AAN Conference-- to go or not to go

[buckley]

So this year's AAN is in toronto. I've never gone, not even as a student. I was just wondering if any of the uppers here would comment on what it's like to come as a resident. How much are the registration costs?---i'm confused with the free/not free. Is it really that big of a deal as compared to just reading the green journal? I'm across the country and i'm thinking of the fare and the hotel costs. I wanted to see how feasible it was for me to go.

Thanks!

(Would be nice to see who would be going from this forum too 🙂)

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[Fencer]

AAN is a big conference with lots of courses (each course is an additional cost). ANA is a much smaller meeting with higher scientific content per unit as compared to AAN but with less amount being covered. I suggest alternating meetings if you can.

 

[typhoonegator]

I second these assertions.

 

[BlackFrancis33]

Well, I mostly agree. As a trainee, I think the AAN is better, especially if you haven't been to it yet. The ANA is almost all science, the science is probably very good. I went to both as a trainee, and the AAN has much more curriculum aimed at trainees than the ANA. I am not getting down on the ANA, but it is a different kind of meeting that you may get more out of later in your career. Just my two cents.

 

[tbo]

Just to revive this in a post-hoc fashion, I just came back from AAN. I am a med student and had a poster accepted. In hindsight, I think this is an *ideal* meeting for trainees. While my poster session spurred on some really interesting conversations, I would say that took a back seat to all the other really interesting talks and opportunities to talk to leaders in neurology.

In addition, the meeting had a medical student/resident/fellow "mixer" that actually had quite a number of program directors (residency and fellowship) on hand to meet and chat with. I talked to and got in contact with a few of these program directors and we've already exchanged emails which is pretty neat. I think the networking opportunities are invaluable. I've never been to a smaller or more regional meeting, but I think the fact that you have such a wide distribution of neurologists makes it really easy to get connected to topics and experts in nearly anything you want. Food for thought for future meetings. Plus, next year is Hawaii!