This weekend's Fertility Show was very busy - more than 3,600 visitors over the weekend - and it was lovely to meet some of you and to find many old friends too. The seminar programme this year was fantastic with really interesting topics addressed by some of the world's leading experts in their fields and most of the talks appeared to be packed out.
There were quite a few clinics from the UK exhibiting at the Show, mainly from London and the South East, but they were rather outnumbered by their counterparts from overseas who have clearly realised that more and more people are considering travelling for fertility treatment. There were fertility specialists from Spain, Russia, Latvia, Georgia, Italy, Barbados, the Czech Republic, Norway, Denmark, Greece, Sweden and across the USA from Florida to Chicago. I spoke to a number of people who were considering treatment overseas and they'd found it really helpful to have so many different clinics from around the world all gathered under one roof. It can be very hard to distinguish between one and another when you're only judging them on their websites and email communications, and the opportunity to meet staff face to face and get a feel for the clinics and what they can offer is quite unique.
For me, it was really good to see so many patient support organisations there too - Infertility Network UK, the Donor Conception Network, International Asherman's Association, Klinefelter's Syndrome Association, Fleur and the lovely team from Verity PCOS who must be congratulated on their purple theme which even went as far as a rather wonderful pair of handmade purple earings...
As it is National Adoption Week, it was heartening to see that a number of fostering and adoption agencies were represented too as this is an alternative route to parenthood that some may want to consider.
Everyone I spoke to who'd visited the Show had found it to be a beneficial experience. I know some people do feel it is a rather commercial affair for a medical problem, but fertility treatment is a massive commercial industry. Personally, I think the opportunities a weekend at The Fertility Show can offer outweigh any such concerns. If you're not into fertility astrology or crystal therapy, you don't need to spend time at the stands offering them. It's a matter of picking and choosing the things that you want to know more about and making the most of the opportunities the weekend can afford.
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