I wanted to put together a quick post mid-AEC to highlight a new (and for many, invisible) dimension to this year’s conference.
For those of you attending the NSGC Annual Education Conference in Boston this week, you’re likely keeping busy hopping between talks, committee meetings, networking functions and catching up with old friends and colleagues. You’re listening to experts in our field discuss new and relevant topics in our profession, and exchanging your thoughts on the lectures with the person you are sitting with.
If you aren’t able to attend the AEC this year, you may have perused the preliminary program and made note of the topics, but that may be the extent of your connection to the AEC content.
But, what if those of you not attending could check-in on the ongoing conversations happening at the AEC? What if you could listen in on the highlights from the talks, and hear attendees reactions to the material? You can! Twitter allows instant access to the conference dialogue. For the first time, the conference organizers have designated a Twitter hashtag (#AEC2012) to help ‘organize’ or ‘amalgamate’ the online conference conversation. Whether you have a twitter account or not– just click on one of the following links in order to access real-time AEC reactions and discussions:
- #AEC2012
- #NSGC2012
- You can also access a live stream of a combination of the two twitter feeds on The GenoScape blog.
This has benefit not only for non-attendees. As an attendee, Twitter has enhanced the conference experience for me immensely. I love being able to “listen” to others reaction to the same material I am processing. It is like being able to read someone’s conference notes over their shoulder. I’m always surprised by the difference in what others take away from the same information that I am listening to. And I like being able to silently interact with other conference goers (usually strangers) in order to gain access to another perspective.
Laura Hercher (@laurahercher) and I (@alliejanson and @GenoScapeGC) are both at the conference and actively tweeting throughout the day. We are also occasionally tweeting from the @theDNAExchange account. There are a numer of other notable GC tweeters here as well: @ASanSmith, @GeneticCouns and @dcheatherc.
Whether you’re attending the conference or tuning in from afar, I encourage you to join in!
The DNA Exchange 
Thanks for greeting the word out that there are several of us live tweeting the conference. My tech-savvy husband introduced my to twitter and at first I didn’t really “get” it. But I’ve since found twitter and other social media can be great tools for continuing the conversations that occur during the sessions and for sharing the information with those who are not able to be at the conference. I would love to see more genetic counselors on twitter leading discussions on genetic information both at conferences and year round!