21 June, 2023
During my PhD I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to academic conferences to present my research. From smaller national conferences in UK cities to larger keystone gatherings in Belgium and Vietnam. Having thought my conference days were behind me, I was thrilled to be able to attend the BIO International Convention in San Diego, California, to promote our commercialisation projects and raise the commercial interest for Institute research. Dr James Dooley from the Liston lab also joined us to seek investment and promote Aila Biotech, a recent spin-out from the Institute and member of this year’s Accelerate@°ÄÃÅÌìÌìºÃ²Ê cohort.
Having the academic conference experience in my locker, I was surprised at the comparable differences when it comes to industry conventions.
How do academic conferences and trade shows compare?
Now to touch on the highlights, challenges and top tips for anyone attending their first industry conference.
Highlights:
As a natural networker, I really enjoyed the time I spent talking to other attendees.
Challenges:
These events can have their downsides too, I found these mostly to be logistical and could apply these to lots of scientific conferences too.
General tips:
Reflecting on how my time at BIO went, here are some tips for others who might be new to networking or new to industry events.
From this experience I have discovered that networking pays off, not just for moving projects forwards and career development, but sometimes sooner than you think, like at the end of BIO when my flight home was cancelled and I needed a hand arranging a hotel for an extra night!
21 June 2023
By Alumni Blogger