T2B Monthly | November 2024

As we approach Thanksgiving in the U.S. and start looking toward the winter holidays, do you find yourself in a reflective mood?

Us too. Lots of firsts this month, and one second:

• FIRST ex-U.S. meetup (hello, London!)

• FIRST member in Africa

• FIRST Fast Pass ad hoc open forum discussion (MAHA edition)

• FIRST T2B Pro members signed up

• SECOND annual Pre-JPM Press Pass panel announced

But we’re just getting started, and we’re prepping for some big developments (like T2B Pro going live in January 2025).

So, without further ado, let’s look at what’s coming up for the T2B community in the home stretch of 2024 and the start of the new year.

Today's email is 1,275 words, a 6-minute read.

In This Edition

📸 T2B programming snapshot for the rest of 2024

» Deadline for 2025 Peer-Learning Practicum Cohort Leads to Apply - Saturday, November 30th | Details here

» Second Annual Pre-JPM Press Pass Panel - Tuesday, December 3rd, 12-1 p.m. ET | ​​FREE panel with life science journalists and JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPM) veterans, Oliver Barnes (FT), Brad Loncar (BiotechTV), and Gabrielle Masson (Fierce Biotech).

» Pre-JPM Webinar: The Science of Storytelling - Thursday, December 12th, 12:30-1 p.m. ET | FREE 30-minute webinar with seasoned health tech comms consultant Erin Schmidt exploring what makes a story work on a neurological level and how to apply those insights to create high-impact narratives that stick.

⏰ Don’t miss your T2B Pro discount!

Until this Saturday, you have the chance to save $150 off a T2B Pro membership (launching in January 2025).

The first 50 people to put down a nonrefundable $50 deposit will receive a 15% discount, meaning you have access to the incredible networking opportunities, career-boosting professional development sessions, and time-saving resources in the community for one year for just $1,000 $850.

That works out at about $70 a month.

T2B community membership eligibility requirements apply.

🔥 Gear up for JPM with our Dec. 3rd Press Pass Panel

This time next week, you'll be back from the Thanksgiving holidays and ramping up for JPM.

Get a head start by tuning into our December 3rd Pre-JPM Press Pass Panel with Oliver Barnes (Financial Times), Brad Loncar (BiotechTV), and Gabrielle Masson (Fierce Biotech) to hear what's on their mind and how we can support the stories they're looking to tell.

Free for the T2B communicator community. Advance registration required.

💬 You asked – we delivered

We want T2B to be a place where you can communicate openly and honestly with your peers and ask questions you’ve been ruminating over.

But that can sometimes be daunting if you know other community members.

A few people have been asking for somewhere to ask questions anonymously – questions like how to handle comms department reorganizations, or how to communicate value to leadership teams.

So, that’s what we’ve created.

Today we’re launching an anonymous #AMA Slack channel, where you can ask whatever you like, without anyone knowing who you are.

🗓️ T2B programming snapshot for January 2025

» Zen Before JPM Yoga Event  - Sunday, January 12th, 3-5 p.m. PT (RSVP required) | Divine Yoga Studio, 406 Brannan St., San Francisco

» T2Bmeet @ JPM 2025 Reception - Monday, January 13th, 4:30-7 p.m. PT (come and go, RSVP required) | FleishmanHillard, 720 California St., San Francisco

» January Comm Convo: T2B’s 2025 Blueprint - Thursday, January 23rd, 12:30-1 p.m. ET | Zoom

🌍 T2B has gone global!

Despite the chilly weather, our first event in London brought together 20+ biopharma comms pros to network and join a Q&A with special guest, Endpoints deputy editor Reynald Castañeda.

And this month, we welcomed to the T2B community Austin Ayaosi – our first member in Africa!

Austin is a Lead Analyst at a consulting firm in Lagos, Nigeria, and was inspired to join T2B because he wanted opportunities to co-learn, network, and share his professional experiences with other biopharma communicators.

Austin is a cup-half-full kind of guy, and says that “Always keep a positive attitude” is the piece of advice which has had the biggest impact on his career so far.

Click here to learn more about Austin’s journey.

📰 November Biopharma Beats Bulletin

This month, we’re shining our spotlight on Huanjia Zhang, Science and Healthcare Reporter at GenomeWeb.

Huanjia covers a wide range of topics in the multi-omics and molecular biology field, including sequencing technologies, partnerships and projects, financial reports and global sequencing sales, clinical applications of omics, and industry trends and financial reports.

Huanjia says that “GenomeWeb is small and nimble” and that “they give you the freedom to take your pitch and go with it.”

🚨 RFK, Jr. has been nominated as HHS secretary

We sprung into action earlier this month to organize a Fast Pass discussion on the topic of RFK, JR being nominated as HHS Secretary.

We were advised to:

• Buckle up! Treat this as an ongoing crisis comms scenario, and assume chaos.

• Avoid relying on soundbites. Go to the source – listen to that full podcast episode or Fox News interview.

• Fall back on your corporate values amid the uncertainty. Maintain clarity on what’s most important to defend, and avoid being derailed by speculation.

Find out all of the takeaways from this session and join the conversation over on LinkedIn.

👀 Seen on social

Who's ready to get digitally cloned? 😉

I know it’s a scary thought, but it’s becoming more of a reality – just take a look at what Rowan Cheung’s AI avatar has been able to achieve.

His avatar has taken over his social content with remarkable success.

Your first reaction is probably that this kind of AI could never be used in our industry – there is already a lot of red tape in biopharma, especially when it comes to digital marketing. Plus, there is already a recognized trust issue in the industry.

Research conducted by Angela Dwyer – our November Comm Convo guest speaker – shows that, in our industry at least, the purpose/trust factor directly correlates with reputation, and the ability/trust factor impacts sales/purchase. Adding avatars into the mix provides one more avenue for mis/disinformation.

Will avatars further impact our ability to build trust among the public?

The reality is that AI avatars are coming, and they’ll soon be part of our everyday lives.

This poses fascinating questions for us as biopharma communicators: How can AI impact our workflows? Could it help n=1 comms teams scale their content? And could it help us make our content more accessible (for example, by quickly translating copy into different languages)?

Did someone forward this to you? T2B membership not required to get our emails.

Or better yet