FLC Sees Continued Growth in 2022, Looks Forward to 2023

As we are wrapping up another year and entering the holiday season, I wish everyone all the best, and I look forward to seeing you in 2023! Tis the season of family, friends, use or lose leave, and all the things that ring out the old year and welcome the new. I know you have other things going on, but please allow me to note some BIG THINGS happening with the FLC.

Now is the time to register for the National Meeting! Start your approval process now so you can be sure to join us in Cleveland in March! This opportunity to meet people from across agencies who do what you do and face the same issues you face is invaluable. Simply put, we have a great community in tech transfer, and interacting with your peers and colleagues is the secret sauce to making your work enjoyable. This is the thing that made the FLC part of my life.

I shared a little about how we have tracked progress over the past few years. We saw a 30% increase in FLC program participation from 2020 to 2021, and we were thrilled to see a slightly greater than 30% growth on top of that from 2021 to 2022. Clearly our online offerings have been popular.

Educational webinars and our Member Connect sessions on science and tech topics have seen great increases in attendance. While we have the content portion of these events down to a science, we are still working on ways to improve peer-to-peer networking opportunities, and we look forward to what we can do to facilitate more connections in 2023.

Our online sessions on specific topics to facilitate interactions with labs and potential partner companies have also been very productive. These online events clearly make it easier for companies to attend. It seems this online trend is here to stay, but that means opportunities to network "in 3D” – like the FLC National Meeting – will be all the more important.

Shortly you will see an announcement for Executive Board nominations. This is your chance to be a part of the team that guides the organization. In the upcoming election, the roles of Chair, Vice Chair, Member-at-Large, and three of our Regional Coordinator/Deputy Regional Coordinator positions are open. It is a pretty big deal! Nominations will be open through late January, but it goes by fast during that time of year, so please consider running for an office. It is your chance to be a leader in the community.

Even if you are not able to run for the Executive Board right now, however, YOUR opinions and YOUR input is needed! The FLC is a membership organization. We do not have membership drives or dues from individual members because of the way FLC is structured in statute, but we are funded by the agencies, and we are here to serve the interagency technology transfer community.

We currently have a survey available to get your input – it is right there on the home page of the FLC website at https://federallabs.org/. It will only take you 10 to 15 minutes to complete (seriously, that’s what people tell us who have already taken it). It is your chance to tell us what you like about the FLC, what you don’t, and what you need. Don’t be shy. Please tell us how we can make your FLC work for you.

In closing, much as I started, I wish you the very best for this holiday season and throughout 2023!