About the Conference

This was our third Conference so we knew what to expect.  We learned however that in Japan, pharmaceuticals  can’t talk to end users and certain items like cannabis can’t be discussed.  So many topics that we wanted such as new drugs coming to market, current stage 3 trials, etc. were not available.  Some studies were in the poster sessions.

The Conference Days were pretty much :

8-9 am  Hot Topics  Covering 4-5 topics in an hour in large theater

9-9:30   Awards session

9:30-11:30   Plenary with four topics in two hours

Lunch 11:30-1:30 but there are still lighter sessions and poster presentation tours (researchers and grad students).  There were also special sessions in the vendor fair area and time to see the vendor fair itself.

The afternoon consists of workshops, choice of 3 topics 1:30 to 3 or 3:30-5 with about 12 smaller roundtable discussions on a first come basis.  In the Conference book, the sessions are designated as Basic Science, Clinical Science or Comprehensive Care and as “crosstalk”, moderately scientific or highly scientific sessions.   Events after 5 were primarily for professionals.  Wellness sessions such as Yogi, Tai Chee, Boxing, singing, etc. were available all through the day from 7:30-5:30

Most sessions were in English with headsets available for Japanese  translation.   Some sessions were Japanese only, some sessions had English slides on one side of the room and Japanese slides on the other.  The Wellness sessions had a translator working with the speaker.

So there is no way that one person can cover every topic.  We generally went to separate places.  The WIFI was usually available which made it easy to meet back up.  This convention center was very spread out so between that and taking the subway, we walked over five miles a day.

So because of the limitations, the main topics were:

• Non-motor symptoms
• Stem cell research
• Living Well
• Support Groups and other Reference Material
• Nutrition
• Pain Management
• Young Onset