hey guys ECR G here and today we're gonna talk about what it was like being
at a kickoff meeting just give an overall review etc stay tuned hey guys
ECR G here and today we're gonna talk about what it was like going to a
kickoff meeting being a part of it etc so many of you may or may not know what
a kickoff meeting is but it's basically a meeting in the beginning of a clinical
trial with a high-level the project directors of both the sponsor and the
CRO the clinical trial manager is basically all the high-level people who
are responsible for bringing the partnership together between the CRO and
the farm and the sponsor or it could be anybody to sponsor you which is the
person paying for the clinical trial these individuals get together and talk
about the details or details or high-level overview of how the project
is going to go throughout the coming years of the partnership so they're
gonna be talking about things like the clinical monitoring plan how monitoring
is gonna be going how the trial master file is gonna be maintained and held
they're gonna be talking about you know how often meetings are gonna occur
between the sponsor and the in the CRO and with you if you know anything about
meetings you know that that someone is usually they're taking meeting minutes
that's gonna be the project coordinator etc the role I had in clinical research
when I got my start is there so I went to the kickoff meeting as the person
responsible for taking the minutes for the meeting six to seven hours long as a
kickoff meeting sometimes longer eight minutes
usually one day you're there for one day we were there for two days because we
came in the day before to get prepared for the kickoff meeting but usually the
kickoff meeting only lasts one day so the kickoff meeting was
from 9 to about 4:00 in the afternoon and you know it's a it's a great meeting
it's a it's a time where you can really put the names of the people you've been
interacting with up into that point two phases which is which is nice being able
to build that fellowship that you have between you know all the team members
are all those key stakeholders involved in the trial is good that will help
speed things up in the future in the clinical trial because you'll be able to
know exactly who the person is you're talking to and this makes things a
little bit easier and it's always nice to finally get some face time with
people because a lot of times the clinical research we're talking over the
phone or through instant message or through email of somebody and it's nice
to go to talk face to face with them so kickoff meetings are usually always
gonna be face to face meetings and that's one of the times where there are
gonna be face to face meetings in clinical research a lot of other times
you know like I just mentioned you're gonna be meeting over the phone such as
the weekly meetings or meeting through WebEx or Skype or something along those
lines so face to face meetings are always nice
and so if you ever get the opportunity you should go to one because a lot of
times in clinical research when you first get started you're gonna just be
thrown on to a trial and that trial could be in many different phases it
could be in closeout phase which is how I got my start I was I was doing TMF and
study this the TMF was in very bad shape so I was doing team at reconciliation at
the end of the clinical trial everything was already done they just needed the
TMF to hand over to the to the fda into the sponsor so you know you could be a
maintenance where it could be in the middle of it or it could be in start-up
where could we at the beginning of it startup as in you know in rolling sites
and rolling patients into the stuff into the trial still after the kickoff
meeting or you could be there from the ground up which is what I had the great
fortune of doing you know literally from point zero nothing has been made not
even a shared mailbox you know you can't even build a study you can't even you
know pay you can't even build a study for your time you know you're using the
company's budget to do that so it's really nice to be able to you know get
it from that point from where there is virtually you know nothing nothing has
been done on the study yet from your perspective it's nice to be able to get
it from that point and really get a high level overview because so many times
when you start a study in the middle you don't really understand what's going on
especially when you're new to clinical research so many terms so many acronyms
so many things that have already been decided and so many things that have
already been hashed out before by the project manager and the project
directors etc so they understand what's going on because they were there but you
coming on new in really working at the bottom of the totem pole
you're not as well-versed as to what is going on so it's a really good
opportunity from a learning perspective to go to a kickoff meeting because you
get to understand the project from the ground you get to understand which
vendors each each sponsor or where the Sierra wants to use where their
relationships lies what they've done other projects that have been successful
that they implement on your project to be successful so tons of opportunity for
learning so if you're new to the industry I would try and get to as many
kickoff meetings as possible because you're gonna learn a lot so that's
something to keep in mind another thing that is important to keep
in mind that kickoff meetings is you're really networking with high-level people
directors people the director level executives even come to these kickoff
meetings because sponsors are investing so much money into each clinical trial
you know these trials are millions and millions of dollars to run so it's
imperative that they're done right they're done expediently and they're
done properly so they have a vested interest in being at these kickoff
meetings so you really get to rub shoulders with high-level people that
can really make things happen for you in the future you know whether you might be
working with them again in the future or just to have as a connect to for another
opportunity later on you know on this channel we talk so much about networking
if you haven't seen our videos on the best ways to get job in clinical
research go back and check that out but really the best way to get jobs and
better opportunities and things like that is is by networking and at these
kickoff meetings you're at the prime opportunity to network because if you're
new to clinical research you're at the bottom of the totem pole so all bets are
off you know you're all it's only positive for you being there there's
only positives it's not like the executive who you know who's got other
projects he's working on and he just got to show up there just to make sure but
you if you're new to clinical research it's only positives you're only in the
positive from being there so the networking is amazing
at these kickoff meetings and really not just outside of the company for the
sponsor but if you're wearing a CRO your high-level people the movers and shakers
at your own company so make sure you take the time to network with those
people to I know I certainly did because they can make things happen for you at
your own company which is ultimately where things are gonna happen to you at
most a lot of the times the people that get promotions aren't necessarily the
people that are the best at the job a lot of times that's not the case people
that is the people who get the promotions and the bonuses and the
awards of stuff that are well networked that you know people people know about
what they do and people end up liking you so you know it's not always about
the metrics is now whose about who does the best job a lot of times that's not
the case that's probably one of the biggest misconceptions and it's you know
it's you want to do good work as well but networking is everything how many
times have you heard the quote your network is your net worth so you know
these quote these quotes are cliches like patience is a virtue and so the
other ones but time and time again they become true
so the kickoff meeting is is very good on the networking front and a lot of
times when you're new to clinical research you may or may not be in a
traveling position most the time you're not going to be you're gonna be working
in the office you're not gonna have as much time to travel so at a kickoff
meeting you normally go to the sponsor so they're gonna you're gonna be able to
get to travel to wherever they are you know maybe you're unlucky and they're in
the same city but at least you get to go to a different office but I had the
great fortune of being able to travel at this kickoff meeting so I was able to to
go up they're not gonna say where it is because it might give it away but have
the great fortune of traveling and that's always a plus I love traveling
you know you you make more money obviously when you're on the road
because a
you're not your bill you're billing the entire time from when you're at the
airport to when your meeting is done or you know you're you're billing a lot
more time even when you're on the airport in the airport just chilling or
when you're on the plane sleeping you're getting paid when you're in the office
you know you've got to literally be there doing work the entire time people
looking over your shoulder etc etc two companies paying for the food and it's
good food too ain't playing around so you get free food three you know they're
normally having drinks at dinner which is amazing to me they get they went ham
at dinner on some drinks so free drinks as well so there's only positives to
traveling more money incredible networking opportunities and
you you aren't spending any of your own money like like what more what better is
there to ask for you know all positive so overall the kickoff meeting was
amazing meeting minutes always suck I talked about if you if you don't know
how I feel about meeting minutes go watch my video on the most hated task
and clinical research then you'll know how I feel about meeting minutes but you
know meeting minutes are what they are at this point after you've done them for
a while you kind of get used to them you know you just kind of beat them into
submission and you know you just kind of get used to them but six seven minutes
long meeting minutes six six to seven hours I'm sorry about meeting minutes I
don't know if anybody can get used to that but from all the other positives
that are gained at a kickoff meeting it's well worth it putting in that six
hours it's well worth it you know and not to mention all the knowledge you get
from taking all those minutes from from a high level perspective so all in all a
kickoff meeting is amazing experience I would recommend it to anybody if you
never get the chance a lot of people don't like traveling so opportunities
arise for people to to hop it hop in there and go to the kickoff meeting so
if you ever get the opportunity jump on it you know let people around the office
know that you're not afraid to travel because a lot of people are and when the
time arrives for the travel you know you pop up in there and it shows that you're
willing to do what what works so you know maybe I'll talk about this in a
later video but some good things happen from it from me attending a cookout
meeting some really good things happen maybe you'll see it on the channel too
hopefully so so I would definitely take it up if you ever get the opportunity to
do a kickoff meeting or any type of meaning where you get to travel the
networking by itself is great you know you know all this talk about networking
I do on the channel how would I forgot to bring the business bring my own
business cards left them right there on my desk at work but it's all good still
got great networking in at the kickoff meeting so if you guys have any
questions about kickoff meeting this is not really about what is a kickoff
meeting and we go through the bullet point or whatever this is more just a
overview of my experience at a kickoff meeting and just overall experience I
had at the kickoff meeting and wanted to share that with you guys so hopefully
you guys enjoyed it like share this video with all your homies all your
friends if you have any comments comment down below once again always looking for
people to interview and talk to email us at elite clinical group at gmail.com
love to talk to you comment down below we always respond
there as well anything else take care guys