Who let an undergrad run a longevity conference?
POV: co-organizing the first longevity conference at Vitalia
Sometimes in life you end up doing things you never thought you were capable of. All you can do is look back and acknowledge how badass that was. This is how I would describe my experience co-organizing the first LongBio conference in Vitalia: spectacular, unexpected, doubtlessly worth repeating. Props to co-organizer Sebastian Brunemeier for letting undergrad me handle this.
The conference, in short
Between January 19 and 21, the LongBio conference (part 1) brought together a couple hundred people in the city of life Vitalia, located on the tropical island of Roatan, Honduras (read about my experience in Vitalia here!). About half were long-term Vitalia Builders (i.e., residents), and the other half, non-residents who added even more dynamism to the vibrant, futuristic community here.
With 50+ speakers spread over 3 days of talks, the conference covered the basics of aging biology and longevity (Day 1), the Big Ideas and Moonshots in the longevity space (Day 2), and longevity company showcases (Day 3). My personal highlight was the venue: everything took place in THE Dome, our coziest and most beloved “pop-up” venue. 🌴
How did I end up there?
Sometime during my time at university, I developed this sense of urgency regarding the fundamental problems of understanding longevity and consciousness. This led me to initiate and lead the neuroscience society of my university for 3 years now, hosting events with a central focus on consciousness, mental health, and neurodegenerative diseases. This is far from my current work, but these experiences built up some solid transferable skills.
As a conference, LongBio 2024 was unique — the crowd, the place, the expectations. Fortunately, it was far from being my first rodeo dealing with the bulls of event and conference organization.
The excitement I experienced coordinating the unique and novel aspects of LongBio was equally balanced to the tough moments endured while keeping everything under control (New Challenges!) and the skills and lessons I learned (New Opportunities!).
Reasons why:
The Longevity theme 🧬
New challenge: try to absorb all the information around you and not look stupid
New opportunity: meet the experts you have admired from afar and talk about what you love most
The Scale of the Event & People 👩🎤
New challenge: host virtual speakers under a very tight schedule, move things around as needed while minimizing inconveniences for speakers
New opportunity: coordinate and cooperate with lots of new people, learn and experience task prioritization at a high level, and make decisions FAST under extreme time pressure while incorporating incoming changes
The Venue 🎪
New challenge: as a unique venue, the recenly-built ‘Dome of Vitalia’ (or 'THE Dome' which I accidentally popularized) was not quite flawless its assembly and finishing touches required lots of improvisations and adaptations from us, organizers
New opportunity: be creative and innovative with the sound system, lighting, placements of bars & seating, and several other technicalities
🌱 Moral of the story: build foundations that can be used to construct even greater structures later.
“A day in the life of”
The kind of tasks I performed mostly concerned communication with people. That is where my social and hyperactive self thrived.
Communications included:
logistics (e.g. travel arrangements for speakers),
handling emails and people (both inside and outside Vitalia),
schedule organization,
and some basic design tasks.
🌿 Pros of being part of the organizing team:
you get to know the speakers well & well before the event;
you have full access and can stay throughout the entirety of the event (+ extra spontaneous activities)
you attend dinners and/or small trips reserved for speakers and organizers;
💫 Cons:
Unexpectedness is expected even when the seemingly ideal plans are carved out and implemented; often you’ll have to leave your spot, your comfort zone and beloved networking/lunch time to figure organizational things out, or you’ll have to run around with FOMO haunting you
During Vitalik Buterin’s virtual talk.
How to use your time at a conference, if you’re not the organizer 🤵🏽♂️
More often than not, you will attend conferences rather than organize them. I myself spent a couple of years attending longevity conferences before taking the step of setting up the LongBio conference.
Key tips:
Know how to intro yourself in a concise and comprehensive way
Remember that conferences are typically only a few days long; the influx of people and information is high; the rush to get to know everyone is real; the attention span of the “big people” is limited. Know where you stand and what you have to offer, and how to say that quickly and concisely.
Be curious
It is easy to get your vision narrowed around what you want to know, what your niche is about, and which people you heard of, in your field. However, if you value exponential growth and innovation, you should invest in broadening your capacity and exposure to interdisciplinarity and foreign concepts.
Offer your help (if time allows)
Being busy is a state of life; be busy with the things that bring you close to your needs: exposure, skills, or revenue. Offer your resource of help and time to those that can and want to propel you towards those goals; consider reprioritizing your time even if it means getting out of your comfort zone.
Don’t be afraid to ask for advice, intros, or help
One of the central learnings of my first years within the longevity field was that people are willing to help even if they seem “too high up”. The right attitude and perseverance goes a long way.
End the conversation in a productive way: e.g., “who else in the space would be useful/interesting for me meet?”
You want to be left with action items to do after your time at the conference ends.
Know how to reach them
A foolishly lost connection is foolishly lost time. LinkedIn is a good place to keep in touch with them, and it’s likely easy to find them there.
(Optional:) Note down what each person is doing & where they are based
Conferences lead to information overload in short periods of time; once you get home you will have forgotten what people do, potential collaborations, and where to meet them again.
Keep in touch once in a while, with updates
Opportunities can arise out of the blue. Plus, keeping in touch with people shows reliability and trustworthiness.
Overall, whether you play a role in the organization of a conference or not, there are pro’s and con’s you can leverage and look out for. Make most out of these networking experiences! Personally, I find them particularly insightful, with potential of becoming great opportunities to enhance self-awareness, communication skills, and many many others. (But, my social battery recharges by meeting people and being in action. If this is not you, that’s fine. Play to your strengths and advantages.)
If you’re looking for how the conference actually went, check out my previous article here!
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Wow great work Denisa