If you happen to be one of the many ASPET members living in an area of deep freeze our country is experiencing at the moment, perhaps the knowledge that the ASPET Annual Meeting at EB 2018 is in San Diego this year, where it is currently around 72°F, might help thaw some frozen synapses and brighten your mood! If you happen to be more like me and require even more incentives to get through the daily PCR or western blotting routine, the ASPET Young Scientists Committee (YSC) and I would like to introduce a new event for ASPET members at EB 2018, POSTER BINGO!

As most of us well know, students and postdocs often invest considerable time and effort into poster making and preparing for presentations. Yet these bright young scientists are sometimes left disappointed by the minimal attention their poster receives and the consequent loss in learning and networking that these interactions would have provided.

Am I striking a chord here? Well, fear not fellow colleagues, the YSC (hopefully!) has a solution! To help remedy this situation, the YSC has developed a fun and potentially rewarding game in an effort to incentivize researchers to visit ASPET presenters across multiple pharmacology disciplines and increase overall poster traffic. Poster Bingo!

How will it work? Bingo cards, provided by the YSC, will be available for individuals to pick up each day of the conference at the ASPET exhibit booth (#602). The YSC will also provide ASPET poster presenters with different colored stickers according to their area of expertise. Presenters will give an attendee a sticker at the conclusion of their poster visit. Once an individual has filled out BINGO with the correct colored stickers, they can drop off the completed bingo sheet at the ASPET exhibit booth to be entered for a chance to win a $25 Starbucks gift card at the end of each day. Well, sign me up!

Thanks to the YSC committee members Josh Lorenz and Sophia Kaska for putting this together! We look forward to seeing you at the meeting in April and stay tuned for more announcements for ASPET events to add to your calendar!