On October 21st-24th I traveled to Chicago to attend the annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) for Registered Dietitians. This year marks the 100th year celebration of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. I love attending conferences since it is a great way to not only learn about new research and products, but also meet fellow dietitians and explore a different city. I hadn’t attended FNCE since 2014 when it was in Atlanta, so I wanted to make it again. It was well worth the trip!
The morning of the 21st, I already had plans to participate in my wheelchair rugby team annual 5K race and fundraiser. I missed the race last year since I was still out in California and made it a priority to show up this year. The race went well and I had a blast. It was also a great way to get in some exercise before a long day in the car. I came in second of the women wheelers too! (ok, so there were only 3 women wheelers to start with..) It was fun and that is all that mattered to me.
Chicago is only about a 7 hour drive from Pittsburgh. I made it to Chicago just in time to check in with registration and scope out the conference center (McCormick Place West) before the events were done for the evening. Unfortunately I missed the pre-conference events as well as the opening session, but with 3 days left of the conference I was still able to see and learn a lot.
Educational sessions are held all day throughout the conference. They are a great opportunity to hear from speakers all over. A few of the sessions I went to were:
- Sports Supplement: Facts, Noise and Wishful-thinking
- Putting Heart into Performance Nutrition for Collegiate Athletes
- Optimizing Your Online Presents Using Search Engine Optimization
- The Entrepreneurial Professional: Innovative Strategies to Customize Your Career
As you can see, there is wide variety of topics discussed, and these were only a few of the many sessions offered. Thankfully all concurrent sessions are recorded, so I will be listening to many of those once they are released in a few weeks.
Another major portion of the conference and the Expo Hall. Hundreds of companies travel to FNCE to have a booth in the expo. This gives us as dietitians an opportunity to learn about the companies and any research they have done, as well as sample their products. While the vast majority of companies that come to the Expo sell or promote food products, there are also those that are providing demos of body composition measuring equipment, food intolerance testing, computer programs, technology, and more.
In addition to educational sessions and exploring the Expo Hall, being able to network is another key component of attending FNCE. It’s rare to be in the same city with 12,000+ other dietitians so networking at in person events like this is great. I’ve connected with several RDs through social media and having the opportunity to meet them in person was amazing! I also attended the University of Pittsburgh alumni meet up and reconnected with some of my former classmates, professors, and one of the first dietitians I job shadowed. I was hoping to attend a few other networking events, but my body was exhausted and getting around Chicago was not easy.
Finally, it wouldn’t be a trip to Chicago without a little fun. October 23rd marked 7 years since my spinal cord injury. At this point I’ve been to Chicago a handful of times and have seen Millennium Park, the Willis Tower and several of the tourist areas. My boyfriend and I decided it would be a good idea to go out for a nice dinner together in celebration of my Life Day. We ended up at Dusek’s for dinner, before going to Moody Tongue Brewing Company for beer samples and dessert.
Overall, it was a great trip to Chicago and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.