Last week, Kim Richardson, fellow cancer advocate, asked me about the template I use when I report information from cancer meetings and conferences. I realized I had never actually shared the process I use when I Tweet from an ASCO, SGO or OCRA meeting. I concentrate on sharing information on Twitter but feel free to adjust the process a bit if you are disseminating information on other social media platforms.
Prior to the meeting
Register for the meeting in advance of the meeting, if possible. This will allow you time to download and become familiar with the meeting app, if there is one. Even from year to year you might have to update the app.
Review the agenda to see which sessions you want to attend. Make yourself a schedule. If the meeting app allows you to create a personal schedule take advantage of that and add sessions to your personal schedule. Or keep a word or excel document listing the date / time / session / presenter name/ trial name . This will make it easier to copy and past the session name, presenter name into a Tweet. Even if sessions conflict, add them to the app or your list. This way you can listen to those sessions at a later date.
Read abstracts as they become available so you are familiar with the data that will be presented and adjust your schedule as needed.
Set up Tweet Deck or a similar application so that you can follow the meeting #hashtag. If you don't want to use an app you can use Twitter itself. (Search for the meeting hashtag and look under the "latest" tab.) If the meeting has oncologists live tweeting, such as ASCO Featured Voices, follow them ahead of the meeting. They may list sessions they are important and look forward to attending. Their tweets will show up in your feed or the meeting hashtag's feed too. No need to create original content from all sessions of the meeting. It is OK to retweet other reliable researchers tweets. Such as this one from Dr Dizon at #ASCO21
#ASCO21 #gyncsm @omalleygynonc presents mirvetuximab plus bevacizumab (phase 1) in rec on a. I agree: compelling results; sufficient to move forward. While no new safety signals, the tox remains significant: diarrhea (68%) blurred vision (63%) fatigue (58%) severe HTN (13%) pic.twitter.com/GkYVW0kesx
— Don S. Dizon MD 🇬🇺 (@drdonsdizon) June 7, 2021
Day of the meeting
Log into the meeting/app 10 minutes or so before the start of the session. This way if there are updates to the app or the schedule you have time to make adjustments. If you are attending a live meeting try to sit in an area by the presenter or a large screen that will show the presenter's slides.
Open Twitter and search for the meeting hashtag. Choose the latest tab. If you are using Tweetdeck or another app make sure the column you created for the meeting app is located in view. ( I follow a few hashtags regularly, so I may have to shuffle the columns around a bit.)
Prepare tweets I copy and past the presenter and session name along with the meeting hashtag and trial name if there is one into a blank tweet. If you are using Twitter, you can add a tweet to the original one so you only have to add the names once and provide more info that what you could fit in 240 characters. If I add tweets, I try to number the tweets 1/4, 2/4 or 1/n. This is a start of a tweet from this year's ASCO meeting.
Listen and Compose tweets with pertinent info such such as disease type and trial outcomes or concerns about the trial. I always add #gyncsm to my tweets for gynecologic cancers.
Screen shot interesting slides (if sharing is allowed) to use in Tweets during or after the session has ended. I usually concentrate on trial outcome graphs or conclusion slides.
Oral Abstract Session
— Dee Sparacio (@womenofteal) June 7, 2021
Gynecologic Cancer #ASCO21 #gyncsm #OncoAlert@rodrocconi novel GEM vaccine vs placebo every 4 weeks maintenance, 91 patients
Gem well tolerated.
Benefit for Homologous Recombination proficient patients pic.twitter.com/eK4OIdt7wi
If sessions include discussion of a few presentations, I will try to
take a screen shot of the group of scientists discussing the research
and comment on any new information. Such as this one from ASCO on HPV vaccination rates.
Dr Pierce #ASCO21 #gyncsm
— Dee Sparacio (@womenofteal) June 4, 2021
"Toxic individualism" leading to low HPV vaccination rates in the US.
Need better education on HPV and highlight the benefits of vaccine in reducing cervical cancer rates.
Excellent discussion after presentations Drs Grover, DAs, Pierce pic.twitter.com/549Q2ugaQv
After the meeting
Blog or share your tweets on other platforms . Simple go to the tweet you want to add to your blog and click on the ... in the top right corner. Click on embed tweet. Go to the html page of your blog and paste the text on to the page.
Let me know if you give any of my steps a try. Plus, I'd love to hear if you have other tips too.
