Episode 3 of 6 ā Getting on the Program
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Speaker: [00:00:00] I know at the beginning of my career I was so excited at the prospect of getting on the program with one of my research ideas. And I was also sure, and I still think, that one of the most important ways to build a national reputation is to get on the program at meetings. I think this really lets everybody see where I am, what I know, and why they should be including me in their programs or their panels or at grand rounds.
Speaker: These presentations are useful to establish yourself as an authority and secure a spot at a major conference or meeting within your field. Now if you're already invited to these stages, congratulations. This is a clear indicator that you're already known for your area of expertise, and hopefully you have great mentors and sponsors.
Speaker: But if you're not yet on the program, do not be discouraged. I'm gonna talk today about some of the best ways to get into these valuable speaking experiences. Now one of the most important is to make sure everybody understands your niche And if you look at my podcast season one, episode three, it talks about how to make sure your niche is clear [00:01:00] to those in your specialty.
Speaker: They may understand it from your speaking opportunities or your publishing record. Other ways to be known for a specific area include giving local talks that we can use to highlight your skills and knowledge. These can be listed on a resume, but maybe peer-reviewed publications or podcasts or YouTube videos that can be accessed by colleagues or patients, as well as tips and tricks that you post for patients to enjoy on social media.
Speaker: You may also find that educating your medical college is your sweet spot, and you do that in a variety of ways. It's amazing these days how we have so many ways to educate and be seen. I spent my career focused on publications and presentations, but I knew that things had changed a few years ago when a fantastic medical student talked to me about the podcast episodes I'd appeared on as his way of learning about me.
Speaker: It really made me realize times have changed. And to be fair, I also love learning about people and topics through podcasts and blogs, so the peer-reviewed publication is definitely not the only way to be known for your area of expertise. Regardless of the method you use, your goal is to make it easy for [00:02:00] people to understand when they should be inviting you or thinking about you as a speaker.
Speaker: This is true whether you're aiming to be on the program or chosen as a moderator or panel member. And the other important thing to keep in mind is that you wanna make sure they understand your story. Because I think this topic is so important to building a national reputation, I also have a checklist of my top recommendations to focus your area of expertise.
Speaker: If you're interested in receiving this, please DM me on Instagram or Facebook or LinkedIn. Now, with that in mind, you also need to do some other things, so staying organized is critical. At almost every major meeting, they're gonna be talking about abstract and panel dec- deadlines for the next year or the next meeting in whatever interval.
Speaker: So in order to keep on top of these opportunities and dates, I recommend creating a calendar of all the different conferences you might be interested in attending. Now, these can include local and national meetings or even international, and what you wanna know is where they're located, when they occur, when the deadlines are, and be [00:03:00] sure you know if there's different dates for abstracts or panels or courses.
Speaker: I recommend that you post these in a prominent place so you're looking at them and being reminded, or at least that's what works for me. And put these on your calendar. Block them off in advance, and make sure you've got projects that you're working towards Now, if you find it works best, you may wanna look six to 12 months ahead of time and decide how long a project might take so that you can figure out what meeting you should be targeting.
Speaker: At the beginning of every project, especially those that I work on with others or trainees, I really try to make sure we have a goal. It really helps to make sure things get accomplished. Now, I routinely created these as Excel spreadsheets, but it can be really useful to put them on your calendar ahead of time.
Speaker: And for me, putting them on the wall has been really useful. This avoids the out of sight, out of mind kinda problem. Now, because many meetings are held at similar times every year, this also allows you to begin to understand some of these deadlines on an annual basis, as many likely repeat on, [00:04:00] on at least some regular interval.
Speaker: However, just to be accurate, I create a deadline calendar at the beginning of every academic year and chart this out. The next really important thing to do is connect with the program committee. And while I've mentioned I'm an introvert and not always comfortable with meeting strangers at meetings, especially those with some titles or authority, if you're gonna go to a meeting and you have to introduce yourself to someone, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to introduce yourself to those folks.
Speaker: And as you move along in your career, it's often the head of the program committee who you'll have the most in common with and who has the most impact in terms of being able to put you on the program. I also wanna reinforce to you that the people on the committee are, in fact, the people who are looking for colleagues interested in talking about a topic.
Speaker: They want you to be able to show who the experts are or point yourself out as the expert. These connections can also be useful if you wanna volunteer as a moderator for a topic. So I recommend at the meeting you connect with these people, whether you know them or not. In addition, let people know that you're interested in being on the committee in the [00:05:00] future, as this may be really useful as you work your way through the process of getting on the program.
Speaker: My next point is don't be shy. It is also reasonable to ask to be on the program. If you're interested, people will consider it, especially if you can offer a topic that you know is interesting or that others are interested in or in which you have some established expertise. Certainly, having some publications in the area will make it more likely that they understand that you're the expert If you get an opportunity to sit on a program committee, it's also useful to get an idea of what a good and a bad abstract looks like.
Speaker: It may be useful to see what other topics your colleagues are submitting and what's being responded to well by the other members of the committee. Getting on the committee also shows the organizational leadership and your fellow physicians you have a commitment to the organization and deserve to be rewarded for your work.
Speaker: It is much more likely for you to be selected to be on the program if you've been on a program committee, and oftentimes these are the people who are asked to be moderators or speakers 'cause of the service they're providing. [00:06:00] In real time, it also looks good and helps you to understand what a good and a bad abstract really looks like.
Speaker: You can dive into the characteristics of a good proposal and understand where there are gaps in the submission process so you know where your organization is scrambling to find t- people to talk about a topic. When the areas of expertise are identified, you may or not be the number one speaker, but it may be an area we can sponsor others, and you may be able to l- find a way to marry what your area of expertise is with something in that gap.
Speaker: Now, assuming you're not on the program committee, group often lists topics which are interested in soliciting for future meeting topics, so look and see if this is the case, or talk to the committee and see where they have gaps. I also strongly recommend that you submit panels or courses if these are allowed for the meetings you're targeting.
Speaker: It sounds simple, but you have to play to win. Most of us have heard those commercials that tell us if you're not playing the lottery, you're not gonna win. Well, if you're not submitting a panel or a course, it's much [00:07:00] less likely you'll be on the podium, and this is in addition to abstracts. I'm not saying to exclusively submit panels or courses if you have something you think would be great for the scientific program, but I do think doing both is great.
Speaker: These panel or course submissions typically have a different purpose. These abstracts are often intended to talk about your area of influence and to look at the research you're doing in order to highlight your research and showcase your interests, but panels or courses can show a certain level of expertise, and there's an assumption when you sit on these that you know what you're talking about.
Speaker: For some meetings or requirements, listed or not, that you've been out of training for a certain number of years to ensure that you have an area of expertise. If you've not been established in an area for a while, it can be useful to submit applications in combination with a more senior person. Their name can often help you to get selected for the program and to be known for that area.
Speaker: They're also a great, great way to build your reputation with other experts in your field. Of all [00:08:00] the options outside of independent scientific submissions, I think the panels are a fantastic way for young faculty to get on the program, and I recommend that you look for a topic where you have a lot of questions and personally think there are a lot of things you would like to know.
Speaker: I love panels where the o- moderator asks the senior or cutting-edge speakers to be on the panel, and the moderator asks the questions we all wanna know more about. As the moderator, I recommend you let your panelists know what the planned questions will be ahead of time, or ask them what they think is most interesting to talk about or where the gaps are.
Speaker: And I recommend that the moderator creates the slides for those panels. Make it easy for your invited speakers to say yes. Let them know you're not gonna require them to create a presentation, but will plan to present a couple informational slides. And in an ideal world, these slides might include a study you've published or completed in order to fully establish you as a peer and content expert.
Speaker: I then recommend you move forward and present cases that are supplied by you or supplied by the [00:09:00] panelists in order to illustrate a point. As you move through the panel, have questions set up to ask them that reflect your interests in case you do not have questions from the audience. And be sure you give your input in the questions responses along with the panel so to show the audience your perspective and expertise.
Speaker: I also recommend that when you create the panel, you leverage your network. When you build your panel, you wanna make sure you've talked to some senior folks, and if you don't know 'em, feel free to have your sponsors or mentors see if they can reach out. This is also an opportunity for you to speak to people at the meeting or the coffee break or the social event in order to ask who might be interested in talking on a panel in the future.
Speaker: Even a note allows you ex- to explain your area of expertise and your interest and see if there might be some other area where you could coordinate working together in the future. It's a great icebreaker. And if you bring up some interesting questions during a panel conversation, these may result in an opportunity to talk about pooling data between institutions or assessing multiple resources so you can parlay a good conversation into [00:10:00] great research.
Speaker: If nothing else, I recommend you be proactive about these speaking opportunities and allow yourself to gain invaluable visibility and reinforce your reputation as a go-to expert within your specialized area. Thanks for listening, and I look forward to talking to you again
