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I’ve worked with Scimcon as a Project Lead for around seven years now, but have worked alongside the team there for much longer throughout my career. My role involves a lot of problem solving for customers, bringing the ability to look at complex informatics projects in the early stages and plan where we want to be in the future. Working with Scimcon allows me to get the most out of my practical-minded approach to various informatics projects. There’s a diplomatic element to the role as well, making sure that customer expectations are met and providing business-to-technology translation for our customers. As someone who has worked on both the lab side, the vendor side and now in consultancy, I have experienced the entire project process from planning through to execution.
During my time with the company, I’ve learnt that it is vital to look at the wider picture when delivering informatics consultancy and project leadership for clients. It is not solely about the technology, but the process and the change that we are trying to implement. After working with a variety of laboratory software companies, I’ve learnt the value of change management and giving clear guidance to customers. Overall, I am very fulfilled with my role and feel that each day is varied which keeps things exciting.
I originally did a degree in biochemistry, which led me on to the start of my career working in a pathology lab in the West Midlands for around 5 years. In my mid-twenties, I moved on to a pathology software company and the realm of technology. Throughout my career, I have worked in a variety of IT and lab-oriented roles. For example, I spent 15 years at LabVantage initially as a business analyst, moving upwards to become a Project Manager and then in charge of professional services for the European region. This was what introduced me to Scimcon, as they delivered some consultancy work for a mutual customer at the time. I worked closely with Geoff Parker and David Sanders, on a variety of implementation projects.
One of our biggest projects when I worked for the vendor, and Scimcon was also involved (before I was working directly with them) with a top 5 pharma company, which took several years to complete. There was a huge workforce, with regular site visits taking place most weeks. Scimcon also had 3-4 employees working on the project, along with Co-Founder Trevor De Silva. As a Project Lead, Scimcon strategised with me (as the LIMS vendor) to create a solid project plan. They helped to bridge the gap. Next, we worked for a testing and inspection company in Belgium, and Scimcon contributed in a similar way as before. They acted as an intermediary between vendor and customer, to measure the scale and requirements of the project, which is exactly what I find myself doing now.
During my time working for a vendor prior to Scimcon, I found myself increasingly pulled to the HR side, and was eager to get back into the science and back at the coal face on scientific technology systems. While my work with Scimcon is still very people-focussed, it’s allowed me to balance both my communication skills with my love of science.
The variety of projects we get at Scimcon has kept things interesting. I’ve completed five projects in the last seven years, all of different lengths and requirements, and worked in a variety of new areas that were previously out of my comfort zone. For example, after many years working in life sciences, last year I worked alongside a materials company, in charge of manufacturing batteries and the recycling process. Although I had no experience in this area, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and picked up a lot of new knowledge. With the types of projects we lead, you cannot look at our work as technology: you must look at it as process change. If you take a software into a lab that people have not used before, it is disruptive to them. So the role of the Scimcon lead is not only to be familiar with the software but to manage the change successfully. I have worked with many suppliers of software – from LabVantage Solutions through to Thermo Fisher, Waters, Dotmatics etc – but what is more important is my ability to understand the lab and the people. The software itself is almost incidental.
Working with Scimcon has also shown me the importance of diplomacy when managing projects. I try to maintain a passive approach to problems that arise, working through them in a controlled, systematic way with both client and vendor. Having worked on both the vendor side of lab informatics project management, and seeing the customer standpoint, I have experienced first-hand the value of Scimcon’s consultancy services. For large and complex projects, we mediate between client and customer, drawing out a clear set of tactics and ways to communicate any issues or challenges along the way. I enjoy working collaboratively with each party to create a productive path forward, something which I have enjoyed in my current project with an international biotechnology company.
I’ve been working remotely for many years, long before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, so I was well and truly prepared for the switch. In a sense, the transition towards remote working on a global scale has normalised the way I worked previously, so it is something I am well adjusted to. Since the pandemic, travel has increased slightly but on a periodic basis. I travel on-site to the Netherlands around once per month to visit the customer I’m currently supporting.
Technology improvements in the last few years have also allowed me to better deliver my services from home. It means customers can connect with us a lot more easily, as things are becoming more localised. We can communicate with customers and companies across the world via Teams calls and other virtual conferencing platforms. I’ve found that the expectation with most projects is to travel to site every 3-4 weeks, which in turn saves on travel costs and is better for the environment.
I’m very much into sport, particularly football (a Wolverhampton Wanderers fan through and through). I’ve had a season ticket for the past 30 years, and have been attending the matches since I was a young child. I’m also fond of the NFL, as a supporter of the Miami Dolphins, I make the commute to London every October to watch the games. Across the board, I like most sports-watching and take part myself on occasion. I used to play 5-a-side on a weekly basis, until the pandemic got in the way, and more recently I have taken on badminton to try and stay active outside of work.
Travelling is also hobby of mine, and my wife and I bought a holiday home near Alicante, Spain during the pandemic. We viewed the villa virtually and saw it for the first time in-person when we arrived to collect the keys! The pandemic definitely marked a change in priorities for me – as the world became remote, we were saving on daily expenditures, so decided to invest in a holiday home instead of a swanky car at a time people generally weren’t really driving far. We travel there frequently, and I’ve invested in a keyboard and monitor to ensure I can work remotely from there with ease.
My wife and I love to travel, in the past we’ve visited America, Singapore, Cape Town and more. We went to Thailand at the beginning of the year which was a highlight, and we have a few trips on the horizon including an RV road trip around Canada next month. We’re also planning to go on a cruise around Alaska, so plenty of trips to keep us busy.
My favourite travel destination is Hawaii, as the scenery was beautiful. Japan was also another favourite, and we travelled around the country on the bullet trains which was a fascinating experience. We are very independent when it comes to travelling, maybe that’s the Project Manager in me. I enjoy planning everything down to the T.
I’ve always been really interested in technology, which inevitably led me to the career I’m in now. My passion for tech began as a teenager, when I invested in the early computer models such as the Commodore and Spectrum, and I bought a PC when owning a computer was quite unusual. This passion has grown over time, and I enjoy the seamless experience of modern technology. Devices were less user-friendly back when I was developing an interest in tech, so I would always be fiddling around with settings to get the most out of my system. I usually get frustrated when devices are badly interfaced, which is what sparked my original interest in LIMS – I was a frustrated lab user! Part of what I do is make the technology work for customers, and ensure they get the most out of it. Giving customers the same pleasure that I get out of successfully operating technology is very rewarding.
Naturally, my home is equipped with all kinds of technology and smart devices. For example, we have Sonos speaker systems surrounding our home, and five televisions in total. We also have Amazon Alexa speakers in various rooms throughout the house. Another tech addition is my virtual reality headset, used mainly for gameplay. Ironically, the internet in our Alicante holiday home is faster than the one at our home in Shropshire, which gives me another excuse to travel out there more often.
For more company news and updates, follow Scimcon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scimcon/
Trends in the lab informatics landscape in 2023?With our sponsorship of SmartLab Exchange Europe and US earlier in 2023, and our sponsorship of FutureLabs this week, we’ve developed a view of key insights on what is happening across the lab informatics industry, and where priorities lie for lab-centred organisations globally. We have also provided insight into the areas budget-holders are looking to invest in new technologies.
Attending conferences globally means that our team can provide key insight to share with fellow informatics peers. Face-to-face interactions provide an opportunity to receive instant feedback and insight into lab informatics trends, which we can extract valuable data from.
Having spoken to delegates in North America and Europe this year already, we have identified some of the high priority investment areas for lab informatics in 2023 by comparing what is important to event attendees, who include representatives from leading pharma, biotech, material science, crop science, FMCG, and food companies. Of the global companies who attended, more than 120 people were polled:
Figure 1 represents the data from both SmartLab Exchange Europe and US, to give an overall view of lab informatics priorities across the entirety of 2023 thus far:
The graph also demonstrates other key lab informatics investment priorities (from the EU and US summits), and these include:
We can see a real trend towards intelligent systems this year, as data consolidation and reusability take centre stage and budget-holders looks towards automation, both physical and within software systems, to reduce the risks of human and manual errors. This isn’t a trend that’s isolated to a particular lab sector either – we’re seeing similar trends across all sectors.
Extracting feedback from delegates at conferences in all geographies means we can identify patterns in the data in order of priority. While Figure 1 highlights high priority investment areas, Figure 2 shows exactly what delegates at SmartLab Exchange Europe and US are planning to assign budget to in the next 12 months:
From Figure 2, we can see that immediate investment priorities for SmartLab Exchange Europe and US attendees are as follows:
From both events in both geographies, we can see that automation and digitalisation rank highly in terms of investment priorities for 2023. Laboratories are technologically innovating to suit growing capacity and speed to market. Automation also substantially reduces the risk of human error, as repetitive and manual tasks can be carried out with ease using automated solutions.
We also learn that lab users are prioritising areas such as lab scheduling, method development, data governance, connectivity, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML). As throughput expectations increase for labs around the world, the need to digitalise and streamline operations is more prevalent than ever. The aim of many laboratories is to increase efficiency within the lab, and digitalisation acts as a catalyst in this process.
You can find our team between Wednesday 31st May – Friday 2nd June at FutureLabs Live, where we’ll be developing more lab informatics insights from fellow sponsors and guests. Stay up to date with our LinkedIn, to be notified of other tradeshows Scimcon is attending this year.
Visit Scimcon at the event and contact us directly to book a conversation, to learn more about how we can support your lab informatics projects.
Meet Scimcon: Lynda Weller?My journey with Scimcon began in 2021, as an Informatics Project Manager. I was approached by Scimcon’s recruitment consultant regarding a must-see role for the business. This arrived at what felt like an inopportune time for me, as I was relocating to Cornwall with my family.
After completing several interviews and meetings, I secured the project management position. My first project at Scimcon was managing a laboratory information management systems (LIMS) deployment to the UK government Lighthouse Covid-testing laboratories for a major life science instrumentation vendor.
The Lighthouse LIMS project lasted for around a year. The Scimcon Co-Founder, Geoff Parker, then presented another project opportunity to me, which began around a month later, in May 2022. My role involved providing Information Systems project management, business analysis, as well as client engagement and consultancy to a major biotech based in the Netherlands.
I enjoy the continuity that Scimcon offers. I like to work on longer assignments and, although I work remotely, being part of a team of like-minded people is a refreshing bonus. In my previous roles, I have worked independently at different locations with no company support. At Scimcon I’ve been able to form lasting work relationships.
The current project I’m working on is scheduled to be completed next year (2024), we have carried out the work in phases to ensure that each aspect of the client brief is being met. Working from my home office with visits to the client’s site as required means that I can work flexibly, and I am supported by the Scimcon team of experts who can be contacted when I need some extra help.
My background is in software and programming, working with life science organisations to roll out informatics projects and IT services. Prior to working with Scimcon, I had been an independent contractor since 2009, helping an array of companies to meet their software goals. My first contract was with Johnson & Johnson, which took around twelve months to complete. It was very structured; the client already knew what documentation and training consultancy they required. I then moved on to Takeda, which progressed from a three-month initial contract to a longer contract, and eventually for a couple of years as a permanent employee. My time with the company came to an end as they closed the offices I was employed in.
Remote working is something that has benefitted my new lifestyle in Cornwall. Home-office working has become much more acceptable – especially now we have the appropriate technology at our fingertips to ensure that work is carried out efficiently without sacrificing the personal touch. I visit the client’s site at regular intervals, as needs arise, and it makes a refreshing change to meet the remote team face-to-face.
We moved to Cornwall to be closer to our family and we spend a lot more time with them enjoying the fantastic area we now call home.
Our house was a couple of miners’ cottages and dates back to the 19th century. It has been renovated previously but we have continued with them and now turn our attention to the garden.
My husband and I love motorcycle touring. You could say we took our gap year later in life, touring Europe, the United States and many other destinations. We also take part in long distance rallies which has enabled us to travel to some of the most scenic places of the world, capturing authentic photography along the way. I ride pillion and to help us remember our adventures we document them on our website.
I love to read on my kindle, my favourite genre is fantasy and I enjoy reading personal stories such as biographies (motorcyclists, pop stars, even the rogue Ronnie Biggs). I went to see Miriam Margolyes in her Dickens women’s production, and she set me the challenge of reading the entire Dickens collection. It took me a year but I succeeded, though it’s something I wouldn’t want to do again!
My favourite travel destination is New Zealand. During our ‘gap year’ we went with one of our friends, hired motorbikes and just rode round, booking accommodation as we went. We had fantastic weather (which I understand might be unusual!) and really enjoyed riding in the beautiful scenery.
Ironically, I wouldn’t describe myself as a particularly tech-oriented person. I am one of those people that needs to do something three or four times, then it sticks. I can pick things up when it comes to software, as I started my career as a programmer. I use my PC and headset for daily work duties. My phone also stays with me for mundane activities.
I have a lot of technology throughout my home, including a large television with surround-sound speakers, an Xbox, Firestick, a Shield, and numerous Sonos speakers around the house. The best part is that we have a universal remote control for all our TV devices. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop me from clicking the wrong button now and then, especially where it’s a touch screen.
Nonetheless, I do love tech. I use a kindle to read, which goes everywhere with me. As soon as the pre-Kindle e-readers came out we started using them on our bike tours – imagine trying to fit 30-40 books in the panniers! I love that I can read in bed without a light and have the text as big or small as I like.
Working alongside Scimcon has enabled me to implement my skills and industry experience, to provide the highest quality information systems (IS) consultancy for our clients and customers. My longstanding relationship with Scimcon is one that I am proud of, pioneering the way to make science more connected.
For more company news and updates, follow Scimcon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scimcon/
Industry leader interviews: Jana Fischer?Our team at Scimcon is made up of a talented group of interesting individuals – and our newest recruit Ben Poynter certainly does not disappoint!
Ben joined our Scimcon team in July 2022 as an associate consultant, and has been working with the lab informatics specialists to get up to speed on all things Scimcon. We spoke to Ben about his experience so far, his interests, background, and what he hopes to achieve during his career as an informatics consultant.
So, I studied Biomedical Science at Sheffield Hallam University, which was a four-year course and allowed me to specialise in neuroscience. During my time at university, I created abstracts that were presented in neuroscience conferences in America, which was a great opportunity for me to present what I was working on. My final year dissertation was on bioinformatics in neuroscience, as I was always interested in the informatics side of biomedical science as well.
Once COVID hit, I moved into code work, and worked in specimen processing, and then as a supervisor for PerkinElmer who were undertaking some of the virus research. When things started to die down, I began working for a group called Test and Travel (not the infamous Track and Trace initiative, but a similar idea!). I started there as a lab manager, training new staff on lab protocols for COVID-19, and then a month into that I started working more on the LIMS side – which is where I ended up staying. I wrote the UAT scripts for 3 different companies, I performed validation on the systems, I would process change controls. I then moved to Acacium as LIMS lead there, so over the course of my career I’ve worked with a number of LIMS and bioinformatics systems, including LabWare 7, LIMS X, Labcentre, WinPath Enterprise, and Nautilus (ThermoFisher Scientific).
In the early stages, I would have to say it was when Jon and Dave led my first interview, and Jon asked me a question I hadn’t been asked in an interview setting before. He asked me ‘who is Ben Poynter?’. The first time I answered, I discussed my degree, my professional experience with LIMS and other informatics systems, and how that would apply within Scimcon’s specialism in lab informatics consultancy. Then he asked me again and I realised he was really asking what my hobbies were, and how I enjoyed spending my free time. Since starting at Scimcon, I’ve been introduced to the full team and everyone is happy to sit and talk about your life both inside and outside of work, which makes for a really pleasant environment to work in. Also, it seems as though everyone has been here for decades – some of the team have even been here since Scimcon’s inception back in 2000, which shows that people enjoy their time enough to stay here.
I’ve been given a really warm welcome by everyone on the team, and it’s really nice to see that everyone not only enjoys their time here, but actively engages with every project that’s brought in. It’s all hands on deck!
So, my main hobbies and interests outside of work are game design, as well as gaming in general. I run a YouTube account with friends, and we enjoy gaming together after work and then recording the gameplay and uploading to YouTube. We are also working on a tower defence game at the moment, with the aim to move into more open world games using some of the new engines that are available for game development.
In addition to gaming and development, I also enjoy 3D printing. I have a 3D printer which allows me to design my own pieces and print them. It’s a bit noisy, so I can’t always have it running depending on what meetings I have booked in!
Technology is a real interest of mine, and I’m really fortunate to have a role where my personal interests cross-over into my career. The language I use for game design is similar to what I work with at Scimcon, and the language skills I’ve developed give me a fresh perspective on some of the coding we use.
At the moment, I’m working on configuration for some of the LIMS systems I’ll be working with at customer sites, which I really enjoy as it gives me the chance to work with the code and see what I can bring to the table with it. Other projects include forms for Sample Manager (ThermoFisher Scientific), making it look more interesting, moving between systems, and improving overall user experience. It’s really interesting being able to get to grips with the systems and make suggestions as to where improvements can be made.
My first week mainly consisted of shadowing other Scimcon lab informatics consultants to get me up to speed on things. I have been working with the team on the UK-EACL project, which has been going really well, and it’s been great to get that 1-2-1 experience with different members of the team, and I feel like we have a real rapport with each other. I’ve been motoring through my training plan quite quickly, so I’m really looking forward to seeing the different roles and projects I’ll be working on.
I’d really like to get to grips with the project management side of things, and also love to get to grips with the configuration side as well. It’s important to me that I can be an all-round consultant, who’s capable at both managing projects and configuration. No two projects are the same at Scimcon, so having the capability to support clients with all their needs, to be placed with a client and save them time and money, is something I’m keen to work towards.
For more information about Scimcon and how our dedicated teams can support on your lab informatics or other IS projects, contact us today.
Scimcon sponsors SmartLab Exchange and identifies priority themes for 2022 lab informatics?Scimcon, the decades-strong leader in scientific informatics for the lab, has announced in 2021 that it has made a company-wide commitment to support Blood Cancer UK. After years of ad hoc charitable donations, Scimcon has decided that from 2021 the company will support one charity, and going forward all its charitable donations will be related to fundraising in the cause of Blood Cancer UK.
Geoff Parker, our co-founder explains: “When we really thought about it, it makes sense to ensure that the entire company aligns behind one cause. A company’s charitable contributions are not insignificant over time, and that’s why we are determined that every dollar and penny of our charitable contributions going forward will all be donated to our charity of choice. This means that every member of staff in Scimcon understands that from this year, without fail, we will all support this charity.”
Blood Cancer UK is a community dedicated to beating blood cancer. They do this by funding research and supporting those affected. Since 1960, the charity has invested over £500 million in blood cancer research, transforming treatments and saving lives. Right now, the Blood Cancer UK community is funding 167 researchers and staff across the UK who are searching for the next breakthrough. The day we will beat blood cancer is now in sight, and the charity’s researchers are determined to finish the job.
The charity also campaigns for change, helping to make sure that people get the healthcare they deserve, and that new treatments that come from research breakthroughs are available on the NHS.
Geoff adds, “As scientists working with scientific companies, Scimcon is committed to investment in science – it is our lifeblood. The fact that Blood Cancer UK is funding lifesaving research appeals to our ethos as a business. You only have to read the most recent annual report from the charity to learn what their money is spent on: Survival rates have improved dramatically over the last few decades, and even over the last 10 years we have seen blood cancer survival rates increase faster than survival rates for other cancers.”
In 2020, investing in life-saving research remained at the heart of their work, with the announcement of £6.5 million of new research funding. This money was spread across 15 projects, supporting the work of 169 researchers at 30 research institutions. This included a series of projects focused on acute myeloid leukaemia, which has one of the poorest outcomes. The researchers will identify better treatment targets, test the potential for repurposing existing drugs, and develop new ways to predict which patients will respond to current treatments.
They are also funding research that will look at how a key gene drives cancer development in children with Down’s Syndrome. Two Lymphoma teams will look at the role of the Epstein Barr Virus in the development of lymphomas, focusing on lymphomas and other blood cancers that develop as a result of treatment in people who have had an organ transplant. Blood Cancer UK also funded new research in myeloma, that will look at how myeloma develops and how patients respond to immunotherapies.
Thanks to previously funded research, there were 117 papers published in scientific journals during 2019/20. These papers covered a wide range of science, from laboratory research to clinical trials, and covered the full range of blood cancers. Geoff explains “In our small way, Scimcon might be working with companies who contribute to this mammoth effort. Our customers in laboratories worldwide are part of this great community, and Scimcon believes that money is only part of the effort to save lives. We are proud to be associated with Blood Cancer UK as our charity of choice.”
To learn more about the life-saving work Blood Cancer UK does, visit www.bloodcancer.org.uk
Scimcon goes carbon neutral?2020 saw the migration of in-person events to virtual. Although this was a difficult decision for many organisers, online events do present organisers with the opportunity to reach their audience in new and innovative ways.
As a follow up to his first blog, we caught up with Luke Gibson, Founding Director of Open Pharma Research, about his experience moving Lab of the Future online in April 2021.
We debated going virtual for quite a long time, whilst many events organisers around us made the jump quite quickly. We looked at a lot of different platforms but had some doubts, as we are very sensitive about putting out a poor quality product and we know that you can’t just mimic online what you offer in person.
So, we decided to dip our toe in the water with our range of Digital Dialogues, which are essentially a variety of debates and discussions which keep us talking with our community. Following the success of these, we took the plunge and went ahead with our virtual conference in April 2021. It went really well, and not only did we learn a lot from the event, but we managed to reach a lot of people as well – we had 1,500 registrants, and at any one time we had over 550 people online in at the same time.
It definitely appeals to us to explore this approach further. We were growing anyway, and every time we hosted a new Digital Dialogue we were reaching new people, so there are definitely positives to moving online – you get a wider audience, it’s more accessible for a lot of people, and it does really allow you to go global.
On the flip side, the interactivity isn’t the same as with an in-person event. Physical events gather a lot of momentum each year they take place, and we had exciting growth expectations, which do tend to flatline when you pause physical activity. Stimulating the activity of people online takes a lot more management as well, but there are definitely elements we can take forward. On the whole though, I think people are looking forward to a return to physical events.
In terms of technology, the conference industry has actually had the opportunity to go virtual for around 20 years now. Although we’ve known that everything can be delivered online, we’ve continued with physical events, and it’s because they give you that human interactivity which can’t be mirrored online. The same sentiment can be applied to concerts – it’s just not the same streaming a live show as it is being in the crowd, and there is also a higher level of technology risk, such as those experienced in the recent Glastonbury event where users weren’t able to log in.
Virtual events don’t allow you to break down barriers the way that comes naturally in a physical environment, such as just chatting with someone in the coffee queue. Because you have that shared experience of being at the same event, you already have that common ground that opens up communication. A lot of people attend conferences due to the networking aspect, which can only occur when you’re surrounded by like-minded people.
So I think the value of physical conferences has been reinforced by their absence. However, our Digital Dialogues have been wonderful and relatively easy to do, so we’ve gained from this experience and will definitely look to continue those in the future. The debate we face now is what would hybrid events look like? There is a lot to consider; the main thing is that, rather than compromising and delivering an event that is part virtual and part physical, you need to offer a virtual component in addition to a full physical event. For example, you want to be able to host an event that is open to people who may not necessarily be able to travel or attend in person, so that would be an addition to the event. What you don’t want is people deciding to host talks and keynotes from the comfort of their own office because it is easier than making the trip, losing the network opportunity. Physical events would be the goal, with virtual access as an added opportunity.
The speed at which vaccines were brought to market to target COVID-19 has been an incredible win over the last 12 months. It has allowed us to break down the assumption of “we have to do things this way because that’s how we’ve always done it.” If we use the COVID-19 vaccine development as a case study, we can apply this attitude to other areas within life science. What else can we do in half the time? How can we unlock innovation?
This goes further still in showing us that scientists are able to work in different environments too. I think a lot of scientists have been surprised by what they’ve managed to achieve even when they’ve not been able to go to the lab. When people have an appetite to see the job through, and are trusted to deliver on their objectives, its remarkable to see how they can adapt and push through. It creates a whole other mindset, which feeds into notions of what the Lab of the Future looks like.
Realistically, we’ve always been focused on the innovation and the people. We’ve looked at the data and the technology, but it’s the people that make everything happen. This whole experience of 2020 and 2021 so far has been a disruption, and any disruption that makes you stop and think differently about how people work is part of Lab of the Future.
Going forward, we would prefer to hold fire as opposed to putting something out that’s only halfway there. So, we’ve decided that we’ll be hosting virtual again in the Autumn, on 26th & 27th October 2021, and return to physical events in Boston, MA in Spring 2022 on 22nd & 23rd March, and Amsterdam, Europe on 3rd & 4th October 2022.
One thing we did note was that the energy of the keynote speakers was truly remarkable. We felt it was important to host our talks live, so our presenters were collaborating on developing their presentations, so they got a lot out of it, and that was really reflected in the enthusiasm of their messages. Working together provided energy, which really came across, and having these events live and interactive definitely added to the buzz of these talks.
Another key take-away was the role played by attendance analysis. Although it is useful being able to monitor activity through analytics, it has a potential flip side. We had to really blend our conversations with any product discussion to ensure that it wasn’t a case of people ‘skipping the ads’ in a sense and only tuning into case studies. We blended discussions on the variety of solutions with operational content from life science practitioners to make it one conversation, so this wasn’t an issue.
I think a lot of events organisers may have some trepidation around the use of data, as it can give you perhaps more information than you want to know. But a bonus on that point for us is that you gain a real insight into customer profiles, which in turn makes it easier to communicate and highlight relevant areas. We’ve definitely learnt from our experience of hosting the event virtually, and I think we’ve proven to ourselves that it is possible to deliver a great product, at times different to our expectation and our business plan! We’ve found a new way of working, and even with 30 years of experience each, we’ve challenged our past learnings and we’re now looking at how this could shape our future – which is exactly what Lab of the Future sets out to achieve.
Scimcon is proud to sponsor Lab of the Future, and we can’t wait to see you at the Autumn virtual congress on 26-27th October 2021. Contact us today to learn more about our participation in the event, and visit part 1 of our conversation with Luke to learn more about Lab of the Future.