Diabetes Tech and You Conference 14 October 2023

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Proud to be erratic

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The annual D Tech conference seems to rightly get some promotion on this forum, albeit in a slightly haphazard manner. The 2020 Conference is pinned to the top of this section; 2021 is listed elsewhere (General or Pumping and Tech?) and 2022 gets oblique mentions but no actual promotion.

I thnk this event is useful overall and worthy of at least a mention annually - not least because many (most?) newly diagnosed T1s now get access to CGMs and might find it helpful to get an insight into what is going on behind the scenes on our behalf.

So here is my promotion for this year's Tech Conference. It is free, but needs a registration with Diabetes UK. On Sat 14 October - I think 10am is the normal start time and ends c.2pm. It is also usually available from You Tube for a while after the event.

If a Moderator wishes to move this post to a better / more prominent place - please do so. This event (and other things DIABETES UK annually do) might be routinely annually promoted anyway? Such events are being done to help those of us with D and have the best chance of havng successful outcomes if we can participate or at least listen and maybe even provide constructive feedback for future events.
 
Thanks for the helpful reminder @Proud to be erratic

There’s more information about this year’s conference here:

www.diabetes.org.uk

Technology and diabetes

Technology is changing the way we live our lives and here you can find out how to manage your diabetes with technology, whether it's right for you and what the latest developments in diabetes tech are. What is diabetes technology?
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Thanks for the helpful reminder @Proud to be erratic

There’s more information about this year’s conference here:

www.diabetes.org.uk

Technology and diabetes

Technology is changing the way we live our lives and here you can find out how to manage your diabetes with technology, whether it's right for you and what the latest developments in diabetes tech are. What is diabetes technology?
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk
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Thanks Mike. I have already registered, but the link doesn't include timings (I've assumed 10am to 2pm) nor (yet) slightly fuller programme details. Given that it's 3 weeks away the Organiser is no doubt running around trying to polish the programme - yet needs to tell the audience a bit more to entice us in!

Could the 2020 posting be unpinned and replaced with the latest DIABETES UK trailer, as a matter of course? Along with, perhaps, a reminder that last year's conference can be found on You Tube? Just a thought.
 
Is it online? I can't find the location anywhere in the info (knowing me, I'm probably staring at it and still can't see it)
 
Carlos said:
Is it online? I can't find the location anywhere in the info (knowing me, I'm probably staring at it and still can't see it)
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Yes, it is an online Conference.
 
Looks like they’ve changed the name this year to allow us mere T2s and other non type 1s to hear about tech! It’s always been type 1 tech conference before.
 
Lucyr said:
Looks like they’ve changed the name this year to allow us mere T2s and other non type 1s to hear about tech! It’s always been type 1 tech conference before.
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From the top of the opening page promoting the Conference:

Previously known as the Type 1 and Tech conference, we know that the event is useful for people living with all different types of diabetes who are using tech, or want to find out more about it, so have changed the name to the Diabetes Tech and You conference.​
 
Proud to be erratic said:
From the top of the opening page promoting the Conference:

Previously known as the Type 1 and Tech conference, we know that the event is useful for people living with all different types of diabetes who are using tech, or want to find out more about it, so have changed the name to the Diabetes Tech and You conference.​
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Yes I know. Previously it was only for T1s.
 
Lucyr said:
Looks like they’ve changed the name this year to allow us mere T2s and other non type 1s to hear about tech! It’s always been type 1 tech conference before.
Click to expand...

I think it’s a positive change. Hopefully an indication of more work going on behind the scenes to widen access to different tech options for people with T2.
 
I joined the conference, I thought was quite interesting, though there are things I'd like to see/changes I think would be beneficial. I think an evaluation email was going to be sent out, but I've not seen one yet, has anyone else who attended had one?

As an aside these were my thoughts (sorry they sound quite negative and nit-picky):

In terms of the conference organisation/software/etc.:

* Would be useful to have name of presenter & presentation shown on the screen while the talk is on (in case one misses the intro - might be in the other session, have popped for a comfort break or to make a coffee). This is useful when saying thank you at the end in the general chat, and to direct questions to the right person in the Q&A tab.

* Please, please, please synchronise talk start times so that it's possible to move between streams (this is a big thing in f2f conferences with multiple streams). I'm sure people would be happy with a minute or two break if a talk ends early (for the aforementioned coffee/comfort breaks)

* Please could be have the talk abstracts before or even during the conference - even if these are only a one-liner, it makes it much easier to work out which talks to go to.

These ones below are less important:

* It would be useful for presenters to accept questions after the talk - verbal response might be useful, is there any way to raise hands and ask directly? My concern is that when asking in the Q&A section, the other people watching the talk may miss the answer assuming one actually comes at all - the Q&A section was swamped with posts, it was quite hard to use I think.

* In the scrolling chat alongside the presentations, the chat notifications (i.e. @name stuff) are hard to see (highlight would be good). It's also tricky if you jump between sessions - could they be unified somewhere/viewable no matter which stream you are in perhaps?

* In the networking "rooms" it's quite hard to see the names on the people in the room when zoomed out (i.e. when looking for someone in particular as they have mentioned something in the chat). Could they be bigger please (I've used similar platforms where they are bigger no matter the zoom level.)

* Possibility of topic titles on chat groups in the networking room? Otherwise it's quite hard to know which one to go and join (unless there's someone in particular whom you want to talk to). In a real conference you can wander and listen in on the periphery of a group and see if it's of interest before introducing yourself, etc. - perhaps this can be dealt with in a different way (as I assume the platform has been developed during COVID so is as good as it's going to get), with topics of interest shown under the name of the participants?

In terms of content:

* I realise there's a sponsor, seems to be quite a lot of promo for them (from some of the speakers), but then perhaps the people talking are very happy with what they get.

* Lots of pumps and promo thereof, not much MDI aside from saying how moving to a pumps would be much better. Perhaps true for some or indeed for all, but it's not possible, so it would be nice to deal with what people have to use, that is assuming the premise is indeed true.

Despite all of that, I thought it was interesting and one of the DUK members (Lesley) pointed me to the EXTOD conference in November (which I have registered to attend): https://abcd.care/events/extod-conference-adults-type-1-diabetes - interestingly I thought that project had now lapsed as the website seems only partly constructed. It will be interesting to speak to some of the people involved.

I had also hoped to speak to Charlotte from DUK about smart watches over the lunchbreak, but ran out of time and the chat rooms seemed rather deserted after the talks so I decided to go for a bike ride while the sun was shining. Therefore my fault for not waiting long enough!
 
Thanks @SimonP

Let me know if you don’t get a feedback/evaluation email, and if you’d like me to try to send your feedback directly.
 
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