A Saturday morning's work
At a favourite cafe on a Saturday morning, finishing the talks for two conferences next weekend: COMA 2017 in Sydney and ACASEA 2017 in Mumbai.
Ella and Beckett are providing moral support.
What goes into a conference talk
A scientific talk at a surgical conference is usually short, and the preparation takes far longer than the delivery. The data has to be checked, the argument reduced to the few points an audience can realistically retain, and the slides built so that they support the spoken word rather than duplicate it. Anything that cannot be defended in the question session afterwards has to come out before the talk is given.
Two talks for two different meetings in two countries in the same week means two different audiences, each with its own interests and its own assumptions about what counts as standard practice.
Why surgeons present at conferences
Presenting is how surgical knowledge is tested before it becomes accepted. A talk puts a method, a series of cases or an idea in front of a room of people who do the same work and who will say so if they disagree. That scrutiny happens earlier and more directly than it does through journal publication, and it often shapes the paper that follows.
Attending and presenting also keeps a surgeon's own practice under review. Hearing how colleagues in other countries approach the same problem is the most reliable way of noticing a habit that has quietly stopped being current.
Related information
The talks are covered in our posts on COMA 2017 and ACASEA Mumbai. See also our research and publications pages.