Beyond the Numbers Conference

What: The Beyond the Numbers Conference is designed for librarians and allied information professionals interested in economic data and information.

Navy blue icons showing data and symbols emerge from the words Beyond the Numbers.

When: This free conference is held annually.

Past presenters: Beyond the Numbers is known for high-quality presentations on diverse subjects within the economic information realm. Previous keynote speakers include former NPR “Planet Money” correspondent and host Stacey Vanek Smith, former Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner Erica Groshen, best-selling author and Financial Times columnist Tim Harford, Google chief economist Hal Varian, Matt Sobek of IPUMS, and staff from the Census Bureau and the World Bank.

For questions: This conference is coordinated by the St. Louis Fed’s Research Information Services staff. For more information or to be added to our events mailing list, contact the organizing committee at Research.Event.Services@stls.frb.org.

Past Conference Materials

Beyond the Numbers, Nov. 6-8, 2023

2023 event agenda (PDF)

Speakers included:

  • Governor Christopher Waller, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (YouTube livestream recording)
  • Arthur Johannes Giesberts, Development Economist, Development Data Group, World Bank

Beyond the Numbers, Nov. 8-10, 2022

2022 event agenda (PDF)

Speakers included:

  • Stacey Vanek Smith, author and co-host of NPR's "The Indicator" from Planet Money
  • Erica Groshen, Senior Economics Advisor at Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and former U.S. Commissioner of Labor Statistics

Beyond the Numbers, Nov. 17-19, 2021 (Virtual)

2021 event agenda (PDF)

Speakers included:

  • Matt Sobek, Director of Data Integration at IPUMS Center for Data Integration, Minnesota Population Center
  • Tim Harford, economist, author, and Financial Times columnist
  • Dominic Beamer and team, Chief, Nonresponse Operations Branch, Decennial Census Management Division, U.S. Census Bureau Office

Beyond the Numbers, Nov. 18-20, 2020 (Virtual)

2020 event agenda (PDF)

Speakers included:

  • William Beach, Commissioner, Bureau of Labor Statistics
  • Charles Hokayem, Economist, Kentucky Research Data Center and John Perry, Economist, Centre College
  • Lars Vilhuber, Economist, Cornell University

Beyond the Numbers, Nov. 7-9, 2018

Note: Historically, the conference was held biennially.

2018 event agenda (PDF)

Speakers included:

  • Stephanie Lee Studds, Division Chief, Economic Indicators Division, U.S. Census Bureau
  • Wendy Stephens, Assistant Professor and Library Media Program Chair, Jacksonville State University

Beyond the Numbers, Oct. 6-8, 2016

2016 event agenda (PDF)

Speakers included:

  • Stephen Cecchetti, Professor of International Economics, Brandeis International Business School
  • Brian C. Moyer, Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis

Beyond the Numbers, Sept. 29-30, 2014

Speakers included:

  • Hal Varian, Chief Economist, Google
  • Neil Fantom, Manager, Open Data Initiative, World Bank
Back to Top