As many have already noticed, the timing and structure of the next AUTM Annual Meeting are a bit different than in past years. The AM is deviating from its traditional Thursday-Saturday time slot, and will be held in Vegas on a Sunday-Wednesday schedule. Though there has been talk of experimenting with a different time slot for quite some time, the actual motivation in this case is that Vegas hotels do not want conventioneers taking up valuable hotel space on weekends when the gamblers roll into town. So be it – we are breaking new ground.
Perhaps as important to note, however, is that the AM is now a bit longer than in previous years, and jam-packed with numerous exciting new initiatives. Though I’ll blog on these enhancements at a later time, I hope to focus here on the new “first day” of the conference, which was previously the travel day - there are several important functions scheduled on the new first Sunday.
Sunday (equivalent to the Wednesday travel day in prior years) has several "can’t miss" events. The most notable, and entirely worth coming in Sunday early enough to catch, is our inaugural Industry Fireside Chat – featuring Merck’s own Dr. David Nicholson - Sr. VP and Head of Worldwide Licensing and Knowledge Management for the pharmaceutical giant. Dr. Nicholson will sit down with AUTM President Ashley Stevens in our plenary hall to discuss his perspectives on the future of the pharmaceutical industry and Merck’s leadership role in shaping this future. This will be on of the marquis events at this year’s Annual Meeting, and we are most excited to have Dr. Nicholson join us for it. Since the event is scheduled for 6PM pacific time Sunday, February 27th, we expect that most of the AUTM attendees will be able to arrive well in advance of the Fireside Chat.
Immediately preceding the Fireside Chat, AUTM is holding its first-ever Freshman Orientation and Networking Event. Annual Meeting Program Chair Steve Susalka joins fellow Program Committee member Hassan Naqvi to communicate with attendees that want to learn more about how to maximize their experience at the AUTM Annual Meeting, including but limited to those that are new to the Annual Meeting or new to AUTM. They will cover utilization of the brand new partnering software - COLLABORATE™ - we are in-licensing for this meeting, and they will review partnering and networking opportunities, receptions and workshops of interest, spotlight events such as the Venture Forum, Industry Roundtable Plenary, and the AUTM Debate, and maybe even give some opinions on restaurants, shows and local venues of interest. The session will conclude with a meet-and-greet among the attendees, and hopefully a movement en mass to the Fireside Chat.
To wrap up this blog, it is worth noting that earlier this first AM Sunday marks the return of the well regarded AUTM Career Development Forum, where AUTM attendees can learn about opportunities to advance in academic technology transfer, identify alternative career paths, and identify professional development opportunities that will enhance their qualifications and their value to their organizations. In addition, the wildly popular day-long Marketing Course traditionally anchors this first day of the AM, and this year will be no different. What is different, however, is that in parallel with the Marketing Course, AUTM is bringing the Software Course to the Annual Meeting for the first time. The Software Course has been very successful as a stand-alone AUTM professional development offering, and our hope is that offering it at the Annual Meeting will make the course available to many that have been unable to attend previously.
So that’s a not-so-quick recap of the new AUTM AM first day events. I hope you will be able to take advantage of these expanded program offerings – they will be very cool and are not to be missed.