Case study
The University of Melbourne MD Student Conference
Four days, more than 1,400 student doctors and healthcare professionals, and a program for every year of the MD. MDSC has run its program and attendee app on Lylac for the past two years, and is back on Lylac for 2027.
1,400+
student doctors and healthcare professionals
4 days
22 to 25 June 2026
2 years on Lylac
and back again for 2027
MD1 to MD4
every year of the course
Students and organisers at MDSC 2026, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
A conference run by students.
MDSC is the University of Melbourne's MD Student Conference, shaped by students, for students. Each June it brings the whole Doctor of Medicine course together for keynotes, academic and research sessions, hands-on workshops, wellness activities and social events. In 2026, its 16th year, that was at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
A new team of student convenors and executives runs each year's conference alongside their studies. With sessions running side by side across four days, the questions never stop: what is on, where it is, and which sessions are worth the walk. Any question a student can't answer for themselves ends up in the organisers' inbox.
One app, the whole conference.
What MDSC ran on Lylac, from the organisers' run sheet to the app on students' phones.
The whole program, in the app
The organisers built four days of sessions across the venue's rooms in the run sheet and published it straight to the attendee app.
A timetable of their own
Students favourite the sessions they want, then filter the program down to just those.
The right room, first time
Every session in the app shows its time and its room, so students know where to be next.
Challenge points and leaderboards
Points for taking part, with a leaderboard for each year of the course and for each day of the conference.
Moments
A live feed where students share photos and notes from the conference as it happens.
One list for the organisers
Students were invited by email, and the organisers followed every reply and attendee in one place.
In their words.
Organisers and students, on the day.
“We're seeing students be able to get into rooms a lot faster this year, which is helping us with management of traffic. And less emails asking us questions about things they could have found on the app.”
Lara and Tobiah, Convenors, MDSC 2026
“It really does come back to being able to create your own timetables. We also have a good subset of cohorts who are very interested in challenge points and leaderboards, so it's a great aspect of the app, and sharing moments as well.”
Lara and Tobiah, Convenors, MDSC 2026
“Honestly, I love how easy it is to use. The user interface is really clean. It's very easy to navigate in comparison to apps that the conference has seen previously.”
Athena, Convenor, MDSC 2025
“There's just so many events at a conference, it's really great to be able to have a quick flick through, favourite a couple that you're interested in, and then just filter by that, because then you can sort of see a reduced program with just the things that you're really interested in.”
Naomi, Attendee, MDSC 2026
“It's been awesome! I'm able to follow all the different events that are happening, super easy to use, love the dark mode.”
Joel, MD1 student, MDSC 2026
More than the app
Cyberglass, the company behind Lylac, also partners with MDSC on its website, its email and its IT support.
Run your next conference on Lylac
See it with your own program, or start on the free plan today.