1st Conference Desk Person smiles - and says:
”Hiya! What’s your name?”

MG says: “Michael Gradisar”

MG thinks: *yep - she’s stopped smiling now. She’s so confused by my family name, that she’s already forgotten my first name. Why couldn’t I have a surname like “Lack” or “Short”? Even “Huberman” or … *

2nd Conference Desk Person says:
”Name?”

Blurry Person in my peripheral vision says:
”Lisa Meltzer”

MG thinks: * OMFG! Lisa F#ckin Meltzer! OMFG - say something! Don’t just stand there motionless! This is your chance! Introduce yourself. Say how much you’re a big fan of …

2nd Conference Desk Person says:
”Here you go Dr Meltzer”.

MG thinks: * She’s leaving. She’s going. You can still say something. Say something man! *

1st Conference Desk Person confusedly asks:
”How do you spell that?”

MG deflatedly says: “With a G” …

The Joys of Sleep Conferences

It was the end of a whirlwind European trip, and I was attending the International Pediatric Sleep Association conference in Manchester.

It was a time to present some of the research my team was wrapping up - a time to learn more about sleep before it hit the scientific journals - a time to network with sleep experts.

It was also 2012, and I was a small fish in a big pond. No one really knew me. I was the one standing alone amongst many groups of people - waiting outside the main lecture hall for the first awesome speaker - Dr Jodi F#ckin Mindell.

The chance to network at this conference was huge. I mean, Lisa Meltzer and Jodi Mindell. So many times I had read a paper or seen a book with those two surnames together.

And Jodi didn’t disappoint. What an amazing keynote. She moved around the stage, continuously engaging her audience. Enlightening us with her rich research revolving around a single question - “Does your child have a sleep problem?”

I exit this talk feeling inspired - my mind buzzing about a research idea … ah! There’s my group of Dutch friends - Julia Dewald, Anne-Marie Meijer, Annette van Maanen and Marcel Smits.

I just visited them in Amsterdam. Adopting that weird role as an ‘opponent’ for Julia’s PhD defense (that was primarily spoken in Dutch … I don’t know Dutch by the way … and yep, a Dutch person said a joke in Dutch and everyone laughed … do I laugh as well? That’d be weird … anyways …)

Suddenly we’re approached by a well-dressed women speaking in an American accent …

Well-Dressed Woman: “Hi. I’m Tamar Shochat.”

MG thinks: * Ah. Finally! we get to meet face-to-face *

Tamar says to me: “I know, right. All these emails and now we get to meet face-to-face.”

MG thinks: *oops. I spoke my thoughts out loud. I hope I don’t do that again.”

Inbound vs Outbound Conference Networking

Conference advertisements often describe networking opportunities - and that is absolutely true.

But what actually happens is a series of inbound and outbound opportunities.

For example, I got to meet a true-thought-leader Tamar Shochat without having to move my feet. She approached me - which was an inbound connection.

Standing like a frozen statue next to The. Lisa. Meltzer. was an opportunity for an outbound connection.

Sometimes - you just have to Take a Chance!

And although you might be a salmon amongst a bunch of killer whales, you don’t need to grab every networking opportunity that crosses your path …

Keep the Filters On

90 minutes ago I was the loner waiting for Jodi Mindell’s Keynote talk.

Now - there’s no one in my periphery.

I’m in a highly engaging chat with Tamar Shochat. We’re discussing how she was a reviewer on one of my manuscripts that I submitted to SLEEP, and she’s surprised it got rejected, she specifically says …

Rotund British Man approaches us and says: “Hello there!”

Tamar says: “Hello!”

Rotund Man shakes Tamar’s hand and kisses her cheeks. Turns to me, extends his hand and says: ”Derk Jan-Dijk”

I shake his hand and think: * Oh wow! The Chief Editor of the Journal of Sleep Research! Hang on! The same guy that absolutely went off his nut at me for asking about the rejection of my manuscript we submitted about videogaming before sleep. Why are you being so nice to me now? Oh, I see. Tamar .. [I hope I’m not speaking my thoughts right now] *

It probably didn’t matter if I spoke my thoughts. Derk Van-Dijk was 100% focused on Tamar.

I was now the loner in a threesome.

Tamar says: “You’ll have to excuse us. Michael and I and our Dutch colleagues are going out to plan our adolescent sleep symposium on Thursday.”

Saved by The Tamar!

Be Open to Learning

Years of being on the Selection Panel for the Postgraduate Clinical Psychology degrees taught me to look out for applicants who were ‘closed to learning’. They turn out to be mediocre students (aka, trouble).

It may sound contradictory, but as much as you need to utilise your filters, you also need to balance that with being open to learning at a conference.

And it’s not just about the content.

Take for example the Keynote Presentation that everyone was talking about.

The one by this guy called Matthew Walker.

Here’s where I apologise.

After about 10 min into a talk, my mind begins to wander.

It can wander out of boredom. But it can also wander because I begin to think about what the speaker said, and how it can turn into a new study.

But Matthew Walker’s style of presentation meant that his 1-hour Keynote turned into a 10-minute one.

His performance was dazzling. And the quality of his performance was matched by the quality of his research. Dee aye em- damn!

But this isn’t to take anything away from the content of talks. For example, I also learned about the following at this conference:

• that the time it takes for each of the steps of a human cell’s cycle is the length of their circadian rhythm. This revision of Biology 101 made me realise that those suffering from DSPD or Non-24 have slow steps in this cycle. So what could speed up those steps? (I ended up emailing the ‘clock expert’ this question - posing my idea. I’ll reveal this conversation to our WINK Members. sorry!)

• the 3 rules when using melatonin to treat people with delayed circadian rhythms.

• that you don’t have to do overnight studies to learn about sleep. You can get insights from doing napping studies.

Plus much much more …

Listen to the Swedes

When I was growing up, I was being mentored from afar. By four Swedish people impressing upon me to “Take a chance! Take a chance! Take a - take a chance chance”

During our adolescent sleep symposium, Dr Marcel Smits was presenting his work on using melatonin to treat young people with delayed circadian rhythms (mostly those with DSPD).

He had a very specialised clinic where they would measure the evening melatonin profiles of these young people. Thereafter, they could tailor the ever elusive question - WHEN to provide melatonin.

But this technique is near-impossible for most clinics outside The Netherlands.

Most people sitting in the audience wanted to ask the burning question.

But only one person took a chance …

“But excuse me Dr Smits. If we cannot measure their DLMO, how would you recommend administering melatonin.” - Dr Lisa Meltzer asked from the back of the auditorium.

Because Lisa took a chance, everyone in the room got to learn something that would shape their clinical practice for years to come. Including me.

And yeah, sorry, but our WINK Members subscribe with their purses/wallets - so you must understand I gotta give them something extra? That is, they’ll get to learn what Dr Marcel Smits said.

Although some of them already know because they’ve graduated from this course.

Moving on …

The Salmon Dance

Looking back now, the years 2012-to-2013 were a turning point in my sleep career.

This is when I turned from a salmon into a pup killer whale.

At this 2012 Manchester conference they had a section called the “4-minute Blitz”.

These were studies that were deemed to be outstanding by nobodies. Well, salmons.

So I had 480 seconds to stand up on the big stage and tell the entire conference a study that had taken our group 6 years to do.

There are occasions in one’s career - indeed life - where you’re doing something, but at the time, you don’t realise how much of an impact it will have on your future.

This 4-min Blitz was one of those.

After my 480 seconds was up, I walked off the stage, up stairs to my seat, all the while thanking people who were congratulating me for the study, and trying to get to my seat next to my Dutch friends who were smiling and looking proudly at me. We were being crowded by people who were coming up to me to say congrats.

And then I heard “Michael! Michael! Michael! That was so good. So good!”.

Jodi Mindell took the effort of crossing the lecture hall to tell me that.

I don’t remember anyone else’s face who congratulated me.

Except 10-min later, when I sat next to Tamar Shochat in the Poster Hall.

She was sitting next to Dr Avi Sadeh - who beamed at me - and said “Nice little study. You should publish it.”

Bless his beautiful soul.

Morale of this Story?

Today’s research scene is tougher than when I was going through it, because of the sheer density of researchers one - apparently - needs to compete against.

But you don’t need to compete. You can network, and join forces. And create beautiful memories along the way.

Last week saw the biggest sleep conference in America - known as the APSS. Lots wonderful networking occurred - and lots of new learning.

It wasn’t the only place on Earth for incredible learning about sleep. The World Congress for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies was on in South Korea. And there were a collection of killer whales and salmons networking about sleep and therapies.

Sometimes, you’ve gotta take a chance. Yes, you’ll risk being rejected. But taking a chance is worth that risk …

…

MG rolls up his poster at the end of the 2012 conference and thinks: * Man. That was a good conference. *

MG walks to the exit. Oh f#ck me! Lisa F#cking Meltzer is walking this way. F#ck it! …

MG says: “Lisa - Michael Gradisar - I just wanna say what a huge fan I am of your work.”

Lisa says “And I’m a fan of yours”.

MG thinks: * WTF!? How do I respond to that? *

MG’s brain: “Will you shut up already?!”

Take a chance! Take a chance! Take a - take a chance chance!

• Prof MG

p.s. A shout out to my colleague and friend - Prof Lisa Meltzer - who has started up the amazing Nyxeous Consulting. Check it out here for a bunch of great sleep learnings!