Open Letter to Board of Directors of AAPM Regarding AAPM 2023 Annual Meeting from Dr. Krishnan Suthanthiran
Washington, DC, USA – (EIN PRESSWIRE) – November 2, 2022
Dear Board of Directors of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) — I have addressed some of these issues in the past with the AAPM staff and may have sent letters as well.
Best Medical International (BMI) and TeamBest Global Companies (TBG) did not exhibit at the ASTRO American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncologists Annual Meetings in 2020, 2021 and 2022. In addition, there are no plans to exhibit in the 2023 Annual Meeting in San Diego, California either.
I am enclosing a link to a press release issued several weeks ago regarding our decision not to exhibit at ASTRO 2022. To learn more about this decision, please visit www.astrobest.org.
ASTRO 2020 was virtual. The meetings in 2021 and 2022 were hybrid — virtual and in-person — and some presentations were also virtual. The in-person attendance in 2021 and 2022 was extremely poor with few or often less than 50 persons attending lectures. AAPM should not allow virtual attendance or hybrid meetings as virtual attendance deprives Technical Exhibitors the in-person visitors to the exhibit areas and defeats the purpose of exhibiting.
TBG Companies have been some of the greatest supporters of AAPM — not only by exhibiting at the Annual Meetings with the largest Technical Exhibits but also by advertising in AAPM journals and newsletters. We appreciate the significantly better treatment by AAPM of us and other exhibitors as opposed to ASTRO.
The number of exhibitors and size of their exhibits have been on the decline for many years at AAPM Annual Meeting Technical Exhibits, while TBG companies have become the largest Technical Exhibitors and supporters, offering 10 AAPM BEST awards annually to Medical Physicists.
This is a request to please consider the following:
- Please do not make virtual attendance or presentations at AAPM Annual Meetings an option any longer. Virtual attendance and presentations significantly reduce the number of in-person attendees at these meetings and therefore is less of an incentive for vendors, as exhibiting comes at a high cost.
- The Night Out functions are costly in terms of time and money to organize transportation for participants from the venue. Night Out only offers light appetizers and drinks so many tend to still be hungry when they return to their hotel at 10 PM or later, however, there are no restaurants open at that time and everyone is tired and have early morning Sessions ahead. The Night Out is not useful or helpful in enhancing the meeting experience, therefore, discontinue the Night Out, offering the exhibitors the opportunity to organize their own events on Tuesday evenings.
- In absence of a Night Out program, please consider restarting the Icebreaker Parties at the Exhibit Hall on Sundays from 5-7 PM with drinks and light appetizers. Those who wish for more, are welcome to go out for dinner or other events after 7 PM as restaurants will still be open at that hour.
I have been preaching some of these ideas for many years but still there is no change. It is concerning that the Technical Exhibitors may begin to reduce their sizes and no longer focus or plan on exhibiting at future AAPM Annual Meetings.
Thank you for considering these suggestions for the 2023 Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas.
For more information, Click here to view the original press release.