Whether you’re a first-timer or have been attending the ATS International Conference for years, the best way to maximize your conference experience is to plan for it. Where to begin? The ATS has you covered. Take a look at all of these resources available to you before and during the conference.

ATS resources can help you put together a conference itinerary that prioritizes your areas of interest, ensuring that you don’t miss a thing.

Make the Most of It

Don’t be overwhelmed by the International Conference. Instead, let experience be your guide. Join your fellow first-timers for a special session in the Center for Career Development, where conference veterans can help you plan your days. The Members in Transition and Training committee wants to help you navigate the conference and help show you how to get involved. Presenters will provide an overview of how the ATS works as well as tips and information on how to become more active in the Society.

Speakers at the session will be Jess Mandel, MD, chair of the ATS International Conference Committee, and Patricia Kritek, MD, of the University of Washington.

Access a Road Map for Early Career Professionals

To help residents, fellows, and all early career professionals, the ATS publishes an online flowsheet of all the major events at the International Conference—the 2018 Road Map for Early Career Professionals.

The Road Map will help you track the conference’s major sessions. It also highlights events, programs, resources, and tools that are of particular interest to all early career professionals.

ATS Center: Use Your Resources

There are so many reasons why you should visit the ATS Center in the Exhibit Hall at the San Diego Convention Center (Hall F, Ground Level). Stop by to:

• Enhance your education! Learn about ATS education products, including MOC and CME opportunities—many are free to members—as well as chapter education programs, Assembly journal clubs, and more.
• Clinicians: Obtain a copy of Highlights for Clinicians, peruse Guidelines Pocket Cards, and get copies of the Clinical Year in Review, Nursing Year in Review and Pediatric Year in Review.
• Rediscover our three scientific journals and the journal apps.
• Resources for your patients: Access patient information fact sheets at our computer kiosks; choose from more than 100 titles in English and Spanish, as well as select titles in Arabic, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Serbian, and Turkish. Learn about Lung Disease Week at the ATS.
• Purchase gift items, including a pewter lung key chain, conference T-shirt, doctor rubber ducks, and more!
• Learn about grant opportunities through the ATS Foundation Research Program and other programs.
• See what ATS is doing around the world on our World Map.
• Rest and recharge your phone or tablet.

Join ATS or Renew Your Membership

Visit the Membership Booth in the San Diego Convention Center, Lobby D (Ground Level), near conference registration, to join the ATS, renew your membership, or receive answers to your membership questions. ATS members pay reduced registration fees at the International Conference; you must join the ATS before registering for the conference to realize your savings. The Membership Booth will be open the same hours as conference registration:

Friday, May 18- 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday, May 19- 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 20- 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Monday, May 21- 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday, May 22- 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 23- 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

When the Exhibit Hall closes on Tuesday, the Membership Booth will be open for last-minute purchases of ATS gift items.

Tour the Exhibit Hall with Technology

The Online Exhibitor Directory is like having your own personal tour guide for the Exhibit Hall. You can find it at ats18.mapyourshow.com. This interactive tool lets your smartphone lead you to more than 230 exhibitors showcasing their products and services.

Take the guesswork out of finding the right exhibitors by completing the profile wizard. This handy tool prepopulates a list of exhibitors based on the disease areas of interest to you. Print the list by name or booth number, or print out the Exhibit Hall floorplan with your booths highlighted.

If you prefer to search exhibitors on your own, the Online Exhibitor Directory lets you search by:

• Company Name
• Booth Number
• Product Category
• Disease State

Make your time in the Exhibit Hall more exciting by playing Discovery Quest on the ATS 2018 mobile app. You could win one of four Apple watches per day! Visit the participating exhibitors, scan the QR code, and answer the question correctly for your chance to be a winner. It is a fun way to learn about companies that may not have been on your radar.

Consult the Rare Lung Disease Guide

The scope of educational programming at ATS 2018 is incredibly broad—covering pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. A wealth of scientific and clinical information is presented. In an effort to ensure that nothing is overlooked, the ATS publishes the Rare Lung Disease Guide to help you find important presentations at the conference. Printed copies are available at the ATS Center and the Clinicians Center.

The Rare Lung Disease Guide lists presentations about uncommon diseases as well as clinical topics of importance to ATS members, conference attendees, and patients that may not be prominently featured in the program each year.

In addition, several patient advocacy groups are exhibiting at ATS 2018. The guide lists these groups, many of which are members of the ATS Public Advisory Roundtable, and their locations at the conference.

Explore ePosters of Original Research

Speakers presenting original research based on submitted abstracts have been invited to prepare and make available an ePoster of their research. The ePosters provide an opportunity to view abstract presentations you may miss during the conference.

Conference registrants may view ePosters beginning on Sunday, May 20.

You can view ePosters online. Enter your Last Name and Badge ID.