CHICAGO — The Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine’s (ADLM) ADLM 2025 (formerly the AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo), held at McCormick Place on July 27–31, successfully implemented new strategies designed to make the experience more convenient for attendees.
“We’re always seeking ways to improve the registration process for attendees, while also boosting attendance for the ADLM Annual Meeting’s scientific sessions and industry events,” Steve Poston, Chief Technology and Events Officer at ADLM, said.
First, the show — which caters to leaders in diagnostics and laboratory medicine, including those specializing in molecular diagnostics, translational medicine, mass spectrometry, lab management and clinical chemistry — opened its full-access conference registration about four months earlier than usual. This change led to a noticeable uptick in early signups for the event. Then, once attendees made it to the show, they were able to take advantage of ADLM’s new line-busting strategies in the registration area during peak times. As a result, the average wait time for registration was reduced down to a mere two to three minutes.
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In addition, ADLM teamed up with DxPx to create an incubator atmosphere that allowed innovative startups in the vitro diagnostics sector to showcase their products, which successfully allowed these companies to attract new industry partners and investors.
“While this isn’t the first year we did this, interest in the program really took off this year at ADLM 2025,” Poston said.
This year’s ADLM attendees also participated in a series of preconference courses packaged as ADLM University; scientific sessions that touched on all aspects of laboratory medicine; lively roundtable discussions that focused on practical laboratory skills and case studies; and competitions for diagnostic developers, students, and post-doctoral fellows. The show was produced in conjunction with the Canadian Society for Clinical Chemistry.
ADLM 2025 Navigated Participant-Reducing Challenges
Despite the features that enhanced attendee experience, ADLM did face big challenges this year that Poston predicts will result in finding a slight decrease in participants when the event’s attendance metrics are completed in early September.
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ADLM had historically joined with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Trade Event Partnership Program to help expand the recruitment of attendees. However, thanks to funding and staffing uncertainties, the program was suspended, which impacted the show’s number of non-exhibitor attendees. Also, because of the current tumultuous global political climate, there was a small dip in the number of exhibitors coming in from China for the show.
Despite these challenges, Poston says he is optimistic about next year’s event.
“ADLM 2025 ended with sales for ADLM 2026 on pace to exceed this year’s numbers, including a resurgence in enthusiasm from the Chinese exhibitor base,” he said. “We therefore expect these challenges to be overcome for ADLM 2026 in Anaheim, California.”
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