Category: Travel stories

MedComms Networking West Coast USA style

Peter LlewellynLeave a comment

I thought this was great fun. Thanks to all who joined in. It’s been a long #MedComms Day and I’m running out of steam, but as we now head towards the end of the day it was great to have the opportunity to chat with this eclectic group of specialists thanks to the wonders of Zoom! Discussion topics included plans for the ISMPP West 2021 (Irvine, California, USA, 21-22 October 2021), using crowd-sourced video in medical education, KOL engagement through asynchronous meetings/webinars, extending the reach of publications, and authenticity in healthcare communications.

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It’s sunny in Sweden

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This just in from Freelance Marketing Consultant and Medical Writer, Kris Overby in Sweden. No lockdown here, but keep your distance!

Wishing everyone a great MedComms Day today from a sunny summer day in Sweden, where I am meeting a MedTech client at the Sigtuna foundation hotel today. We will discuss compilation of a literature reference list and have a socially-distant lunch in this pleasant courtyard.

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Long conference days

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eularElaine Bell, freelance medical writer, has sent this in from Spain…
It’s 4.30pm here in Madrid and I am nearing the end of a long working day that began at 6am! I am in Madrid for EULAR to attend a number of video recordings. My role on this trip is as a freelance strategist for Medscape….. the recordings bring together key faculty to discuss hot topics in rheumatology which are then transformed into accredited online learning activities. I really enjoy the discussion of cutting edge science and catching up with key rheumatologist.
I have also been revising a proposal for another client among more mundane tasks such as hunting down key references and abstracts and double checking data.
Tomorrow I will be leading a steering committee meeting and trying to attend some conference sessions followed by another recording on Friday and a poster presentation on Saturday before my flight home.
Meanwhile I plan to catch up with friends for some drinks on one of Madrid’s lovely roof top bars. Adios!

Rain doesn’t stop MedComms

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The great British weather has been causing some problems today for some. This from Bryce McMurray, Vice President, Global Medical Communications at Springer Healthcare.

Dedication just to get here today! The Chester office of inScience Communications was practically cut off this morning as a month’s rain in 48 hours left the whole area badly flooded. Not to be put off we have a full complement busily working on a large range of projects. We are bringing a couple of new clients on board at the moment and kicking off some interesting infographic projects. Preparation for the meetings season is in full swing too. All of this frenetic activity has led to an afternoon of popcorn gorging!

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A boating life

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Sadly, Sarah Smith, freelance medical writer, won’t be sending us her usual sunset photo to close our #MedComms Day, from the Caribbean this year. Welcome back to the UK, Sarah!

This time last year I was living on and working from a yacht in the Caribbean (Grenada, West Indies). This MedComms Day I woke up to a grey and drizzly morning in Pembrokeshire (UK). While the view from my desk still features boats, life is very different (and includes a flushing toilet, shower and washing machine for starters). Coming back to live and work in the UK has given me a fresh appreciation of many things (apart from the loo…) — the wild and wonderful Pembrokeshire beaches, supermarkets stocked with a huge range of foods at reasonable prices, access to art classes, fast and easy Amazon deliveries, the NHS, ‘proper’ pubs, and summer evenings that stay light after 6 pm – things that many people take for granted but I haven’t had for 12 years. So, while the sunshine here is liquid and a little chilly compared with the Caribbean, I am a happy bunny here for now (‘till we get the urge to sail away again)…

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The Dream Team return!

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This message just in from Envision Pharma Group’s team in Chicago. Travel safe guys.

Lucinda (Scientific Director), Helen (Senior Editor) and Alice (Project Assistant) are waiting to board a plane back to Manchester following a busy week at ASCO, Chicago!

Alice, who joined Envision Pharma Group back in December 2017, has experienced her first time onsite as part of a #MedComms agency and is already looking forward to her next trip!

Well done team and safe journey back home!

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On a train to London

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Jane TrickerJane Tricker, Freelance writer, is struggling with the wifi on the train, apparently, but has still managed to send this message in. Technology is great, when it works…

I’m writing this from the 7.25 train to Victoria, admiring the glorious Kent countryside as I go. I’m spending the day with DDBRemedy – an advertising agency based in Paddington. I’ve been working with this agency for several months on a range of projects (including a couple of pitches). My current project is to prepare a slide deck that will be used to introduce an existing regional sales team to a new drug in a new therapeutic area. The drug is due to launch in a couple of years’ time, and the deck will be used at a meeting to decide how many staff will be needed to support the launch, when and how they will be transitioned and what additional staff they will need in specific territories. My job has been to distil the information in hundreds of slides in the core deck down to 35 slides for a 50-minute presentation and provide a fresh approach to the storytelling for this meeting – the pharma client wants something that will encourage the delegates to think ‘outside the box’ for their launch preparaton.

Plans change…

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K_LeeKathryn Lee is a Freelance Medical Writer based in the UK and has had to adapt to her plans changing for the day, as they often do.

One of the things I love about being freelance is the variety of work!  Although I’m often home-based in the UK and writing documents for large Pharma companies, today I’m travelling to Switzerland to deliver protocol writing training for a new client.  Of course, such days don’t always run according to plan and my 09.20 flight from Norwich to Basel, via Amsterdam, was cancelled due to strong winds.  I’ve been rebooked on the last flight of the day which gives me extra time to catch up on a few administrative tasks, start drafting an article due later this month, and think about new medical writing projects lined up for later in 2017.

 

Hop on a plane and extend the MedComms Day

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We last heard from Jackie Marchington of Caudex when she was settling on to a BA flight at Heathrow, some hours ago, and she’s now landed in Dallas so time zone changes means she still has plenty of the MedComms Day left to enjoy!

Well, thanks to a following wind, we made it in to Dallas an hour early and as a result of APC kiosks, I made it through immigration, customs,  rechecked my luggage,  back through security, monorailed round to my next departure gate and found a seat within an hour of touchdown. Amazeballs!

I confess to not doing all my plane homework, but it was a really early start today, and I did manage to catch a couple of hours’ sleep.

Straight in to meetings after this flight, so may do another update later – now I’m on CDT #medcomms day is young again!

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A full day’s work

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Rachel Park of Medicalwriters.com based in Zurich writes in to say…

Here at Medicalwriters.com we’ve had a full day celebrating MedComms Day!

When medical communicators go shopping and we wonder why we get strange looks on the train…

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Senior medical writers Michael and Randall, CEO Wesley and COO Frank missed out on pizza to fly to Copenhagen for EHA!

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Some of our team in Zurich, Switzerland celebrated with a pizza party at lunch!

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A vital part of our team, George, was hoping to go to EHA too!

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Gaia, our scientific illustrator, worked hard on a sketch. In this technology driven world, there is still room to get creative with pencils and paper.

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Yay – another new client!

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It’s a successful day for Corinne Swainger, Freelance medical writer.

I’m celebrating a day in the life of MedComms after a successful meeting with a new client in SW London regarding copywriting and consulting for an unbranded EU campaign. I’m now at Waterloo Underground station, heading home to Harrow, Middlesex in time to attend a parents’ meeting at my son’s school. This should be interesting: finding out the best ways to help him study for his new GCSEs. Who said meetings were boring?

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ASCO Annual Meeting 2016 – Tales from Chicago

Peter Llewellyn1 Comment

inscience6This morning in the US the inScience Communications team are reflecting on this year’s ASCO Annual meeting.

We have been on onsite in Chicago now for 5 days, it’s been a fairly bumpy ride!

inScience Communications has had a number of projects going on including session coverage then subsequent slide development covering 6 tumour types plus working with societies in the development of key presentations for lung and gastric tracks.

The team includes writers working back in the UK and also in New Zealand (when the time difference is an advantage!) When we are tired then another timezone takes over. We are mainly surviving on chips (the American variety), diet coke and pizza

Photos from this year’s ASCO illustrate the scale of this meeting (some 37,500 attendees)


Fun times to be had at the rugby scrum otherwise known as ‘Poster Session’

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We may be tired but it’s always a pleasure to see this lovely city (albeit mainly from the window of a bus).

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