Walking under the blue welcome sign at the San Diego Convention Center earlier this year was quite an experience. I was greeted immediately with a kaleidoscope of activity and dynamic sounds that only hinted at the epic science adventures to come. This was Pittcon – the largest global conference and exposition on laboratory science held each year.
To celebrate its 75th anniversary, Pittcon visited the US West Coast for the first time. In February 2024, Pittcon welcomed nearly 7,000 guests, more than 1,000 of whom gave technical talks over four days. From laboratory equipment to professional development opportunities, everywhere I looked were exciting projects and a wealth of knowledge.
Pittcon is designed for people who develop, buy, or sell laboratory equipment, perform physical or chemical analysis, develop analysis methods, or manage laboratory scientists. Whether you want to connect, cultivate, or collaborate, Pittcon is for you!
If you missed Pittcon this year, then be sure not to miss Pittcon 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts, from March 1-5. The largest biotech hub in the world, Pittcon will be in Boston for the first time in its illustrious history.
The Pittcon Promise
Pittcon is a place of purpose and discovery, but above all, it is the place of the Pittcon Promise. These are four promises that are always at the core of Pittcon’s purpose:
- To be your life-long learning partner
- To make your experience with them a valuable one
- To be “Always On” for you and your career
- To fund the next generation of scientists while fulfilling your own dreams
Learning opportunities for you to explore
The central hub at Pittcon.
Image courtesy of Pittcon
At Pittcon, a person is not confined to a singular niche. There is an array of topics that attendees can explore, thoughtfully organized into six different tracks:
- Bioanalytical & Life Science
- Cannabis & Psychedelics
- Environmental & Energy
- Instrumentation & Nanoscience
- Pharmaceutical & Biologics
- Professional Development
All tracks can be covered in different ways. The oral sessions are usually held in lecture rooms, away from the main floor. This lends itself to a quiet and informed experience, where lecturers and expert speakers can deliver insights on their own cutting-edge research around specific themes.
For people who enjoy a more hands-on approach, there are workshops and networking roundtables. Ninety-minute workshops allow people to collaborate and address challenges in their own laboratories. This format is perfect if you are having issues that only fellow experts can help solve. During networking roundtables, these often involve a flip board, markers, and people with a diverse range of knowledge. These are held to help participants connect with peers that share similar interests and participants are invited to problem-solve workplace challenges.
On the main floor of the exposition, an array of colorful posters present fascinating research, where attendees can talk to the authors and ask questions they’ve been wondering about. This offers a great opportunity to learn something new while expanding your networking skills.
Other valuable experiences Pittcon has to offer are periodic lunch breaks and professional development sessions. In 2024, these were held at the Pittcon Pavilion and provided some infotainment. During these breaks, people learned about molecular gastronomy with delicious hands-on experiments and learned how to create fascinating videos that would wow even the most novice science audience. For professional development sessions, attendees experienced improvisation as a way to improve communication, while others were taught about personal branding and how important it is.
“Personal branding is such an important subject because [it] has always gotten people to places where they should be or where they need to be. When you have a brand that resonates with people, you are going to be picked from the crowd by a sponsor, by a leader, by industry, and you’ll be put in a place where you can advance your career,” Dotti Li, founder and CEO of TransPacific Communications, who led a professional development at Pittcon, told IFLScience.
Can’t attend Pittcon?
Fear not! There are plenty of off-season programs. These involve virtual lectures from world-class speakers, coffee breaks, planning sessions, and virtual networking.
Pittcon promises you the delivery of many learning opportunities. Attending Pittcon in 2025 is definitely, as Bostonians would say, a wicked “smaht” choice!
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