Róisín O’Connor, Senior Medial Writer, Katerina Tuloo, Account Manager and Mark Davies, Scientific Services Director all of inScience Communications reflect on a successful day in Turkey.
Early start today! Up at 7am to grab a quick continental breakfast in the hotel, before we meet and greet the attendees of an advisory board held in the beautiful, East-meets-West city of Istanbul.
Our team of three arrived here yesterday afternoon, ahead of the final slide preview with the client, meeting Chair and speakers. After a good discussion, and a few final tweaks to the slide content, we opted for an early night ahead of the main event today.
So at 8.15am, with our stomachs full of strong Turkish coffee and baklava, we invite all attendees to take their seats at the table. Following the obligatory round-the-table introductions, the meeting soon begins in earnest, with presentations from the Co-Chairs setting the scene and outlining the objectives and input required from the international medical experts gathered together in the room today to make this a successful and productive meeting.
Open Round Table Discussion sessions throughout the day facilitate the exchange of valuable information and lead to some interesting, lively debates and differences of opinion between experts –all very professional and civilised of course!
Mark, as Scientific Services Director, moderated these sessions, ensuring that each of the meeting objectives are addressed, with the use of a nifty digital mind-mapping tool which captures, organises and projects key outputs onto the meeting room screen in real time as the experts debate and discuss.
As Editorial Team Lead, Róisín takes detailed notes on the discussions, which will subsequently provide the content for a comprehensive report for the client on the views, attitudes and advice provided by the experts.
With the meeting drawing to a close, we start to relax and reflect on how smoothly the day has gone… then of course, disaster strikes! Outside of the meeting room, Katerina learns that a traffic jam in the east of the city will almost certainly prevent one of the experts from arriving at the train station in time for the last train home.
Of course, Katerina, as Account Manager, springs into action, investigating alternative transport options, and quickly ascertained that a water taxi should be able to take the attendee across the Bosphorus strait, from Europe to Asia, and drop passengers off just a few minutes’ walk from the train platform. Phew. Crisis averted!
With the one attendee sailing into the sunset, and the others safely dispatched in cars to the airport, the three of us sit down for a quick debrief with a very satisfied client, to discuss deliverables, timings and next steps.
Finally, it’s time to relax – we’re off to sample some of the delights of Istanbul, tired, but with a sense of achievement for a job well done. Onwards to the next meeting – now, where is that nice kebab restaurant we passed by on the way in from the airport…
Elaine Bell, freelance medical writer, has sent this in from Spain…
There must be lots of MedComms folks running around this event this afternoon. Here’s the team from 
This morning in the US 
