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4 Takeaways from the 2024 NIAMRRE Annual Conference

  

4 Takeaways from the 2024 NIAMRRE Annual Conference

The NIAMRRE Annual Conference is the organization’s biggest event, and this year was no different. Now that it’s been about a month since the conference was held in Columbus, Ohio, I’d like to step back and look at some of the impacts the event had on the growing community of members and attendants. As the Communications Specialist for NIAMRRE, my job at the conference was capturing what I saw through the lens of a camera. I had the privilege of being a fly on the wall during many extraordinary moments over the three days at the Blackwell Inn and Pfahl Conference Center.

1.        A Commitment to AMR Research and Education

Whether it was watching speakers and panelists passionately dive into their fields of expertise, seeing an attentive listener’s eyes light up with discovery during the poster session, or snapping a picture of an audience member energetically writing pages of notes, there is no doubt in my mind that everyone in attendance at the conference was there because they cared deeply about AMR and One Health research and education. The dedication to the subject caused this synergistic energy in the room that felt electric and exciting.

2.        Collaboration and Networking Paves the Way

The energy of the conference I saw was most obviously shown through the spirit of collaboration. For example, during the pre-conference workshop led by Dr. Paul Plummer and Dr. Kris Johansen, groups of attendees from different One Health sectors worked together to solve a seemingly unbeatable jigsaw puzzle. The trick to solving it was only achieved by actively ignoring their preconceived notions about how puzzles like this ordinarily operated and functioned. Once this idea clicked, the groups began buzzing about approaching this new concept. One group discovered that flipping some of the pieces to their reverse side was a way to get them to fit together, while another saw that the obvious right-angle pieces were not actually the edge pieces they appeared to be. This activity was a clever way to engage the participants and get them to share ideas freely with each other.

The same collaborative and unbiased approach was applied later during the Research and Education Breakouts. This mindset rippled throughout the conference in general. I noticed that audience questions during panel discussions came from a deep desire to learn more or share their own experience. Everyone present was eager to learn something new from each other. Another example of this was when the poster session ran past its timeslot into the cocktail hour on the first night because there was so much discussion filling up the room at each presenter’s station.

3.        More Than Just a Science Conference

One thing I appreciated from the conference was how engaging it was. I will be the first to point out that my own educational background is not science-based as a graphic designer, even though I am interested in the subject. So, I was prepared to be overwhelmed by most of the information being delivered at the conference. This did not end up being the case, as the pacing of the conference itself was broken into satisfyingly propulsive ways. The Lightning Talks rounds especially held so many great topics that I wanted to catch up with the presenters afterward to hear more about what they said. Dr. Paul Plummer even brought giant plush microbes with him to toss to the participating audience members during breaks between agenda items. 

With my camera, I saw so many smiling faces throughout the conference. I noticed that even after the scheduled events were finished, attendees were reluctant to return to their individual rooms but instead chose to congregate together in the conference lobby or at the hotel bar. I met so many new people myself and had some very interesting discussions about who they are and how they are involved with AMR. Dr. Erika Ganda previously remarked that the NIAMRRE conference was where she finally found “her people.” I can see what she meant by that now. 

4.        Hope for the Future

During Dr. Scott Weese’s opening keynote, he discussed the concept of a wicked problem while describing the challenges presented by AMR. The idea was originally defined by theorist Horst W. J. Rittel and city planning professor Melvin M. Webber. The features of a wicked problem describe one that has an unknown set of consequences, does not have a clear beginning or end, and doesn’t have one single clear solution. The term was also bookended when Dr. Paul Plummer brought up the term in his closing remarks at the end of the conference. While wicked problems are very difficult and can discourage those trying to tackle them, they are often the challenges vital to our own and our planet’s survival. To see this many highly accredited and passionate people in one room devoted to solving something like that gave me hope that I was in the right place where those breakthroughs could be made. Progress is being forged through this community and more will be achieved as NIAMRRE continues to grow in the future.

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