12 Tips for Future Interns Going to FNCE

By Laura McDermott

Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE) is the biggest conference for the nutrition profession, happening yearly. The conference is held in Washington D.C. every other year, and then at various cities throughout the United States the other years. Thousands of registered dietitian nutritionists attend every year (as well as some people who are not RDNs), along with exhibitors that fill booths in the expo portion of FNCE as far as the eye can see (over 380 exhibitors). This four-day event is filled with speakers on almost any topic that is nutrition related – from transgender nutrition, the importance of family meals, farming, debates on different diets. Some of the exhibitor are food brands such as Kind, Quaker, Kodiak, Ocean Spray and many more, some are nutrition companies looking to hire dietitians, to wellness companies promoting things like supplements and pre/probiotics, and finally some booths have research pertaining to nutrition.

I attended FNCE 2018 in Washington D.C. and enjoyed every minute of it. However, I knew nothing about it just a few months prior to attending. Looking back at my experience there, I do not know how I was not familiar with what this conference is all about. Not only did I not know much about the conference, I had no idea about the little things (i.e. wardrobe, shoes, bags, food). So here are some tips that I wish I would have known going into my first time attending FNCE.

1. Book flights and lodging early. I know many interns this year were able to get round-trip tickets for around $200. For lodging, I stayed in a VRBO with 5 other girls. Although it wasn’t all that glamorous, it was a decent location for a decent price. The only time I spent at the VRBO was just to sleep and shower. The rest of the time I was either at the conference or out exploring the city.
2. Pack light, but pack for multiple occasions. I packed light, but only brought my business professional clothes for the conference. When I was there, I wished I would have packed other things – a casual outfit to go out to dinner or out on the town in and an outfit to that was dressy but yet comfortable for the night that SLU puts on a little event with drinks and a little food.
3. Bring an extra empty bag. Although I packed light on the way there, I definitely did not go back with light bags. I did not bring an extra bag, and on my way back to St. Louis my backpack and my suitcase were both bulging at the seams from all the stuff I received from booths at FNCE. Southwest is wonderful because they let you check two bags for free, and they usually have some pretty good flight prices. If I were to do it again, I would check two bags on the way home.
4. You aren’t going to do homework. At least I didn’t, and I was silly and brought my backpack full of work because I thought I would be able to work on some stuff. I did get a couple things done at the airport, but looking back at it, the little bit that I got done was not worth dragging all of my school work around. Take a break – it will still be there when you get back.
5. Bring good walking shoes. This is something that I failed to do and regretted it. Everything was within reasonable walking distance, but not so reasonable if you didn’t bring comfortable shoes. Although you want to dress professional, I would say that everyone understands if you aren’t wearing the cutest shoes because pretty much everyone there is walking everywhere too.
6. Go to the grocery store right away and buy breakfast for the week. This is something that I did and was so thankful. Sessions start early, and if you are walking there it makes it a little bit earlier. I was staying up late and leaving early and having to get up even earlier to stop and grab breakfast would not have happened. Some fellow interns and I went to the grocery store and grabbed cereal, milk, apples, and bananas for the time that we were there and kept it in the fridge (perks of the VRBO – full kitchen). Highly recommend.
7. There is plenty of food at FNCE. The expo part of FNCE is glorious. Every booth wants to give you something, mostly food samples and reusable grocery bags. Every day except for one of them I skipped going out to lunch and just went to the EXPO and ate samples. Although it was probably not the most nutritious or well-balanced meal ever, it was free and I was able to try a lot of different products. For those of you with dietary restrictions, do not fear. I would say close to 1/3 of all the booths have products that are allergy friendly who are trying to get the word out about the options available.
8. You don’t need to take everything that is offered. A follow up to the last point. There is an abundance of everything. I was a yes woman and took close to anything that the booths were offering. While I ended up getting to try some really great products, I also ended up with 17 reusable grocery bags. In my opinion, no one needs 17 REUSABLE grocery bags, but here I am. My advice would be to only take the cute ones. Some of them just have a company’s logo on them and others have cute designs – be picky with which ones you take.
9. Be systematic with the booths. I recommend going the first day that the expo is open because everyone is fully stocked with their products. While you will receive what you think to be way too many protein bars, I packed them in my lunches for probably a month after and it was so nice to have as a snack. I was able to try so many different kinds of bars without having to spend money on something I didn’t know if I was going to like. Although I recommend going on the first day, you do not have to go through the whole thing at once. If you are systematic with how you are going around the booths, you can come back the next day and start where you left off, or if a line is too long the first time you go through, you can remember where you want to go back to.
10. Take the time to network with the people working the booths. Although getting a job seemed like something too far away to take seriously, I still talked to some of the booths about job opportunities within their companies and what they had to offer. You never know if it will come in handy down the road, and who knows, you might be really interested in their company after graduation and be lucky enough to already have a contact there. If you have questions about products that a booth is selling, ask them. They are excited to tell you about whatever they have and are the experts in their products.
11. Take notes during sessions. I thought that I would be able to remember the sessions because they were all so interesting. But after you go to eight sessions, they run together, and details get lost. I would love to have notes to look back on and see the things that I learned throughout the sessions. Along the same lines, if you know what your capstone/thesis project is, look into sessions pertaining to it. It helped me so much to attend sessions providing the newest research and various points of view on my topic. Planning which sessions you want to go to beforehand is key because once you get there it can be kind of overwhelming. There are topics for everyone, and planning sessions out ahead of time will help you know what time you have to do other things around the city. Download the app, it is very helpful.
12. Research the city before you go. Look at restaurants you want to try and sights you want to see beforehand so you can have a plan/options and don’t waste time while you are there. Although you are in the city for the conference, you might as well enjoy the city too! It will be a few crazy days but so much fun!

 

If you can’t tell from these tips, I had a blast and learned so much. I highly recommend going, as it is such a great experience.