Are you planning to attend a conference later this year?

Perhaps you, like us, are preparing to travel to California for the AACC Annual Scientific Meeting at the end of July. If you haven’t had a chance to discuss attending this or another conference with your supervisor or staff, there’s still time to make plans (even if the conference is two months away). When it comes to planning travel for a conference, it’s best to make most decisions 2-3 months prior to the departure date.

So, there is still time to attend a national clinical laboratory conference or large regional meeting this year if you’re interested. In this article, we have provided 4 tips and considerations for those planning to attend a clinical laboratory conference.

1. Check for early-bird discounts: People do not want to miss out on a deal, and conference planners know this. Planners of larger conferences want people to register early to get an idea about event turnout or will want to pay for certain conference planning costs upfront with registration fees. That is why planners will offer discounts for early registrations, also known as the “early-bird” discount.

Larger clinical laboratory conferences will typically have an early registration period during the first month after registration opens. For instance, if you register for the “Extra Early Bird” rate for the ASCP Annual Meeting by June 30^th, you can save up to 50% of the regular rate.

In turn, the early-bird discount can help potential attendees start a conversation with staff or supervisors about going to a conference. However, if you missed an early-bird rate for registration, do not sweat it. You can still save time and money in other aspects of your conference planning, like taking advantage of grants, scholarships, and free offerings.

2. Take advantage of grants, scholarships, and free offerings: For those seeking assistance with conference registration and travel costs, sometimes scholarships and free offerings will help us keep our expenses well within our budget.

Each year, the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) offers travel grants for those seeking financial assistance to attend the ASCP Annual Meeting held in the fall each year. To be considered for the grant, candidates must submit their applications in the spring. This year, the deadline was May 1^st. To learn more, visit ASCP’s Grants and Scholarships webpage.

Also, did you know there will be 800+ vendors at the AACC Clinical Lab Expo in Anaheim, California this year? Visit our calendar event page to get your Complementary Clinical Lab Expo pass to the premiere global laboratory medicine exposition. Be sure to stop by our booth #2932 and say hello!

3. Find flight deals on airline tickets: There is good news for those who tend to procrastinate in their travel planning. Self-conducted studies by Expedia and Google reveal that you could be missing out on good flight deals if you book too far out in advance. The findings of these two studies combined indicate that the best time to book a flight is about 1-1.5 months before departure. Expedia narrows down this timeframe to 28-35 days, while Google’s study found that prices started dropping 44 days before departure.

Start discussing your team’s attendance at an out-of-state conference 2-3 months in advance so you have enough time to book a flight and take advantage of flight deals. Create a hard deadline during your discussions so you do not wait until the last minute to book. Try not to book less than 21 days before departure, if possible.

4. Try using the conference app: As you continue to receive updates and emails from laboratory conference planners, we direct your attention to the conference app. Oftentimes, mid-size to large conferences will provide attendees with an app to download to their mobile or tablet device. Depending on the app provided, you can access many helpful features, such as:

• Electronic copies of the conference schedule, list of speakers, and venue map. You can also choose to receive notifications and updates on the schedule from conference coordinators in real time.
• In-app networking: connect with attendees, message them, send them pdf files, and schedule meetings. Some apps will also provide social media integrations or an in-app social media platform to post your images, thoughts, and other updates with attendees.
• Participate in interactive aspects of the in-person event, such as submitting questions for formal Q&A segments of presentations and panel sessions within the conference app on your phone.

There are some hidden benefits to using the mobile application that conferences provide. Giving yourself some time to download and explore the app before you depart for your conference can give you a better idea of how useful it would be to you. You can always delete it when you are done.

While none of us want to wait until the last minute to prepare, there is some evidence that planning far in advance does not always assure we will get the best deals. Gathering more information about tips and strategies that work well for others throughout the year gives us plenty of time to find the planning practices that work best for us. The 3 tips we have provided here come from a blend of research and experience in conference planning for attendees and exhibitors. If you are planning to attend any clinical laboratory conferences this summer or fall, we encourage you to stop by our exhibitor booth and say hello to a WSLH PT staff member. Visit our Conference Schedule page online to view the list of conferences we will be attending.

If you have any other conference planning tips to share with others, please let us know. We would love to share your ideas in a future newsletter or blog post. You can contact us by emailing WSLH PT at ptservice@slh.wisc.edu, or by filling out our Contact Us webpage. Happy conference planning!