Tis the season for conferences!

As both a Fibromyalgia and Veteran Advocate, the first half of every year, I focus on in person and virtual conferences and symposiums for Fibromyalgia, Chronic Illness and Chronic Pain.
For the last part of each year, I focus on Veteran specific conferences, virtual meetings, in person town halls and legislative meetings with state and federal officials.

At times, it’s a delicate shift between these 2 communities, because the “culture” is different between the two. Thus, the conference environment for each respective community, is different.
The conferences that are patient/health centric, I’m able to be more myself, have more fun and build lasting friendships. Whereas, conferences for the Veteran community, I have to carry myself in a more reserved, professional manner. While these conferences are integral in networking and building relationships with other veteran organizations and legislators, these conferences are not as fun and more energy draining.

One thing I’ve learned over the years is to “know your audience” when attending or speaking at conferences. Knowing the type of conference environment helps you shift and adapt for each community, and makes it less stressful, and more fun, fulfilling experience.

Clusterbusters in Chicago- I have chronic cluster headache. This is a patient conference and it was amazing to be in a room full of people who understand.

Best advice - plan it out, bite size pieces and have as much fun as possible.

Sitting in a group and listening to 40+ stories was a major highlight. We also had a wedding with a Woodstock themed reception.

I've been attending Public Health and Asthma conferences for over a decade. I am nationally certified in Public Health (CHES) and nationally certified in asthma (AE-C) - so that means I need 110 CEU's every 5 years.

I attend two Public Health conferences a year (chapters of APHA and SOPHE). I also attend one asthma conference per year as asthma CEU's can only be obtained at approved asthma conferences.

I have presented at numerous conferences and can obtain CEU's for presenting.


I have also planned countless statewide Public Health conferences, a national Public Health conference, and a Global Food Allergy Summit. It's much easier to attend a conference instead of all spending a year planning a conference.

I was lucky enough to attend DPEast as a Social Health Awards winner. All I had to do was show up and enjoy. It was wonderful! (Although I still took notes and photos to share on social media.)

Andrea M. Jensen, CHES, AE-C

I love this question! Fall is always SO busy with conferences. Since I'm just getting back into the swing of advocacy and working I'm not attending any. I have serious FOMO when I see people posting pictures of groups of patient leaders together!

My favorite in-person conferences in the past have been Stanford MedX and HealtheVoices. I truly feel that attending conferences has helped my advocacy infinitely because it's allowed me to expand my network. My biggest tip is try to meet as many people as you can when you go to these events. You never know how a connection may be able to help you in the future and you never know what you might learn from others. Don't recreate the wheel - learn from others!

I'm so eager to see everyone else's responses! Here's a picture of us at last year's DPE (which is the last conference I've attended)!