Adrienne D.
This "conference" will not be what you expect
I attended a "conference" organized by this company in Amsterdam, April, 2019. They actually reached out to ME in the fall of 2018 to be a speaker at this conference that was supposed to be two days.They asked that I be a "keynote speaker" (something that was not particularly important to me as I am not in academia) Then, over the next few months, I received numerous emails instructing me to hurry up and register for the conference. I was also encouraged to tell my US colleagues about it so they could attend. (I did not feel that was my responsibility, especially knowing nothing about the conference) It was quite costly, especially since I was coming from the US but I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn from other forensic psychologists from around the world. Although I as an invited speaker, None of my expenses were paid. I didn't even have a ride from the airport to the hotel. The locaton of the conference changed three times and ended up at a Holiday Inn. There were 7, maybe 8 people in the room. Not a "conference" at all. The "moderator" for our group arrived two hours late and I later found out that her hotel accommodations were paid for by the organizers/company. Another speaker/attendee told me that she only paid for 2 of her three nights at the hotel; the company paid for one of her nights. Another speaker/attendee told me that he only paid for the conference itself and was able to make his own accommodations. The contact person who corresponded with me via email was difficult to reach and was using a false name; and clearly English was not his first language because when he sent an email the grammar, syntax, vocabulary choices were strange. That should have told me it was a scam. It was supposed to be a forensic conference but at the last minute (the day before I left the US) I was informed that the conference had been expanded to "Clinical Psychology" AND Forensic Psychology/Criminology. Of course, they made it sound like that was going to benefit us in some way. Obviously, there were not enough speakers and participants to hold a two-day conference or even a 1-day conference. Three of the speakers didn't even show up. The organizers should have cancelled the "conference" but they wanted to keep the money. So, I paid hundreds of dollars for a two-day international forensic psychology conference, plus $1100 in airfare, to come to a 1-day "conference" with a hodge-podge of presentations that had nothing to do with each other and little to do with either topic area. This conference was grossly misrepresented and clearly was simply a money-making venture for the organizers. I wish I had read some of the legitimate reviews before I agreed to be a part of it. The only saving grace was the on-site coordinator, Ms. Carol Afflick, who was pleasant, professional, organized and very understanding of everyone's frustration. She deserved a medal.