Hey, guys. Welcome to the podcast. My guest today is George Lehman. He is a medical liaison with Novo Nordisk. And we talk about conferences and the different types of conferences that MSLs attend and how to prepare and how to be successful during conference season. So awesome conversation. This is something we actually haven't covered yet, so I hope you guys get a lot out of this.
Don't forget to connect with me and follow me on LinkedIn and check us out on MSL talk live, which is typically the 1st Tuesday of every month at 1:30 PM EST, and that's right here on LinkedIn. Welcome to MSL talk with Tom Caravella, a podcast specifically designed for MSLs and all things field medical. Hey, George. Welcome back to the podcast, my friend. How are you doing, buddy? I am in health. I'm grateful, Tom. I I'm grateful to be back, and thank you for inviting me again. Yeah, man.
Well, you know, the line behind the George leaving fan club starts behind me. So just keep that in mind. I always like like talking to you and having you on. So, guys, this topic came from George. I thought it was a great one. We haven't actually covered it on here yet. So, we're talking about conferences. Before we do that, George, why don't you do an intro? I'll let everybody know who you are and all that good stuff.
Okay. Great. Before I introduce myself, I want to make sure that, Tom, you always come in in front. You do a fabulous job on this podcast, and so thank you for contributing to the medical affairs community, especially the MSL community. I am George Liman for the people who don't know me yet. I am a pharmacist by training, and I started as an MSL with Novo Nordisk, immediately after my residency in drug information.
And I work with the obesity field medical team, and I cover the South Texas territory. So like I mentioned, I've been in this role for 2 years now, and I'm based in Houston, Texas. So, well, don't ask me about the hit. We're surviving it somehow. And I also want to disclose that on this conversation, I represent myself. I do not represent my company, Novo Nordisk, or any former employer, so the opinions are mine. Again, really excited and looking forward to a great conversation with Tom.
Can't wait, man. Can't wait. So before we jump into it, this episode is sponsored by the Aspire MSL program, which is a coaching program that Sarah Snyder and I developed, and it's an online course step by step guide. So if you're looking to break into your first role as a medical science liaison, go to mslmastery.com for more information on the Aspire MSL Coaching program, and, and try to join us, man.
And we're getting a lot of really good attention from folks, and, we're helping a lot of people. So, let's jump into this conversation about conferences, which is such a big topic. And, George, I wanna cover this from the angle of just really talking to everyone, from people that have never been in MSL before to MSL leaders and hope that this conversation will have something for everyone because a lot of different types of people listen to this, to this podcast.
So to start, let's talk about people hear about MSLs and how they're required to go to conferences. So what does that look like? What are the different types of conferences that an MSL might be asked to attend? Awesome. Great. Yeah. So conferences are an important part of the MSL role. And I for my, understanding and making it simple for other people to understand, I decide to look at the conferences in 3 different buckets. Either it's a conference focused on the therapeutic area.
So, leadership is going to say, based on the therapeutic area, these are the core conferences that you need to attend because there is no group in the United States or or abroad that can attend all the conferences. There are tons of conferences. So leadership has to make a determination which ones are important. There are also the second group of important conferences, which I call them as, internal conferences. These are meetings that can be company wide, can be a medical affairs meeting.
So it's not the entire company, but just medical affairs. And in some companies, we do have regional conferences. So it's, yes, company specific internal, but it is a particular region that is meeting. Then the 3rd bucket, after the therapeutic area focus, the internal conferences, there is this other bucket that I call the professional development conferences. And these are the conferences outside of your therapeutic area and which align with your individual, professional goal.
So if you're looking at organizations like the MSL Society, they have annual conferences. For many people in the medical affairs space, that is a relevant, conference to include for your professional development. And as we discussed, we can go deep deeper into what are the differences in what we do here. We also have the medical affairs professional maps. They also have annual conferences. Drug Information Association, DIA. They also have conferences.
So depending on what your interest is as an MSL, you can go to 1 or 2 of these professional conferences in addition to your internal conferences as well as therapeutic area focus conferences. And as you guys know, I'm a big fan of conferences. I go to a lot of conferences, scientific conferences, and, as George said, you know, the professional development and associations and societies. And, I love Gong. I get to meet you guys, which is one of the things I love most.
I met George at a conference, fun fact. And the first time I met George, he was actually wearing the same jacket that he's wearing right now, the same suit. He is a snappy dresser, guys. Like, if you're if you're not watching this on YouTube, you almost need to go on YouTube to check this out because George is a snappy dresser. But anyway, I digress. So, George, I let thank you for the explanation of the different types of conferences.
But let's talk about, like, when we look at those different types, how do they differ from the perspective of what are MSLs going to do at those different types of conferences, and how does that differ in their responsibilities? Awesome. Awesome. But before I answer that, I would say Tom always has the best spot codes at every conference. So don't believe don't believe him. I just wear a bow tie. Thank you. Thank you for the compliment, Tom. Yeah.
So the 3 buckets, again, this is just my own kind of distinction across the different types of conferences. The 3 buckets that I mentioned earlier, there are some differences, in the activities or the expectation of the MSL at this conferences. So for instance, if we are going to a therapeutic area focused conference, what the MSL is really in there to do is to engage with, thought leaders across the country who are coming to those conferences.
It is to gather insights from the different scientific sessions, poster sessions that are available there. And it is also sometimes, MSOs go to support medical booths. So depending, some companies would send a medical information team. Other companies, sometimes the medical science liaisons would also have a medical booth where they can provide responses to questions that maybe the commercial team brings their way. So you would see at conferences either a combination or a booth.
You have the commercial on one side, then the medical on the other side. That can be staffed depending on the company, either by the medical information team or the MSLs. Mhmm. And at this therapeutic area focused conferencing, since most of the thought leaders and KOLs are expected to be there, it's an opportunity to, in advance, have plans for 1 on 1, meetings.
So if I am preparing to go to a conference, say, in December, and I meet with one of my thought leaders this week, I'm gonna ask, I'm going to be here. Are you going to be there? That way, if we are able to schedule time at that conference, it takes off the load of having to meet again with them when they're back in office. You're really trying to be be be be be be be, to maximize your time, maximize how whatever opportunities.
So because of the depth of science that is at these, therapeutic area focused conferences, MSLs tend to be very, very focused. They're attending this session. They're looking at posters. They're collecting insights and all of that. Now at an internal conference, so if, say, Novo Nordisk has an internal, company wide conference, I will be going there as an MSL, not to gather insights.
I'm going there to learn more about the other aspects of the business, to learn about the business, meet other people within the company, and build those relationships. I want to do cross functional work. But Teams, yes, it's useful. Emails are useful. But meeting 1 on 1 with certain people really helps to start that foundation, strengthen it. So that is the distinction between an internal com company conference and then the therapeutic area focus.
Then when I come to professional development, when an MSL is going out for professional development conferences, you're not expecting to meet KOLs there. You're not expecting to have, a lot of scientific data. You're expecting to meet your coaches, your mentors, people in your network. And you're also expecting to meet people who want to meet with you. So I'm not only coming there to meet people like Tom and my other mentors within the MSL Society of MAPS.
I'm also creating room for the people who want to meet with me because somehow, I am one step ahead of somebody whom they want to meet with me. So I create room for that. So in summary, therapeutic area focused conferences, we're looking at insights. We're looking at scientific sessions, and you're preparing for all of those. If it's an internal com company specific conference, you're looking at who are my cross functional collaborators? Who are the people within this company?
Mentors and coaches and sponsors that I want to build relationships with. And then for IDP, you're now looking at conferences that align with your goals, as a medical affairs expert. Right. Right. And keep in mind, guys, there's such a career development. You know, George says professional development. That's also a career development piece where when you're going out to these events, it's a networking opportunity.
The more people that you can meet with, that you can get to know, that you can establish and create relationships with, the better you're going to position yourself, whether it's internally with internal colleagues or externally for the future.
Because at some point in time, if you meet somebody at a conference, maybe from another organization, just through networking, seeing them on the floor at a scientific event, or at a a an association or society meeting like a MAPS or an MSL society meeting, you meet these different folks. Now you add them to your professional network on LinkedIn. Maybe you start to get a feel for for them and their professional development, what their their professional brand and personal brand looks like.
You start to maybe like, share, post comments, and get to know people whether it's through social media or if you're seeing them at a bunch of conferences. And guess what? Now if there's a situation where you're on the job market, you might see an opportunity at that person's organization. Guess what? Now you're shooting them a note. Hey. It's George. Met you at x y z meeting. I'm on the market. So there was a position advertised with your company. Can you help me out?
That's a very real life scenario and how you could take the experience that you're gonna gain networking at events to help you in your career later on down the road. Yeah. Absolutely don't wanna make misrepresent the fact that you're going to conferences for scientific purposes and to meet KOLs and all of those stuff. There's other reasons why you wanna make sure that you're a good networker at these events. Do you agree with that, George? I 100000 percent agree with that.
At all of these conferences, I have even at therapeutic area focused conferences, met people there whom I didn't expect to meet. I didn't know them within my territory. Maybe I sent a post on LinkedIn. Oh, I'm going to be at this conference. And then someone says, I'm going to be there as well. I work in this space, and I would love to speak with you. Those are some things that have helped.
So it's even though the focus for the therapeutic area is like you're going to a recession, it also gives you more visibility to some people within your territory that either the tools you use to find, your KOLs and thought leaders have not really exposed them. You may go and attend a session or a poster session and you identify 1 more thought leader.
So it's more expanding your list of thought leaders, getting more scientifically grounded at these professional conferences, and all in all, makes you a better MSL and just a better professional overall. I love it. I love it. This is such a great topic. So let's talk about and this is something I'm curious about. Like, who decides what conferences you go to? Is it simply decided by the company? Does the MSL have any say at all in some of the conferences that they attend?
Like, how does that work? Again, I will speak with my limited experience, 3 years of experience, at my current role. Again, I'm not trying to represent the company, but we, as a company, our head for, say, obesity team, they are going to look for conferences that align with the obesity. So either the ones that are called obesity conferences. We have, like, the obesity society. That is an obesity conference. The Obesity Medicine Association. That is an obesity conference.
Then there are other conferences that are related with the comorbidities of obesity. So diabetes is kind of really, obesity and diabetes go together, and other endocrine disorders. Right? So we're looking at maybe the AD, American Diabetes Association. You're gonna see me, my team, and the obesity team there because we know that there is a very strong relationship between obesity and diabetes.
So leadership now determines which are the other conferences that don't shout obesity that are related to obesity. And so people in different therapeutic areas, if you're in oncology space, you'll be looking at ACOG and all those other, oncology conferences. I think that's how leadership decides on that. So, one, does it speak to the therapeutic area and to the strategy? What are we trying to address? And does it give us the exposure to the thought leaders we're trying to meet?
So I will not be going to a conference where I think my thought leaders are not gonna be there. I'm going to obesity medicine. I'm going to OMA, because I know the people who are interested in doing research in obesity are going to be there. So for each person that are put together, that is kind of how higher level leadership makes the decision.
However, I would dare say that if I come across a conference that I thought was relevant, I can still bring it to my leadership and say, I don't know whether, you didn't know about this conference, but I think it's relevant for so and so reason. Then it can be considered for inclusion. Now coming to the local and regional conferences, that's why I'm the CEO of my territory. Right?
That's why they said MSR is the CEO of their territory, which implies that I really don't need to go and ask my manager if I see a relevant local conference happening in Houston, Austin, San Antonio. That's within my territory. So it doesn't those one don't come from a senior leadership. I just maybe need to have a conversation with my manager just for the ones that are kind of just tangentially related.
I'm saying, oh, I think I wanna go to this conference because it's going to expose me to this group. So that is kind of where the therapeutic area decision happens. Yeah. For the IDP conferences, it is based on my IDP. What do I want to learn about? So some people are strong with, say, pharmacy organization. They want to go to those. For me, personally, I want to learn more about medical affairs, so I'm going to pick those ones.
Yeah. So to make it short, for the therapeutic area, national conferences, leadership decides, the MSL may have an opportunity to contribute something if they come across something that was relevant and kind of missed by leadership. Good stuff. Yeah. And just guys, just so you know, IDP means individual development plan. So that's when George is talking about that professional development piece.
And, you know, maybe trying to raise his hand to get to some of the, the the meetings that go on each year where where you can try to grow professionally. So awesome. So we covered I think I I like the way we're going with this. So we covered a lot of the foundation of, you know, what these conferences different types of conferences are and, and also how you wind up getting assigned to go.
So let's just say now you're assigned to go to a conference and it's let's just say it's a scientific conference. What are what's what are the goals of the conference? What do you what does the company want you to attain when you go to one of these? Yeah. I would say the role of the MSL is to be that conduit for scientific information between the company and the outer community. So the conduit can be the way out or the way in. So we're at the conferences.
Depending on whether I'm at the booth, then I'm the way out for data that people will be giving for for from me. Or I am sitting at a session. I'm collecting insights on what is out there. I am sitting at a session either listening in to key topics, understanding the trends, And this is the one among the 3 that we are expected to have a deliverable. You have a conversation or a report to leadership. This was the experience here, and these were the core things that we picked from here.
This is how it informs strategy. Just depending. And each team is going to have differences. Maybe another team will just say, document your insights, and that is enough. For another conference, they'll say, maybe you have to write a summary report. What were the key highlights? What were the key takeaways? And those are the things that would help leadership in the future to determine, do we need to continue to go to this conference? Do we need more medical liaisons to be at this conference?
Given, say, the breadth, the depth of the science, do we need more boots on the ground for a lack of a better word? Do we need to send more people there? So those are the things that we do, the sit in sessions, listen to the presentations.
The other important thing I want you to to mention, especially when it comes to these scientific, conferences, is also to know who you need to speak with and who you don't need to because there is compliance and regulation around your interaction with, international or foreign based HCPs. There is also guidance on interacting with the press. There is also guidance on interacting with the regulators. So if someone comes and say, I am from the FDA, you would know. Right?
But most often, they don't come and introduce themselves. So you are the MSO. You want to always make sure compliance is at the forefront of everything you do. So I would start and say, I am George Lehmann. I work for Novo Nordisk at the Obesity Medical Unit on top of this part of the country. May I know where you're coming from and what your practice looks like? That can help. You say, oh, I work with this press. I was like, oh, yeah. I may not have the right to speak with the press.
I work for these regulators. Alright. Then you want to really be on your toes because if you just go out speaking, to everybody, you can give information to an international audience which is not true for their case. Is the product you're talking about approved? Are the laws about the product the same? So those are the things to keep an eye on to be aware you're trying to gather as much information. You're trying to tap insights, but you want to make sure you're getting it from the right people.
Some conferences make it easy and say, for all the, US based HCPs, you'll see blue tags. Maybe for non US based, you'll be seeing yellow tag. Maybe the press may have a green tag. If you don't have time to read all of that, then you wanna make sure that you're asking for people to fully introduce themselves before you engage with them in any scientific conversation. Something I always keep top top of my mind for those, large conferences. That's good insights.
Because it is interesting as to, you know I like that idea of discussing who you should talk to and who you shouldn't talk to. But it makes me think, as you're going out to these events and these conferences, is there this goal or target of how many people you should see? So you have an idea on the types of people depending on the event. But is there, like, a metric per conference, per event on the numbers and what you what what good looks like versus not?
Yeah. Let me I'll speak in general terms. So metrics versus no metrics. Some some teams have metrics. You need to meet this number of people. You need to document this number of insights. Some teams don't. And I think that is merit in both ways. The teams that don't have specific metrics, whether at conferences or within your territory, They're giving you that CEO authority. Go out and execute as you need to execute in order to align with strategy.
This is our strategy for for the year, maybe as a team, maybe as a region. Go out and execute, which implies that I determine if I am part of such a team without metrics. I determine who I need to see and why I really need to see them, how often I need to see them. Now in another team, they have metrics. You need to see this number of people. If you're at the booth, we want you to hand out this number of package inserts. There are benefits to that. You're gonna meet more people.
There are also conversations on how in-depth, how relevant is that conversation if it is a check the box kind of conversation. Right? So there are those are pros and cons for both of them. You say, I don't have metric, then I just go around, and I'm jumping around the city doing tourism instead of work. You say, I have metrics, then I spend the whole time doing busy work, and I'm not able to really bring something of impact.
But I I I think the best overall culture is the one where there is just some strategy, some bigger strategy you're trying to fulfill. Whether you have the metrics or you don't have, what is your work? How is your work impacting or informing strategy? And how what is the return on investment for you being at this conference? So that's kind of what I I I look at. What is the return on investment? Is it the number of people you met or the number of thoughtful conversations you had? Yeah. Awesome.
Yeah. I mean, you bring up some really good points. I and I I do think that there is, there is nuance to this. And I think you you obviously think like a business person, and and you have a very keen sense of keeping the the the business goals in the company in mind and and being strategic enough to know how to navigate the, the event and make the most use of your time in who you're seeing and how many people you're seeing. Because you're right.
If you just go into it and you're like, well, I'm gonna talk to as many people as I can, that's not the best use of your time. Because you're gonna have conversations that may not necessarily, need to happen. Now granted, I think it's always good to meet a lot of people, you know, but you have to really, you know, try to remember, you know, how are you actually making the best use of your time. So that said, we should talk about pre conference planning.
Because in order to make the best use of your time, you should put some some pre conference planning into effect. So let's talk about how important that is. And let's start with, do you have different preplanning protocols for the different types of events that you may go to see or participate in? Yes. Like, even, like, within the territory, precall planning is key. Right? There is almost no value in taking a meeting for which you have not prepared adequately.
So if I'm assigned a conference, I need to start looking, especially so let's start with the therapeutic area conferences. If I have to go to a conference in San Diego, that I think that I need to do beforehand to see how I really prepare for this. 1, speak with the thought leaders within my territory to see who is coming. That is part of a pre call planning.
If they say yes, they are coming, or I'm not coming, but I have this collaborator who is gonna be there, can we have something on the calendar? Right? Can they work on their calendar and say, we're gonna meet at this time for coffee, for lunch, and all of that? That's part of the pre call planning. Some of the conferences would actually post a list of, say, the speakers. So you can run through the speaker list and the sessions and everything and see who is coming from my territory.
So sometimes I can go to the conference, depending on how good the website is, and I just go to speakers type Texas and see who is coming from Texas, whether it's someone I know or someone I don't know. Then I start seeing how I can build something, how I can schedule time and opportunity to meet when we get to the conference. Then the other thing I mentioned earlier is that I just post on LinkedIn. I will be at this conference.
I'm not trying to let people track me, but the people who want to meet with me, again, I've had people reach out. I said, oh, I've been really planning to meet with you. I do this kind of work. I would also be at this conference. Then we can agree on a time. That is pre call planning. Looking at the different sessions and agreeing on this is what we're going to prioritize is also pre call planning because some of these conferences have tons and tons of sessions.
Some of them have sessions happening at the same time. So you need to look at, okay, if there are 4 of us going and there are 6 sessions, which 4 do we need to make top priority? And the 2 that we can deprioritize, do they have options for recorded sessions that I say, let us prioritize the ones that are not going to be recorded, and then we can listen in, to the recorded sessions after? So those are all things that we really need to consider. Do they have an app that the conference is using?
And does that app has an opportunity to send invites to people to schedule meetings? I've had conferences where I just play on the app, and I see someone. Oh, I didn't realize this person was here. Again, it depends now on company policy on whether it's allowed to connect with anyone because they showed up on that app versus not. So those are things that it's always good to discuss with leadership. How are we using this app for this conference? Can we use the app?
Everyone is saying, I'm going to be there. Does that mean they open up for connection? Or we just take down the name and try to find them when we are there. So those are some things that we do for the pre call planning, looking at the speaker list, looking at the sessions, and prioritizing them, and seeing if there is a conference app. Now if I'm going to an internal meeting, my work is not to see who is coming. It is a company wide meeting. Then I know most people will be coming.
The question is, who do you really want to meet? And so I jokingly said to one of my, some of my friends that I call it my shopping list. So I'm making a I make a shopping list of some people within the organization. Either I want to learn more about their job. Either we had a conversation that started and I need to follow-up, either I am looking for just some exposure. Right? But who is that one person?
If this internal company wide, conference were to last one day instead of the 4 days, who is that person you wanna make sure you meet on day number 1? And what do you want to tell them? Because there are many people. So I so I don't go to internal conferences without a plan. I do plan. Sometimes I'll send an email, and I say, hey. I think we can meet. We are both going to be here, and I have the free time between this or during this lunch. We can sit together.
It really doesn't need to be a private room kind of meeting. Right? But you just want them to know you would love to connect. Same for the IDP. If I'm going for a individual, professional development conference, I can look at the schedule. I can post on LinkedIn. I'm going to be at this conference. And then I see who is coming. I look at the speakers who are gonna be speaking there, like I have for some upcoming conferences. Hey. I saw you're going to be speaking at this conference.
Excited to connect when we when we are there. Somebody said, oh, yes, George. I'm in. And then I'll just go and do the next step. So whether for the therapeutic area, the IDP, or internal meetings, I'm looking are there some restaurants around the conference center? Are there some restaurants around the hotel or convention center? Well, I can just do an open table reservation for 2, for 3 at different times of the day. No one charges you. Right?
Such that, one, you come across as really being prepared. You've thought about all of these things. You've thought about what you want to discuss. You thought about how much time I already had a place for the 2 of you to sit. So you're not finding the you don't you don't go have an opportunity to meet someone, and you finally don't have where to take them for lunch.
So I do all of that as part of my pre call planning, make sure I know who is coming, get a reservation at different places, different times, open table. I hope they don't cancel my account soon. But I just do that. Side I say, oh, I'm open for Tuesday morning. Okay. I already had a breakfast reservation somewhere and and things like that. So those are some some of the things that I do for pre call planning. I know people do other things differently, but those are the few that come to mind.
I mean, really good stuff, George. Excellent. I mean, so much to unpack there. I love the I love your quote. I I you know, there's a quotable in there that there there's no value to a meeting or a conference without pre call planning. And I think that that is very true. If you don't put any time in in in advance, you're you're not gonna get the same out of it.
And and I love the idea and just the notion of prioritizing and really understanding before I go in there, who do I really absolutely need to meet? I think it's really important. And I love the ideas of making reservations ahead of time and having a place to go. I think it all those things are really, really super smart. And it you know, even just talk about how you still need to prepare for internal events as well. It's not just the the events, the external events that you have to prepare for.
So I think those are it's tremendous, tremendous insights. But now it leads me to the follow-up, right, and the post call part of it. How important is that? And tell me how you navigate that piece. Awesome. Yes. And back to the pre call, I actually, the past 2 weeks, I was busy at a conference, and I realized I didn't have the time to prepare for a meeting that I had in Houston. So I sent although I didn't say, oh, I didn't do my pre call planning.
I said because of travel disruptions, I don't think I will be ready or I I I don't want us to have a less than optimal meeting. Can we push this to the next week? And the thought leader was so, so appreciative that, one, I'm not just considering coming to sup from him. I also wanna make sure that I am prepared enough to respond and be present to what their needs are. So those are some things about pre call planning. Sometimes, we really, really want to make sure we don't miss any meeting.
And we try all of that only to miss the next and future meetings. If I don't really feel a 100% for this meeting, for some combination of reasons, I keep that away. That's part of my pre call planning. Now for post call, we've attended this conference. Some people might have presented, and I didn't have the time to talk with them. What did I capture in their presentation that I want to follow-up with them? So for the people who attended, what kind of things do I need to follow-up on?
Oh, I really loved your presentation on this. Oh, I loved your objection to this, presentation, this data that was shared. I was in this room, and you said this. I just didn't have the opportunity to meet. I really want to get into the depth of what your thoughts are around that particular data. That's kind of an email that can be sent. Or we might have dinner. Oh, thank you so much for generously offering your time. We really appreciate this this this part of the conversation.
It's not just a, I'm glad we met. I'm glad we met because of this. I'm glad we met because of these points you we shared. Right? That way, your thought leader really knows that you're invested in the things they are saying enough to remember what they said. So it's not just, oh, I love your your it was good to meet with you. That's not enough. It was great to meet with you. Thank you for coming out to lunch. I love how you explored or argued this data.
And I think in our next meeting, we can build more on this conversation by this new paper that just came out or something like that. And that is the post call. For the people who weren't there, sometimes, depending on how much data came out, hey. I just came back from this conference, and there was a lot of new data on this area. I know you specifically had expressed interest in that. Open for a meeting in the next 2 weeks? Then that's how to just keep keep following up.
So anybody you meet with, you want to make sure that there is a mechanism, whether it's someone you knew or someone you did not. But you want to make sure you have a mechanism for that post follow-up, like post conference follow-up, which is one of the things I make sure keep a list and a little bit of notes on what I want to say. Awesome. Yeah. It's great advice. But what happens to your territory while you're gone? Like, I'm it's there's so much that goes on.
We're talking about pre call planning, post call planning, all the stuff that you're doing. You go to these conferences and so who's who's watching the store when you're gone? How do you navigate and keeps keep things going? Yep. That is why I call myself mister CEO of South Texas. Yeah. So it's always thoughtful. Right? You're going to be gone. What are some things you need to do? 1, you can block your calendar so, internally, people can see that you're gone.
And you can also have this automated email response to anybody trying to reach out to you in within that period. So I'm actually out of office for a conference. Within this period, I'll be back by that time. So that if someone emails you, they can understand why you did not respond, as promptly as you normally do, without which they'll be saying, oh, wow. So this guy is not ignoring me. So that helps in one way.
And, again, then maybe because I posted earlier that I'm going to be at this conference, people may understand or remember. I also do clear time for certain meetings that are important, and some of the thought leaders who are very, very busy. I don't cancel all meetings. The virtual space is something we still continue to utilize. So I can look at my conference schedule, the sessions I have to attend, adjust for time zones, and I still keep some meetings on my calendar that are virtual.
So I can still take those meetings without needing to move everything around because of one conference, because it's hard to get these meetings on the calendar. So if I have a meeting already on my calendar and I have to be at a conference, then what session do I need to attend or not attend in order to accommodate this meeting in order to take this meeting? So we're still kind of away from the territory, but our ghosts and other parts of our body should be working within the territory.
Either, again, the the emails sent back, the the the then taking virtual meetings. So those are the things that we I do, the automatic out of, office respond that I I I I do make sure to have it. So You're a superstar, man. You're a superstar. So I'm sure whatever it is you're dealing, you're finding success at these conferences. You're finding success in your territory, and you're putting all this together because you're a superstar. I appreciate you, man. Thank you for coming on.
You're awesome. Oh, thank you so much, Tom. I just, again, want to use this opportunity to appreciate you for this podcast. It gives a lot of education out. I've had many people reach out to me. I'm trying to become an MSL. Where do I go? I say, come and listen to the podcast. You're gonna get a variety of topics. And the one thing you shared with me lately that was so important is that little spreadsheet you had of the different sessions and the topics that you touched.
And I was curious enough what topics have not been addressed. Because when I was thinking about this, I didn't just wanna come and throw something at you when it had been addressed. So that was really helpful. I do share that with some of the people who I call they call me mentor, who who reach out for me to me for guidance. And they they they use that to prioritize what, episodes of the podcast they need to prioritize. And, again, it's about prioritization, making the first things first.
So I'm really excited to be here again. Thank you for the invitation, and, always open to connecting. You're always welcome here, my friend. And you are a mentor, and you are a leader. And just keep doing what you're doing, man. You're you're an inspiration to so many people. So thank you for being here. Thank you for coming up with this topic. And, thank everyone, all you guys out there for for listening to this podcast and for sharing it, and, and for being so loyal.
I appreciate you guys, and we'll see you on the next episode. Thanks, everyone. Thank you so much for listening to the show. And if you enjoyed it, please subscribe so that you don't miss an episode in the future, and feel free to leave a rating or a review or a comment. Thanks again, and we look forward to seeing you soon.