation and a 5 minute discussion period. Each session is assigned an SMTE presider and a Butler assistant for the presenter to help with logistics of the session. All spaces except Schrott Center include a whiteboard or chalkboard. All sessions in Lilly Hall have access to a piano. Please contact Brian Weidner at admin@smte.us if additional resources are required for your session.

Each poster will be assigned a position (#1-50) for the poster session. Assigned locations will be available on the session scheduler Monday, October 20. Each poster board can accommodate a poster of up to 30”x40” in either landscape or portrait orientation. Push pins will be available on site.

For poster printing, participants are welcome to submit posters to Campus Impressions by October 16th with “SMTE 2025” in the comments. When submitting the poster, set the pick up date for October 21 at 10 AM. These posters will be available at check in provided that you have prepaid for the poster. Please e-mail Brian Weidner at admin@smte.us to let him know to make sure your poster has been picked up.

Graduate students presenting on the Graduate Research Forum will be presenting on both the Forum and a full conference poster session. Please check your number assignment as it will likely have changed between the sessions.

As the roundtables are a new format for SMTE, we ask presenters to follow the following details:

To keep lightning talks running on time, these sessions will be run from the classroom computer. By Wednesday, October 22, please make sure any slides for the lightning talks have been submitted via the link at https://forms.gle/BrbHzD9rigddmPNQA Lightning talks will be 5 minutes each followed by a 15-minute discussion period—the paired sessions will be presented prior to the discussion. Please include a guiding question or two at the close of your lightning talk to help advance discussion.