RULES OF THE ROAD FOR CONFERENCE ROAD WARRIORS

by Ed Susman

For better or worse, I've made medical convention coverage my ticket to financial success, but it remains an open field for anyone who wants to join the party.

Basically, if you do it right, it is tough to find a conference that doesn't provide enough information to make the trip profitable-although last year's United States Conference on AIDS came close.

Here's why you want to cover conferences in person:

Publications love to be able to use your byline and dateline. "Yeah, we had a reporter in Amsterdam last year for the NCI meeting," the editor can say, noting that it didn't cost the publication the airfare or hotel costs to get the reporter there. It adds prestige to the publication.

You can make contact with editors. If you go to a cancer meeting, the editors of the major publications dealing with cancer are going to be there. Infrequently, you might be offered a job on the spot if the organization needs multiple events covered simultaneously.

But the reason I go is to meet new editors and let them know I'm at a lot of meetings-meetings they might not be able to attend. While ASCO (American Society for Clinical Oncology) is on their agenda, and so is the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), few companies-even those specializing in cancer subject-send reporters to the NCI-EORTC-AACR meeting on drug development. That meeting, co-sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, and AACR, is held in the U.S. and Europe in alternate years. Last year, the first reports on the antiangiogenesis agent endostatin were presented at the meeting. I sold that story to a number of publications that were not there.

Editors have limited travel budgets. They can reserve their reporters for big meetings if they know you will be at some of the smaller ones that they would like to go to but can't, due to financial restrictions. There is a down side to this: Editors may be disappointed when you decide not to go to a meeting they expect you to attend. This tends to put you on the road more and more frequently and can disrupt one's personal life.

You can make contact with doctors. If you call up a researcher and say, "When I discussed this study with you at your poster session . . . " it usually makes for a better interview-even if the doctor doesn't recall your name. And being on site allows you to talk with other interested experts, so your second and third sources for a particular poster are readily available. We all know how editors want second opinions on stories for proper perspective.

You get to visit interesting places. Although, if you are doing it the right way, you never do any sightseeing. Somehow one has to develop a balance between work and play, and if you figure out what that is, please tell me. Generally my trips end up being spent in convention center press rooms and hotel rooms.

So there are good reasons to attend a meeting. But if you want to succeed, one of the keys is figuring out which meetings are worthwhile attending.

I try to avoid single-disease meetings. The nephrology meeting or the multiple sclerosis meeting are examples of conferences that have limited appeal. How many stories can one write about kidney disease; how many times can you write about MS? Think about the publication. Will an editor order four stories on MS if he or she is running a general medication publication?

Probably not.

For that reason the big cancer meetings are great for news-the disease, of course, strikes every organ system. Similarly, heart disease affects not just the heart, but involves stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, vascular disease, etc. The psychiatric meetings include studies on schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder, and all varieties of conditions that affect young and old, rich and poor, women, children, and men; the neurology meetings look at the brain, MS, cancer, Parkinson's Disease, etc.

Look for meetings in places where transportation is cheap and frequent. Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco, and Chicago are great places for meetings from a financial point of view because lots of airlines fly there; there are a lot of hotels (even in San Francisco you can get reasonable rates if you look around a bit); and there is decent ground transportation.

Consider the press room accommodations. Some places are far better than others. For years, the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections offered reporters nothing-not even a message-taking service. But the last few years the organizers have hired a capable public relations company to handle press and have made covering the meeting a relative pleasure. Then there was the American Pain Society meeting in Phoenix where there was a "press table." The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, ASCO, and AACR run well-organized, well-staffed, helpful press rooms that help make the meeting coverage tolerable, considering how much is going on at these huge sessions.
Now what do you do at a meeting to make it worth your time and effort?

Do your homework. Most meetings organizers allow for you to have a glimpse at the pending abstracts in advance. That's where the stories are. Don't depend on press conferences since many are set up to give the organization's "message" to the press. I try to avoid "message" sessions. Why? If you look at the word "message" you will not find an "n" or a "w" meaning that there can't be any "news."

Try to get out of the press room and roam the poster sessions. The posters are where cutting-edge material is being presented. It's also where a lot of negative trials are presented and where there is a lot of work shown on alternative medications, natural remedies, and small or Phase I study results.

I know reporters who shy away from these poster reports as not being scientifically powerful or meaningful. I concur, but they can be newsworthy and editors like newsy stories. Try not to forget that a freelancer is in business and the business is selling stories. Those who take the scientific high road also tend to eat at McDonald's.

Try to line up clients before the meeting. If an editor knows you will be covering a meeting for him, the next reporter will be told, "Well, sure, but I've got someone else there who is my primary source."

The business of freelancing takes up more of my time that I ever expected. And when you are playing road warrior, there are ways to maximize profits.

Get your plane tickets early. Most meeting dates are established years in advance. Once you realize this is a meeting you need to cover, make your arrangements as early as possible. Airlines have a limited number of really cheap seats and they go fast. The difference in a ticket-especially on overseas trips-can be substantial.

I plan to get to a meeting the day before it begins for a number of reasons, even if it does cost an extra night's hotel fee. Airlines do cancel flights; planes are delayed by weather and mechanical problems. If you have a built-in comfort zone in time, you will be more relaxed. Also, sometimes the flight will be overbooked and if you have time you can get free flights by giving up your seat and catching a later flight.

I try to check as much baggage as possible. I carry only my computer on board. Who wants to drag bags through O'Hare or Hartsfield? Besides, the airline always finds the bags and then they deliver them. But when I travel overseas, I stuff a change of socks, underwear, and a clean shirt into my carry-on bag-just in case.

Although keeping costs down is important, so is your health and mental well-being. It might save you $50 a day to stay in the Days Inn three miles from the convention hotel, but the extra time spent getting to and from the meeting, the cost of cab fares or parking, the task of lugging your computer back and forth instead of leaving it in your hotel room, can more than make up the difference.

If you get sick on the road you often wonder if this life is worth living. But today it is simple to get relief by calling your own doctor and having prescription medications prepared by a nearby pharmacy. In third-world countries, you rarely need a prescription for most common medications. And, surprisingly, if you can't cover something in person, a good press room staff will be able to tape or arrange a meeting with a presenter at a later time. Just get some rest and you'll be ready in the morning. Also, don't be afraid to check into local hospitals. The only places I'd worry about would be in developing countries.

If you embark on this freelance route, try to develop friendships with the rest of us who do this for a living. There is nothing so depressing as being in some strange city and having dinner by yourself. And don't be shy about asking any of us for help on any type of subject. For the most part we are a congenial group and often we know what we are talking about.

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Ed Susman is a freelance writer. When not on the road, he lives in West Palm Beach, Fla.