This was my first time attending ACRO in Orlando, Florida and was pleasantly surprised how close knit the conference was. Met a lot of colleagues and peers and made a lot more friends in this single conference compared to the last 4-5 ASTROs i attended. I would strongly recommend residents to attend it for networking and job prospects.
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ACRO 2023
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It is a personable conference and you do tend to see folks come back. But the hotel/location they pick really just sucks. i know they are trying to keep it cost effective but I wish it was in a better location. i skipped this year.. probably go next year. i haven't been to ASTRO in.. (checks notes) at least more than 5 years. and since I stopped paying those crazy dues (scihub is your friend).. its value is now appropriate to my cost (0).
I'm amazed at how much I learn reading themednet .. too bad that other site "chartrounds.com" or whatever died. It was useful for solo community docs.
Probably depends on the presenter. In the distant past, perseveres were thought leaders, so could benefit from experience. I agree that mednet and sdn are probably more helpful.
Because you don't have kids bro. Acro did Vegas at one point iirc, they probably need to alternate between those two spots when they aren't throwing ft Lauderdale in the mix. ASTRO will never go to any of those spots which is even better as they are totally different vibes and target populations
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I also went for the first time. It was a great conference. It’s nice to give residents an informal place to talk to rad oncs including a lot of non academics docs. With a lot of online education and virtual options, I think the “networking” is the best part of conferences and ACRO does this well.
Haha totally agree the hotels are not great, but overall it’s a cheaper and shorter trip than most or all ASTROs.
For what it’s worth, it’s Vegas in 2025. Excited for that!
listened to the podcast - major fomo
try to use CME time for overseas trips, but may have to make an exception for ACRO.
seems like the culture of ACRO is so different from ASTRO. I have never enjoyed an ASTRO meeting
Thanks for listening, hope to do something again next year.
It is. Haven't been in a few years but the biggest difference i remember was that they would feed you! (Ice cream/snack breaks mid day and mid afternoon sessions) and the vibe was certainly more chill with start times a little later in the morning compared to ASTRO.
Biggest + is the networking and socialization imo as @NotMattSpraker mentioned. Many of us outside of the ivory tower have cancelled our ASTRO membership, let alone ever consider going to a meeting so it'll definitely be a different group of people you'll end up meeting there as well
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Wrong. But they have never come to an ACRO meeting (I think the missus has once or twice, she won't any more because she says the location/hotels suck lol).
What overseas conferences do you attend and/or recommend? I usually try to do one of the two rad onc Hawaii conferences but would be very interested in doing something international.
Fair point... Long ago they used to do it at the convention center next to the contemporary in Disney property. Must be a pure cost cutting move, rooms at the contemporary are kinda dated imo and probably go for a nosebleed ransom these days i bet
ARS holds meetings in cool places historically, this year its in Hawaii. I asked ACRO leadership why such lousy hotels and of course because its cheap and the minimums for a meeting are stiff. They don't want to front the dough and then if too few register they get their reserves torched.
People at ACRO were also talking up ARS. This year I went to RRS in Hawaii and it was fun but it’s just a bigger undertaking. When it gets to that level cost and length of flight, there is motivation to make it more involved and a vacation. A better hotel would be good, but I like the domestic location of ACRO.
ESTRO is supposed to be fun.
That's is more than fair. They do a lot of political work that requires throw around money. I do agree with the domestic location. All around I really enjoyed the conference and do love ACRO. (My chair is not very happy that I am no longer an ASTRO member. It is a pure waste of my CME funds).
Unsure of Vegas though...not exactly sure what group of radoncs we are catering to with that?
The ones without young kids/adolescents or are single, basically the ones that would find Orlando less interesting. But those in the know realize epcot is the park for adults/big kids (and to a lesser extent.. HS with all the star wars stuff)
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ESMO is also fun. More medical oncology, but several good RadOnc sessions too.
