Current Workshop Offerings

I have been getting a lot of requests for in-person workshops recently. Here are some workshops that I've offered previously or have ready-to-go.

I strongly believe that students get the most out of workshops if they have to do some work before heading into the classroom, and then the classroom learnings are followed up with post-course assignments. All participants in my workshops gets some sort of personalised feedback on their work; and all workshops include in-class activities and opportunities for participatory learning.

If you're interested in any of these, please let me know. I'm very open to travel outside of Montreal. Typically I ask for a minimum six people to run a class. An overhead projector that I can hook up to my laptop is required for all my workshops. A whiteboard or flipchart to write on during the workshop is also really appreciated.

Finding and Assessing Literature
Duration: 2 hours plus pre-course and post-course assignments
Internet access is required to run this course
This introduction to finding and assess bibliographic literature in the health sciences focuses identifying pertinent, credible and current sources of information for medical writing projects. Topics include getting the most out of PubMed; search engines/databases other than PubMed; and other credible sources of information, like textbooks, authoritative web sites, government databases, NLM Gateway, Cochrane reviews, etc. The workshop also includes tips on developing a search strategy, narrowing down search results, keeping record of your search results, and assessing the strength and relevance of the literature found during the search.

Understanding and Critically Evaluating Clinical Research Articles
Duration: 2 hours plus pre-course and post-course assignments
Medical writers frequently have to assess clinical research articles to determine if they are pertinent, credible and current sources of information. This workshop reviews some of the elements of evidence-based medicine, study design, common ways of presenting data, and basic statistics. Participants will learn how to critical assess methodological quality of a study, and identify its strengths and limitations. The anatomy of a research article will be discussed.

Copy Writing Basics for Pharmaceutical Advertising in Canada
Duration: 3 hours plus pre-course and post-course assignments
Recommended skills: some comfort reading clinical papers; basic knowledge of charts, graphs and tables; prior exposure to pharmaceutical advertising is useful
There are many important differences between pharmaceutical advertising and non-'pharma' advertising, such as a tightly regulated environment, a multilayered approval process, and differences between the 'target' of the advertising and the end user. This workshop reviews the basics of pharmaceutical advertising and copy writing, including approval processes, developing copy, making sure your manuscript has the appropriate balancing copy and footnotes, keeping track of references, and tips for making sure what you write is "layout-friendly".

Developing Slides and Slide Notes for Oral Presentations
Duration: 3 hours plus pre-course and post-course assignments
Good slides and slide notes can make all the difference to an oral presentation, whether it’s a presentation of results at a conference or a CME activity. This workshop will review the basic principles for creative effective slide presentations, including creating a good logical flow of information, effectively conveying key messages, creating slides that complement the oral presentation, avoiding common mistakes, referencing and citing sources of information. Creating slide notes for different types of presentations will also be covered.

Upcoming AMWA Workshop in Montreal

How to ensure your website never makes you any money as a freelancer
American Medical Writer’s Association meeting, Wednesday, Oct 6th, 2010
Location : La Milsa Poisson, 1431 Bishop, Montreal (just North of St. Catherines.)

The American Medical Writer’s Association (AMWA) invites you to our next networking meeting on Wednesday, Oct 6th at 6:45 pm entitled “How to ensure your web site never makes you any money as a freelancer.” Andy Gural presents a tongue in cheek talk about how to improve your web presence. Both AMWA members and non-members are welcome to this dinner meeting. There is no charge other than what you order for your own food and beverages.

Please RSVP to medicalwriter@videotron.ca by Monday, Oct 4th at the latest so I know how many chairs to tell the restaurant to set up, but note that you will not receive a confirmation.

Location : La Milsa Poisson, 1431 Bishop, Montreal (just North of St. Catherines)
514-282-6666
www.lemilsa.com

Organizer:
Crystal Kaczkowski
Freelance Medical Writer/Copywriter
514-585-3077
medicalwriter@videotron.ca
www.medwrite.ca

AMWA Dinner: Professional Uses of Social Media

The Montreal members of AMWA-Canada are planning an informal open roundtable discussion on the Professional Uses of Social Media at Stash Café, Old Montreal, on January 28th. I'm sure there will be some gem of information for everyone, whether you're new to social media or already using some of the tools. Here is there announcement:

AMWA Open Roundtable: Professional Uses of Social Media
How many remember the good old CompuServe, AOL, Prodigy or other proprietary dial-up days? 9600-baud modems? Audio couplers? Those ISP services are the rudimentary forms of the social media we use and mostly take for granted today. The AMWA Canada chapter hosts a moderated discussion of some social networking tools/environments in current use.

Especially useful for medical writers are AMWA's own listserves, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. We’ll also mention the free, self-administered network creation tools Ning and Yahoo Groups.

Bring your own experiences, tips and ideas to share with other medical writers on successfully using social media to enhance your professional context and generate business. Discussion will be moderated by AMWA member Everett Larsen, who also serves as President of STC Montreal.

Where? Our favourite Polish restaurant…

200 Rue Saint-Paul O
Montreal, QC H2Y 1Z9
(514) 845-6611
www.stashcafe.com

6:30-8:30 pm, Thursday, January 28

Please RSVP to medicalwriter@videotron.ca by Monday, January 25th so I can let the restaurant know how many people to expect.

Any technical questions about the content to be covered should be addressed to Everett at larsene@primelink1.net

Everett Larsen & Crystal Kaczkowski