National Conference
2026 National Conference Host Bid
APAMSA is looking for a chapter interested in hosting the 32th Annual National Conference at their school in 2026! Chapter members will play an integral role in planning the conference as National Conference committee members with the support of APAMSA National Board.
Questions? Please feel free to email externalvp@apamsa.org!
It is a great opportunity for students to gain leadership skills and play a major role in advancing the mission of APAMSA.
Your institution can showcase your school and commitment to our AANHPI communities and DEI initiatives. Gain experience hosting an event, save on traveling to the conference, and add this to your CV!
See the checklist for an overview of hosting a conference! Most importantly, you will need people to pledge support to hosting, including key administrators, school organization, sponsors, students (especially underclassmen), and a group of national directors to organize the event in tandem with National APAMSA, who will support you at every step of the process including meeting with deans and reviewing the proposal if necessary. The bid is a way for you to brainstorm ideas before submitting the proposal to your deans.
A buy-in, or pledged support, from key figures is important to persuade your school to allow a conference to be held at your institution. Reach out to departments of diversity, student affairs, and communications are good first steps. Your advisor and faculty may help to direct your endeavor!
It varies but you should aim to recruit around 10 or more; these can include the different student councils, pre-medical and medical student clubs on campus, and student-run clinics.
Funding comes from a variety of sources. Most of the funding will come from the school (Dean’s funding, student activities funding) and National APAMSA via collaborating with the Sponsorship Directors to bring in National Sponsors. Other sources include local sponsors in your city (e.g. restaurants, hospitals, etc.) and fundraisers.
You will need at least one room to hold 300+ people, other rooms that can serve as breakout rooms all in the same area, space to hold a poster session, space for people to grab lunch.
Typically five to seven members, but the more, the better! These members will serve as a part of the National Conference Committee. In the past, some organizers had a logistics director, speaker relations (2) director, finance director, communications/marketing/social director, and pre-medical director.
You will start your term as National Conference committee members in April or May (as soon as the institution agrees), and meet monthly with the External Vice President until National Conference 2026.
Please keep in mind the size of your chapter (both pre-medical and medical). For the 2024 National Conference, we had 375 in-person individuals register.
The National Conference starts Friday evening and ends Sunday afternoon. Saturday is typically the main day of the conference all day. You can find this year’s schedule here (https://www.apamsa.org/nc2024/).
For the 2024 National Conference, UNLV’s theme was Blooming in the Desert: Resilience, Adaptation, and Growth. For 2023 NC, OHSU’s theme is Renewal: Out of the Flames, Into the Future. For 2022 NC, the theme was ROOTS. The themes are always up to the National Conference Directors and local chapter. Please take a look at our previous National Conference themes here (https://www.apamsa.org/national-conferences/). Speakers are recruited locally at the institution and external organizations. Common workshops include suturing, ultrasound, interview/personal statement, bootcamps, etc.
Here’s a quick checklist to see what the main things to consider in organizing a conference entails!
- Venue (Main auditorium, breakout rooms, poster room, House of Delegates room),
- Date - March 2026
- Theme
- Potential Buy-in (Student organizations – medical, pre-medical and other schools, M1 students, administration offices, Deans, etc.)
- Sponsors - potential and confirmed
- Accommodation (Hotel, transportation from airport to hotel to venue)
- Food - Breakfast, Lunch, Banquet
- Organizers - your NC Directors and NC Committee! (Typically 5 Directors and multiple Committee members)