The Z Files: A Little Déjà Vu

There are many changes flying around, but the FLC is still here to support your tech transfer activities! As you can see in this edition of the FLC Digest, the FLC National Meeting is going virtual again in 2025. After holding the event virtually during Covid, we had some fantastic in-person meetings in Cleveland in 2023 and Dallas in 2024, each breaking attendance records and offering unique networking opportunities to learn from your peers across agencies. This is truly the heart and soul of the FLC — YOU — the members. And while we relish every opportunity to gather in person and in the contact sport of T2 we are committed to delivering quality training and support in any format.

We have been informed by numerous agencies that travel at this time is just not possible. While there is a continuing resolution and government funding for the rest of the fiscal year, the hill is too steep to get people to Seattle in person in May. Travel cards are frozen, making approval for the National Meeting in May too short notice to be feasible for most attendants. On top of a travel card freeze preventing registration, the alternative of using a purchase card is, in many cases, also currently frozen. While spring promises to bring a thaw, the timing is just not going to work. So, in addition to being a virtual event, the 2025 National Meeting will also have no registration fee.

We did learn a few things during Covid about virtual meetings, so the format of this year’s National Meeting will be different than the three-day virtual conferences we held a few years ago. With a no-cost meeting, we definitely see a higher number of people register, but we know that it is for people to sit at their screens all day. In a virtual format, we also run into time-zone issues that limit the core hours everyone is available to log on. Plus, as a special bonus this year, most of our members are required to be in the office five days per week, and that means attendees will have a host of different requirements for accessing platforms.

With these things in mind, here is what to expect: The National Meeting will kick off, as originally scheduled, on May 13 with the plenary sessions we have come to know. These include the keynote, Lab Director’s Forum with our Lab Director of the Year Award winner, and the Town Hall, as required in the FLC bylaws. Virtual or not, I think you will find each of these sessions informative and engaging. This year, we are again trying to make the Town Hall interactive so we can collectively discuss how to make sure the FLC best positions itself to support you. The highly anticipated Awards Ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 15.

After Day 1, we are then going to slow down the delivery a bit to make the sessions and training courses more spaced out and digestible. From May 14 to June 4, training courses will run every Wednesday. The training courses will have much of the same material we intended to have in person, including our always-popular CRADA course with Bob Charles. You will have the opportunity to attend several different training sessions in this format across that three-week time span. Similarly, the general sessions will run each Thursday over the same stretch of time.

With people back in the office, we understand that you’re adjusting to a shifting work environment and a virtual meeting, so we are trying to make access as easy as possible. Therefore, we will have more than one stream option for content, just as we do with our other online events such as Educational Webinars and Member Connect sessions. We will be using the same FLC Connect app and platform we have used at the National Meeting for several years, so hopefully that feels familiar as well.

I hope you will take advantage of this event for 2025! Our T2 mission is critical for so many things, so I want to sincerely thank you for the work you do every day to move new ideas into commercial success.