SMACC Chicago Is My Kind of Conference

This kind of event could only happen in a town like this! The much tweeted and highly anticipated SMACC Chicago exploded into energetic life at McCormick Place on Chicago's lakeside at the end of June. 

SMACC (Social Media And Critical Care) is a social media-driven tour de force that exists in the twittersphere 24/7 as the world's critical care deliverers use the global medium of Free Open Access Medical Education (#FOAM) to educate and enlighten. 

Planetary purveyors of critical, intensive and emergency care collect online to share issues at all levels of practice, from paramedic to consultant and professorial grades, from EMS through to the ED, ICU and OR. Its appeal is instant, the Baltimore night worker can exchange a view with the Brisbane day shifter, the London lunch breaker can debate the Dubai diner, all from the comfort of a smart phone and a hashtag or two.

The culmination of all this is the annual SMACC conference. Originally the brainchild of three Australian-based intensivists, Drs Ollie Flower, Roger Harris and Chris Nixon were determined to exploit the #FOAM medium to offer education and insight for critical care providers. They were quickly joined by a cast of experienced clinicians and practitioners from every corner of the planet. SMACC is not your standard medical conference. In its third year, Chicago is the first foray out of Australia and, from the very start, was high octane, exciting, edgy and, occasionally, a little risqué.

With not a bagpipe or honor guard in sight—the traditional American conference opener—the SMACC conference set off with a bang, literally, as a drum and bass line marching jazz band was topped off with an enormous ticker-tape firing cannon into an energized and enthusiastic crowd. Sitting in the 2,500-strong audience were 650 Australians and Kiwis who came "walkabout" to the Northern hemisphere, such is the draw of this phenomenon. Slick, short, sharp, amusing, thought-provoking and very educational plenary sessions followed.

The science of resuscitation and critical care was combined with TED-style talks on everything from the management of patients, peers and poor performers to excited physicians vociferously pondering the pros and cons of popular presenting conditions. Even the presence and assistance of God in guiding and delivering clinical outcomes merited discussion.

Innovative and catchy learning sessions delivered the finer points of ultrasound and were contested and debated by teams in a highly entertaining "sonowars" presention. A very excited crowd watched on as eminent physicians "duked it out" in "cage match" debates where each presenter proposed a pro or con position to a current hot topic followed by a heated debate. There was literally an energetic something for everyone. In a conference where the participants were expected to have their phones OUT, it also lived up to its social media-tastic handle. The conference generated 87,000 tweets, which in turn created 50 million individual hits.

Networking was enhanced during the morning or afternoon tea breaks (everything stopping for tea is a very Brit and Aussie tradition). If that wasn't enough entertainment and enlightenment, additional extras included a lunchtime talent show; SMACCRUN, a 10k run around the lakeshore; and a gala dinner at Chicago's Navy Pier. My podcast captures some views and opinions from the SMACC tea line.

Buyer beware....as a Brit writing for an American magazine, I have long understood that the English language has evolved in each country as it exists. I personally don't use as many vowels in my writing as I used to. There are certain words used in America as normal daily parlance that are positively profane in the UK (see me after for examples). There are slang words used in London, Belfast and Sydney that have absolutely zero meaning in America.  SMACC may have broken down a few of those barriers, although in one presentation, the British art of amusing satire, sarcasm and understatement had to be explained...via Twitter. All now also know that an annoying, curmudgeon-like clinical naysayer is, in global terms, simply a #resuswanker.

My report ends on a bittersweet note. One of the most memorable and entertaining speakers, Dr. John Hinds, and about who the previous paragraph is dedicated, was sadly killed a week after the conference in a motorcycle crash. His passing rocked the SMACC world and beyond. Having only just met him, I had been both amused and impressed and marked him down as one to follow and watch. His legacy will live on however in this conference and in the campaign he championed—an air ambulance for Northern Ireland.

Like a bright comet that periodically passes, SMACC now moves out of U.S. orbit and onto Dublin, Ireland (see Twitter hashtag #SMACCDUB), where the 2016 conference will take place at the Dublin Convention Center from June 13–16, 2016. If you are planning a visit, book early, as rooms were being reserved within minutes of the venue being announced. Registration will be capped at 2,000 according to the SMACC conference committee.

SMACC, FOAM and their derivatives are here to stay and most of the keynote presentations will shortly be released on Vimeo to allow all to see this remarkable international gathering.