IBMS Communications Officer Ayesha Pindoria highlights the recent changes to #IBMSChat and how members can get involved and choose topics of discussion.
As many of you may already know, the IBMS hosts an #IBMSChat on Twitter on the first Wednesday evening of every month. By setting an hour aside to specifically interact with our members on a given topic of relevance, we aim to encourage discussions and hear directly from you about the issues and questions you have about your careers or day-to-day duties in laboratory medicine.
At the start of this year, we transitioned the #IBMSChat from a Twitter conversation using hashtags, direct messages and replies to a more interactive, live-audio format – using Twitter’s “Spaces” function. This has enabled us to invite speakers to directly engage with our member community. With a recording available straight after the talks, it also means that members can listen again and record as part of their CPD.
Rob Dabrowski, Editor of the Biomedical Scientist, has taken on a presenter position, posing questions to our speakers and leading the conversation in a way that our members can truly benefit from. Our latest #IBMSChat Twitter Space brought Stuart Dawe-Long, Andrology Lead at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, and Rob together to delve into the topic of men’s health – a pertinent issue in the lead-up to the annual awareness campaign of Men’s Health Week.
Stuart shed light on the vital issues surrounding testing in andrology laboratories and the unique, patient-facing role played by biomedical scientists in this area of the profession. We saw many of you get involved by tweeting questions and comments, engaging wholeheartedly with the conversation.
Another of our recent sessions that was highly successful at generating engagement online at the time of the Twitter Space, and also afterwards through playbacks of the recording, covered the future of Harvey’s Gang. Initially established by founder and IBMS member Malcolm Robinson, Harvey’s Gang has now been transferred to the IBMS as its new custodian.
The new live-audio format allowed Malcolm’s dedication to his work to really shine through, as he delivered an emotional speech about how he set up the charity after meeting Harvey for the first time, and what he hopes to achieve through this incredible initiative. Members were also able to speak to Malcolm and ask him questions, either by becoming a speaker or using text through the chat function.
In future sessions, we encourage listeners to feel free to raise a hand to request to speak, to help make the sessions feel more and more like open and collaborative forums where everyone has a say. If you wish to get involved in the discussions by just tweeting at the IBMS or direct messaging us, though, this is still always an option.
We are always on the search for speakers and topics for our upcoming Twitter Space #IBMSChat sessions. If you want to get involved with potential speakers from your laboratory, or if you know a colleague that may want to take part, please contact us at [email protected].
Through the monthly #IBMSchat, we will continue to provide our member community with engaging and thoughtful discussions covering all areas of biomedical science.
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