AFQAM Annual Training Conference

AFQAM’s premier training event is our annual training conference. This event is usually held in September or October of each year in various locations throughout North America. This conference will give you exposure to people and presentations directly related to your everyday activities. Conferences include general sessions, discussions, member presentations and professional training breakout sessions. Examples of topics covered include auditing, audit databases, and accreditation, as well as real life experiences of other QA Managers. Attendance may also assist you in meeting the continuing education requirements of your organization.

Cost for the conference is generally very reasonable. The conferences are held in the fall when many organizations have money available for travel. Perhaps the most beneficial aspect of attending an annual training conference is the opportunity to network and develop working relationships with peers in the field of quality assurance management and the forensic sciences.

Past AFQAM annual training conferences have enjoyed the support and participation of many vendors. This provides mutual benefits for our vendors and attendees through the exposure to current products and services relevant to quality assurance and forensic laboratories.

Future Conference Locations:

2023: Dallas, TX (October 17-20, 2023)
2024: Daytona Beach, FL (October 8-11, 2024)
2025: Portland, OR
2026: TBD (October 13-16, 2026)

External Training Events

Select the desired link to access more information. Decisions for inclusion on this page are made by the AFQAM Board of Directors. AFQAM provides training opportunity information, but does not specifically endorse any of the training opportunities listed below.

ANAB offers self-paced and instructor-led (online and in person) training courses in accreditation related topics, including Forensic Internal Auditor and Technical assessor for both ISO/IEC 17020 and ISO/IEC 17025. For full list of forensic related training visit https://anab.ansi.org/training/forensic and for up to date upcoming schedule visit https://anab.ansi.org/training/public-course-schedule.

ANAB is the largest, multi-disciplinary accreditation body in North America, providing accreditation and training services to public and private sector organizations such as forensic service providers, certification bodies, calibration and testing laboratories, inspection bodies, reference material producers, and proficiency test providers. ANAB is owned by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and is internationally recognized through International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).

The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) is a nonprofit, non-governmental, public service, membership society. A2LA also offers programs for the accreditation of testing laboratories, calibration laboratories, inspection bodies, proficiency testing providers, medical testing laboratories, reference material producers and product certification bodies.

We are one of the largest personnel certification bodies in the world. We are also a subsidiary of the American Society for Quality and a corporate affiliate of ANAB and FQS. Our certifications include the major ISO Auditor schemes such as quality management, environmental management, food safety, occupational health, and Laboratory Assessor. Our Laboratory Assessor program is based on ISO/IEC 17025 and has three grades of certification: Associate Assessor, Assessor, and Lead Assessor. We also certify ISO related training programs.

Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (FTCOE)

Leadership Series

The National Institute of Justice, through its Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (Award 15PNIJ-21-GK-02192-MUMU) and in partnership with the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, is therefore proud to provide these leadership modules to introduce leadership concepts to the forensic scientist. Highly functioning leaders are essential to operational excellence, process and analytical reliability, workforce competency, efficiency, implementation of technologies and best practices, and overall quality in the laboratory.