Washington DC, USA: the place where a ton of researchers travelled for the 75th annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics.
With over 7000 participants and almost 3000 posters, this large conference showcased the most current research in all of Human Genetics. From epigenetics clinical genetics and education to statistical genetics, population genetics and many many more.
I was excited to meet my international research colleagues, and learn the latest research, and so I too set off to Washington with my poster to present my work.
Of everything presented I was particularly inspired by one of the last talks during the extinguished speakers symposium by Adam Rutherford. His take on eugenics in the current education system was fascinating and I highly recommend the reader to check out his book on the topic. If it is anything like his talk, it will surely make an impact.
Another highlight of the event for me was the gala, which was organised to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the ASHG annual meeting. Great food, company and music made for a great evening!
To close of my account of the annual meeting, I would like to take this opportunity to explain what I’ve learned to do, to make the most of my time at any conference. Perhaps the reader can recognise themselves, or take away some small tips for their own conference experiences.
- Make a schedule. Most conferences have apps that will help with this. And ASHG was no different. All options sorted for specific time slots or sorting by subject or presenter. Make sure to hit up the sessions specifically in your topic, but also sort by presenter and find presentations of colleagues to learn and support. Also make time for some social events, perhaps the conference organises some, or you could meet with colleagues over lunch or dinner.
- Prioritise the schedule: you won’t be able to do everything that is overed. Nor will you be able to do everything you might be interested in. If you’re somewhat introverted like me that is. So prioritize your schedule! Those are completely personal. Have you not seen your colleagues in a full year? Prioritize meetings and networking. Is this your fourth conference in a few months? Then its probably smarter to prioritise some science talks, and so on and so forth.
- Make notes: find a way that works for you to take notes. Perhaps you had a specific way of note taking in your university studies. There will be a lot of information, you will not be able to remember it all, so take notes, so you can reference them later.
- Take pictures: It is usually not allowed to take pictures of presentations or posters without consent and depending on conference regulations. Usually however, you can speed up networking and better remember peoples names by taking pictures of their name tags and/or posters after you’ve gotten their consent.
- Process your conference: once back in normal life, don’t forget about the information that was provided to you, or the connections you made. Make a summary of all your notes, prioritise subjects you want to look into, papers you want to read or methods you want to explore. And follow those new connections on Twitter/X or LinkedIn so you can keep in touch.
And of course the main importance is always to prioritise your health. Both physically and mentally. Large conferences can be intimidating, and big social gatherings can be draining. Make time for yourself to unwind during breaks and in the evenings. And even with a jetlag prioritise getting the proper amount of sleep and rest.
It is these things that helped me enjoy the giant conference that was ASHG and what made it so I could learn so much from all the research presented there. I hope there were some tips that the reader can take forward too.
As for me, ASHG has inspired and excited me to get back to work and push my research forward.
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