Annual Meeting Memories

[Sam Staples]

The Annual Meeting is coming up! Share with our Community your favorite first Annual Meeting memory. If you haven't attended the Annual Meeting yet, what are you looking forward to experiencing at the meeting?  

[Mathew Abrams]

Sam, this question required me to dig way, way, way back! My favourite memory is bumping into a fellow newbie that was just as overwhelmed as I was and sparking a new friendship. We navigated the rest of the meeting together which made it much more enjoyable.

[Hugo Sanchez-Castillo]

I love this question, but is hard to me picking up only one of them!!!!... Well, I remember me at my first annual meeting, it was in Los Angeles (that's right, in the past we had LA!!!) I was so young and I was so excited because a love the movie "Die Hard" and for me, it was my dream come true: NEUROSCIENCE AND DIE HARD!!!!... I remember that all the abstracts were in paper and if you wanted to return with the abstracts you needed a huge bag!...I remember that I decided to see all the posters (you read well, ALL OF THEM!), I Know it, I was young and full of illusions. I started to see it, one by one, I was advanced pretty good when suddenly... ALL THE POSTERS WERE REMOVED AND CHANGED BY NEW ONES!!!... Hugo from the past was so angry because I started over and over and in that point I understanded the valuable lesson of choosing... I really loved my first meeting, I saw all my science heroes and walking among them was really awesome. And let me said to you my friends that I went to the Nakatomi Plaza and for a few moments I was the John McClane of science!...yippee ki yay

[Julia Araujo]

I haven't attended the Annual Meeting yet, but highly intend to join online. It might be not as even as close to the experience in person. Although, if I make it through the webinars, it already would mean the world to me.

I guess sometimes we have so much going on at our profissional, personal and multiple lives altogether that we must highlight our achievements, no matter if they went physically as far as pressing a button. There's always so much behind it. 

Nonetheless, I don't wanna let any pessimism seem to come out of my sentences. With that in mind, I'm sharing my first experience presenting at a congress because reading my dear colleagues posts really reminded me of it.

I was still in High School (so, basically months before the pandemic started) and presenting my very first article at an international event. My mentor and professor said she would be at the event to watch my presentation, but time goes by and I was at her class next day. She turns to me and asks why were I at school if I should be at the congress. Then, by the time I grab my phone to show her the pictures I had taken, she founds out the presentation had been missed. Sincerely, it made the congress event more unforgettable than it already was. 

I know this story might be silly, or my post might not relate as much to Sam's question as it should. Although, if I could make someone remember a personal experience - a nice memory - by reading this, it means my words achieved a desired result.

[valeria muoio]

II remember being stupefied by the grandeur of the event. Lots of people, and most of them smiling... so different from the congresses I was used to. I saw lectures by great famous geniuses and other anonymous ones, I met colleagues and came back full of ideas. Can't wait for the DC congress.