Last week I attended the IABPA conference in Portland, Oregon and it was quite a busy one for me. The organizers and hosts from the Oregon State Police – Pam Bordner, Nici Vance, John Amish, Dan Alessi, and others [I know I missed some…] did a great job.

I had the opportunity to present two 2-hour workshops on HemoSpat and I think they went quite well. It was the first time I’d presented them, so I ended up having too much material and was a bit rushed, but overall I think the attendees got a good feel for the software. I’ll know better for next time how to set things up time-wise. I have to thank Jason the IT guy for setting up all the computers and projector, as well as installing additional software.

The conference was also a great chance to interact with some of my clients and very valuable for direct feedback from people such as Norm Reeves [BPA Consulting], Ross Gardner [Bevel, Gardner, & Associates], Michael Maloney [Bevel, Gardner, & Associates], Silke Brodbeck [Blutspureninstitut], Ken Jones [Portland Police Bureau], Ray Kusumi [Washington State Patrol], E. Toomer, and K. Griffey.

Some of the talk highlights for me were the exchanges about the Phil Spector case by Lynne Herold [L.A. County Sheriff’s Department], Stuart James [James and Associates Forensic Consultants, Inc.], and Jim Pex [Pex Forensic Consulting, Inc.], the case presentation by Mark Reynolds [Western Australia Police] on the Andrew Mallard case, Paul Kish’s [Forensic Consultant & Associates] talk about preparing for expert testimony, and Scott Hlady’s [Ontario Provincial Police] talk about conducting BPA investigations in remote communities.

All-in-all a very good conference and as usual it was great to see old friends and make new ones. I look forward to seeing everyone in Lisbon, Portugal and Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA in 2010!