Written by Alex Robertson, DC Conferences
It’s hard to believe the 2017 Australian Pain Society 37th Annual Scientific Meeting was more than 3 months ago! While we are now in the thick of organising the 2018 Australian Pain Society 38th and New Zealand Pain Society Conjoint Annual Scientific Meeting I wanted to take a moment to remember my favourite parts of APS 2017.
I always enjoy watching delegates come together each year, connect with like-minded people and friends they may not have seen since the last APS ASM. The Welcome Reception is always buzzing and it’s exciting to see an event that has been down on paper for the last 18 months come to life in a full exhibition hall.
The official opening was one of the most interesting I’ve encountered, a mesmerising Welcome to Country by Karl Telfer and his nephew followed by an hilarious and vibrant Official Opening from David Butler, props to him for matching his outfit to the conference logo – no one’s done that before!
Watching th
e hashtag #auspain2017 trend across Australia was an absolute thrill, although I still think we smashed the ‘best selfie with the Social Wall’ competition – I’m looking forward to seeing more entries next year!
One query that popped up a fair bit in the post-conference survey was in regards to accessing digital posters. The APS ASM has offered delegates the choice of viewing hard or soft copy posters (also known as e-posters) since 2015 as they feel that this gives delegates the opportunity to view the posters after the conference – if they don’t have time during it.
During the conference, posters could be accessed through the conference app, as well as on the iPads found in the Recharge Hub, in the exhibition hall. E-posters are still available online, please visit http://apsposters.paperlessevents.com.au/ to view any e-poster submission from the 2015, 2016 and 2017 conferences.
Lastly, a big congratulations to all the delegates who managed to eat their way through 
24 kilos of Haigh’s chocolate Easter Eggs. Luckily, we managed to dance most of them off at the Gala Dinner on the Tuesday evening. I haven’t worked on a conference w
hose attendees enjoy dancing as much as APS delegates and in our search for a Gala Dinner venue for APS NZPS 2018 one of my top priorities has been to find somewhere with a big enough dance floor!
It’s a real honour being able to manage this conference on behalf of DC Conferences and I’m looking forward to seeing you all again in Sydney next year!
Australian Pain Society 