Hi readers! This is Sarah here. As you might remember, I am a French pediatric oncologist and I arrived in Toronto for a fellowship a year ago. Toronto is only 90 minutes away from Chicago by plane and I got the great opportunity to be able to attend the meeting without the pressure of having data to present!
Even though I consider myself an old young investigator, I had never had the possibility to attend the ASCO annual meeting. So I thought I would take some notes for you guys, they might come in handy for next year!
Thinking of going?
You will need to plan ahead, for your research abstract of course but also for the logistics. Up to 40,000 people are in Chicago attending the conference that week and that means flights and hotel rooms won't be cheap.
Take some time to navigate the ASCO website - you should be allowed to register as an early career member for free or for a minimal fee. It might be helpful to sign up for e-mails reminders on the conference to know when to submit your abstract, when to register for the conference, as well as about the different awards you could apply for. Excellent advice from ASCO connection also circulated for "first-time" attendees.
Get to know how your institution might help - are there travel grants? Do you need to be presenting some research to receive the grant? Can you share an hotel room with another trainee to save money? A lot of websites will let you book a hotel room in advance for free, and you could cancel it later. And as for any travel plans, check your passport and visa requirements a long time before leaving!
In Chicago, the conference centre is not downtown, but you can still enjoy The Loop and book a place downtown : multiple (free!) ASCO buses connect downtown so-called "conference" hotels and the conference centre, from 7 AM until late. You do not need to be staying in one of those hotels to hop on the bus - just show your meeting badge! You will want to take one of the first buses at the sessions begin as early as 7.30 AM AND on time! (but you're not here to sleep in, are you?)
Just arrived in Chicago?
(yup, looks like a mall)
Getting closer to the meeting, you will have access to a web-based conference planner in which you can determine which sessions you would like to attend. It is also available as an app and there is free wifi at the conference centre. There is a specific pediatric oncology track but you might want to attend other disease specific sessions (ethics, supportive care, sarcoma....). You WILL not be able to attend every session and that's okay. It proved to be very intense to be attentive and focused from 8 to 5 - again you might decide on alternating more dense and lighter sessions. Plan ahead - if you decide at the last minute, you will be late and the room will be full - sometimes overflow is set up but not always.
Most of the pediatric oncology sessions are happening in the same rooms and you will be able to find your way quite easily. Still - bring comfortable shoes, a large backpack, even some snacks so that you don't have to line up between a thousand persons at lunch break.
What was great : the trainee lounge was very close to the pediatric oncology rooms. Great spot to take a break, grab a snack or a cup of coffee, catch up on e-mail, charge up your computer and smartphone (YES, you will take a lot of pictures, from posters for example) and of course listen to some of the lectures!
There are poster sessions everyday and those are very intense as well - I would recommend you to go through the abstract book and to "target" the posters you really want to go see. The most interesting abstracts will be discussed in poster discussion sessions as well. The ASCO team will take pictures of every poster, film every presentation and all of this will be available in the Meeting library.
So overall - no rush!
(this is NOT crowded - the immuno-oncology poster section
looked like the Parisian metro on a Friday night!)
I attended part of the plenary session just for the thrill of it -
so many people listening to science in such a large room!
(of course, pharma is here - a lot of people to connect with
as well as coffee waiting to be drunk!)
On your plane back?
Take time to reflect on what you have learned from your own research and other's. Make sure you keep in touch with the new people you've met. And next year you won't be a newbie anymore!!
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