Resident's Baby Steps in Achieving your Dreams: UAA 2017

When I was still a 1st year GS resident, I've seen my senior Urology residents presenting their research papers abroad.  So I told myself, I want to experience that as well.

This is my story of UAA 2017 which happened last Aug 4-6, 2017 in Hong Kong.

Let's start with the acceptance letter:

I'm so glad that I've put a checked in one of my resident's bucket list!

I was literally shouting for joy when I read this email and the first one I called was my mom! Then I informed my consultants who were co-authors of the paper.

So my dad, being a very proud father accompanied me in my mini achievement 😜.

This is the first international event I was able to attend to, and this opened my eyes to a lot of things.

I will be placing my insights and combining some tips here also for those future residents who will present internationally.  

1. Visit the place at least 1 day prior to the event.  If you're supposed to bring a physical poster, then maybe you're required to post it one day prior or depending on the instructions of your event coordinator.

As you can see in the picture, they're still setting up the place.  But I went in 1 day earlier to check my e-poster and I found that my e-poster was not uploaded in their system despite uploading and sending them days before.  I then contacted them and that night, they fixed my eposter to be included in the pool of eposters.  So it won't hurt to be there even before the exact day of the event/convention.

2.  Wear comfortable clothing then just change to formal if possible.  I was on a budget actually, I didn't stay in a hotel I just stayed w/ relatives to save with board and lodging.  So I had to travel by subway train to get to the convention center and I couldn't wear high heels, my feet are just not used to it. I know in the picture below my consultants would cringe with my shoes.

Of course I brought my formal shoes/high heels and just changed in the comfort room.

First day of the convention was hugely packed! This is the first time I've seen so many urologists in 1 area!  It opened my eyes into new horizon, I'm seeing urologists of different races and different languages and it's so amazing to see what a big world it is.  

So many right????  The event looked so prestigious.

Just look at all the panel of experts sitting there in front moderating, commenting of topics, answering questions, asking questions etc.

3. Don't forget to take pictures with your poster and bring a selfie stick.  You'll never know when you'll be in a place where people will be willing to take pictures of you.

Here you can see is the eposter and video library area.  Of all the 200+ posters accepted all over asia/world, they've designated 5 stations so you can view which posters of your liking. 

As I was checking my poster, there was an African doctor also with his eposter, and he was indeed very proud of it, he even said that he's the only African doctor in the event, and I can feel that he was indeed very happy and proud and considered this as an achievement as well.

I attended the moderated poster session as well and I could see lots of residents from different parts of the country, being questioned by consultants of his/her research.  There were residents from Indonesia, Korea, Hong Kong, China etc.  And the room filled with different emotions, of excitement, of nervousness and of gratitude.  There was one from Korea who said in his introduction that he was very thankful to be given this opportunity, it was his first time in Hong Kong and he even brought his family with him.  Then I realized, whether you're from a first world country or from a developing country, they feel the same as you, they feel honored to have their research papers being accepted for presentation.

4. Take pictures with the bosses. You need proof that you attended the event, and what better way to prove it than taking pictures with consultants.  It really feels much more comfortable to see your consultants in the same event than being alone with so much uneasiness since it was your first time in an international convention. 

Make every moment last! You deserve it!