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AMA Medical Communications Conference Agenda

AMA 28^th Annual Medical Communications Conference will be held April 16-18, 2008, at the Paradise Point Resort and Spa, San Diego, California.

Reviews from physicians interested in improving their message delivery, professional communicators looking to sharpen their skills and learn new ones, and new communicators and journalists hoping to break into the field.

Conference objectives:

• Identify and define the perspective of news media and supply information needs based on conference experience and workshops.
• Deliver medical and healthcare news more effectively and more professionally based on on-camera exercises and faculty feedback.
• Construct and deliver a more effective speech based on speaker training experience and faculty critiques.
• Develop and edit a television report incorporating stand-up, b-roll and voiceover based on workshop experience.
• Recognize the role experts play in the dissemination of medical and healthcare news via traditional broadcast and electronic news media.
• Evaluate the efficacy of new and emerging communications technologies as potential, strategic vehicles for disseminating necessary medical/health news and information.

Some interesting topics related to web, blog, Internet, consumer health inormatics and medical informatics are listed below (based on their agenda; quotes, slightly edited).

The new social media: Use it or lose it

Blogs, Podcasts, Web social networks, widgets are proliferating…Anyone who plans to communicate in the world of healthcare has to learn about it and take advantage of these new social media.

This session will feature experts on using new media to reach colleagues, business partners, community members, patients and interest groups. Areas covered include creation and distribution of video, use of social networks for professional networking and reaching the public, using blogs, widgets and social bookmarking to reach your target audience and more.

How, when, and (most importantly) why: Best practices for healthcare blogging

If it seems like everybody has a blog these days, you’re half-right. By one measure, the number of blogs launched is over half the size of the U.S. adult population. But if you want to use a blog tactically to reach patients, the community, other professionals, diverse interest groups you need to know what to write and how to get it read.

In this session, you’ll learn how, why and when to blog and get a three-minute tutorial on setting one up. You’ll also get a one-page list of the five essential blogging best practices. Learn from a pro who has launched physician blogs as editorial director of Revolution Health, blogs for HealthCentral.com, contributes to the Health Care Blog, coaches a number of bloggers in the healthcare space and formerly edited the Health section of The Washington Post.

Podcasting: The next generation

Podcasts remain one of the mainstays of social media. Now podcasting has entered its second generation in synchrony with PowerPoint presentations. At Johns Hopkins, these productions are called “powerpods™” and they answer many of the requirements for a visual component to accompany audio for end users sitting at a computer while maintaining their ability to be downloaded onto an iPod or other mp3 player and remain portable.

Create a video communications program that won’t scare your bosses

The popularity of YouTube and other video hosting sites has raised the bar for communicators. Employees and other audiences now expect to see video on your Web sites and intranets. But what if the only video you’ve ever taken was on your family vacation? How much money do you have to request from your boss?

A medical/media professional’s guide to Advanced Google: Tips for effective surfing

This workshop will introduce the advanced and specialized features of the popular tool known as Google, including material on how Google works, what Google is and what it isn’t. We’ll walk through how to use Google when searching for medical and scientific information, and we’ll demonstrate advanced features and special Google products.

Using the Internet to stay on top of medical information

Are you concerned about managing all the information that is widely disseminated on the Web, from medical journals to professional conferences and medical institutions? Are you wondering what material from the Internet you can safely recommend to your readers, viewers or patients and their family caregivers? Participants in this elective will learn about Internet resources and tools that can be used to quality filter the vast array of health Web sites, and they will learn tips and strategies to manage, evaluate and recommend Web-based resources for themselves and for others.

Producing for the small screen

The Web explosion is birthing a number of new products. The key is to provide content beyond the breaking news story, especially credible medical/science content that can stay on a website as a resource. Many sites that include video only offer stiff, boring or lengthy pieces presented by talking heads.

A future visit to the doctor’s office

Join Dr. James Mault as he discusses how advances in technology are creating a fully connected healthcare ecosystem that increasingly empowers patients to take control of their health management. These continued advancements will transform the physician-patient relationship, enabling shared access to a patient’s medical history, allowing more informed discussions and treatment decisions, and decreasing the likelihood of medical errors.