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- T2B Monthly | March 2024
T2B Monthly | March 2024
New AMAs, Next T2Bmeet, Patient-Focused Comms and More
Lynnea Olivarez
March 21, 2024
Happy Spring! More daylight = more time to engage with our T2B community, yes? Whether you have attended our first couple of Comm Convos, liked our LI posts or been following along on Slack, thank you for making space to connect.
Today's email is 1,766 words, a 7.5-minute read.
In This Edition
🎙️ NEW Reddit-Style AMA Series 🔥 Communicating for Impact Fireside Chat With Sarah MacDonald 🤝 T2Bmeet @ BIO ☀️ T2Bmeet Sponsorship Opps ✏️ Keeping Comms Patient-Focused | 💬 Hot Takes 📰 This Month’s Bulletin ✨ Community Voices & Insights 🎟️ Fierce PR Summit Discount 🌐 Peer-Learning Spotlight 👀 Seen on Social |
April 23rd: I’ve Placed 400+ Biopharma Comms Candidates at 150 Companies. Ask Me Anything.
We’re piloting a new Reddit-style AMA series following T2B member feedback from a recent post-event survey. In our inaugural session, Scott White, a seasoned recruiter, will be fielding your questions, from strategizing your next career move to unlocking the power of your professional network.
Hosted on T2B Slack with the option to submit questions anonymously, this is your opportunity for a frank, off-the-record chat—whether you’re completely satisfied in your current position or actively job hunting. After registering, T2B will add you to our new #ama channel in Slack. Join there on April 23rd @ noon ET! Like our Comm Convos and other programming this year, AMAs are free and open to the T2B community. |  |
April 3rd Comm Convo: Service-Driven Success With Sarah MacDonald
Did our new AMA catch your eye? Great! But before that, definitely don’t miss our next Comm Convo with the brilliant and inspiring Sarah MacDonald, CEO of Life Science Cares. If you haven’t met her before, you’ll see within five minutes that she’s indeed both of those things and way more.
With a foundation in journalism and public affairs (DYK she has a Master’s in journalism?), Sarah exemplifies how storytelling and effective communication drive success in both leadership and philanthropy within the biopharma industry. This fireside chat will focus on the practical application of these skills to enhance corporate engagement with communities, energize employees, and build meaningful connections.
Why Attend?
Understand the role of communications and storytelling in promoting community engagement and supporting social impact initiatives, highlighting the importance for biopharma companies of all sizes.
Explore how service-driven strategies can enrich professional development, improve company culture, and strengthen industry-community ties, drawing on Sarah’s experience and insights from C-suite leaders.
Identify practical ways to incorporate volunteering and social responsibility into corporate practices, emphasizing the impact on health equity and the broader societal value.
☝️ Friendly reminder: Comm Convos are free but open only to our T2B community. Confirm your eligibility, and complete our two-minute intake form if you’re not already a member.
Save the Date! T2Bmeet @ BIO. June 4th. Be There.
We had so much fun at our inaugural T2Bmeet @ JPM; we knew we had to do it again ASAP. This come-and-go networking breakfast is free and open to all T2B community members. Whether you're based in SoCal or visiting for BIO, we hope to see you on June 4th in San Diego! |  |
☝️ BIO International Convention registration not needed, but advance breakfast signup is requested. If you're new to T2B, first confirm that you're eligible and fill out this form to join our community.
Let Your Brand Rise and Shine With Us
A variety of sponsorship opportunities are available, whether you're keen to support our growing community or show your commitment to fostering connection—or both.
Maximize your brand’s visibility with our targeted audience of biopharma communicators for up to three months: before, during and after our upcoming breakfast mixer!
What to know:
More than half of T2B’s 230 members cited networking/idea exchange as their #1 reason for joining our community.
At the time of our first T2Bmeet @ JPM in January, our breakfast spurred 15% T2B membership growth.
All T2B members are subscribed to our newsletter and most follow us on LinkedIn. It's likely our community and broader brand following will see your org’s branding more than once, regardless if they attend.
Let’s Remember to Keep Comms Patient-Focused
Patient advocacy and affairs leader Jen Helfer recommended several specific examples of “people-first” language as replacements for more traditional terms that can often sound cold and well, clinical. Take a listen to these suggestions in our first March Comm Convo highlights reel, and better yet, let’s start adopting these across our industry! |
There were so many more actionable insights from this month’s fireside chat! Stay tuned for more highlights reels, including tips for partnering with patient advocacy organizations (PAOs) on trial recruitment and how PAOs can inform broader comms strategy.
View our top 10 takeaways on communicating with and about patient communities here. The full event recording (1 hour) is available for free to the T2B community in Slack.
Hot Takes on Patient Advocacy Through Effective Communications
Under the umbrella of this month’s theme, we’ve had a broad-ranging discussion spanning what the term “patient advocacy” signifies, the importance of including the patient perspective in corporate messaging and even best practices for patient advocacy communications.
Here are some of the highlights from March’s weekly community discussions:
🔄 Whether you’re just starting to develop your patient advocacy strategy or a seasoned pro, consistency is key when sharing updates with PAOs. ❤️ Genuine patient-focused content is vital to corporate and product branding, and demonstrates a commitment to patient communities that resonates with all stakeholders. We agreed that real patient experiences can humanize messaging, too. 🙋♀️ Effective patient advocacy communication hinges on routine involvement and cross-department collaboration to ensure messages are consistently supportive and patient-focused. 👥 Authentic patient representation in communications fosters community trust and engagement, shaping a corporate identity that's truly patient-focused. |
This week we dive into specific tactics for working with media to incorporate the patient perspective.
This Month’s Biopharma Beats Bulletin Features Jef Akst of BioSpace
Jef Akst, managing editor at BioSpace, knows a thing or two about science reporting. After 15 years at The Scientist, she made the jump to BioSpace in 2023 and already feels like she’s a “big part of a small company.” In the March edition of Biopharma Beats Bulletin, Jef gave us the rundown on her key priorities at BioSpace, as she builds out infrastructure for robust editorial content. Remember to include BioSpace on your embargoed media outreach lists! |  ⬆️ Don’t miss Jef’s lighting round—more in Slack! |
Read more about the two primary ways Jef delineates news coverage, pitching pet peeves, and her events/conference schedule in the full bulletin, available on T2B Slack.
“My priority is to increase the volume and depth of our features… do more in-depth features, longer features, enterprising features, more investigative work—really growing that side of our editorial department.”
Community Voices & Insights
This month we’re featuring Ryan Boehm of MassBio in Pulse Narratives! Similarly to many of us, the pandemic prompted him to take a critical look at his circumstances.
In Ryan’s case, he made a big career transition, from state government to becoming a dedicated comms practitioner. 🔎 He says, “To tell the whole story of the Massachusetts life sciences cluster is to uncover how the biotechs here are impacting patient lives, addressing inequities and access, contributing to the community, and working together. The storytellers embedded in the companies are where those narratives live, and that’s who I want to get to know.” |  |
📣 Nominate your favorite life science communicator to be featured in a future Pulse Narrative.
Special T2B Promo: Fierce Pharma PR & Comms Summits Discount
Last month, we debuted our first partnership, liaising with Fierce Pharma to augment their 2024 Rising Stars program. Early-career communicators participating will gain complimentary admission to the West or East Summits, and will have access to special programming and professional development opportunities designed to turbocharge their summit experience. (West Summit Rising Stars application deadline is April 19th!) More info here.
But we didn’t stop there! As part of our partnership with Fierce, we're providing a discount for these upcoming events. 🌟 Use the promo code T2BVIP at registration for 20% off the cost of admission. This code is valid for either the West or East Coast Summits:
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This special pricing is exclusive to the T2B community. 🤔 Not a member? Sign up below!
Peer-Learning Practicum Spotlight
🤩 25 T2B members. 4 cohorts. 13 locations. All career levels.
T2B’s Peer-Learning Practicum (PLP) is connecting the best and brightest biopharma communicators, creating a place where ideas flow freely and nothing is off the table. 📚
We'll be spotlighting a few of the participants in the Class of 2024, giving us a peek into their unique experiences and insights gained by being part of our inaugural PLP.
February’s cohort meeting discussions zeroed in on last month’s theme of thought leadership. Stephanie Koenig, Communications Specialist, shared her takeaways. She says that connection is key to being an effective thought leader:
🎤 Commentary should always be “newsworthy” and capture the interest of a wider audience, not just internal stakeholders. 💡 Digging deeper to find personal connections and unusual perspectives can make a client or company’s story a lot more compelling. 📬 Don’t be afraid to pitch seemingly niche stories to larger, non-trade publications, but remember to have an authentic voice and perspective. |  |
Even if you’ve spent years in the biopharma trenches, differentiating between various FDA drug designations can still feel, uh, dizzying. Who gets what designation, and why? How many designations are even out there?!
That’s why we loved seeing this post Nicolas Hubacz last week. He provided a super helpful breakdown of all the various FDA designations—chart included! We particularly found the side-by-side comparison of approximate timelines insightful.
One LinkedIn commenter said they would be keeping this post at their desk for future reference… That’s not such a bad idea. 🧐
