Professional Service – ASTRO

The American Society for Radiation Oncology, ASTRO, is the premier radiation oncology
society in the world, with more than 10,000 members who are physicians, nurses, biologist,
physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other health care professionals who specialize in
treating patients with radiation therapy. These medical professionals, found at hospitals, cancer
treatment centers and academic research facilities around the globe, make up the radiation
therapy treatment teams that are critical in the fight against cancer. As the leading organization in
radiation oncology, the Society is dedicated to improving patient care through professional
education and training, support for clinical practice and health policy standards, advancement of
science and research and advocacy.
ASTRO provides members with the continuing medical education, health policy analysis, patient
information resources and advocacy that they need to succeed in today’s ever-changing health
care delivery system.
This annual meeting changes locations every year within cities in the United States. I attended
the 2019 conference held in Chicago, IL in September.

I volunteered at this conference as a speaker moderator for MacroMedics. The speakers Deborah
Burton and Anthony Palin presented MacroMedics One Board with Infinite Solutions- an RT’s
Dream for Patient Positioning.

MacroMedics is a Dutch company founded in 2010, that works in cooperation with the
radiotherapy professionals to design, produce and distribute high-end positioning products for
radiotherapy which prioritizes accuracy, workflow efficiency, and patient comfort. This
company has already established itself as an international leader in innovation for patient
positioning products for radiation oncology, an example of which can be seen in the acclaimed
Double Shell Positioning System. This has been a finalist in the Dutch Design Awards in 2013.
 Moderator Instructions

Important: If a speaker does not appear at least 10 minutes before their session – alert Kelley from
Meetings and Conferences (505) 379-7631

Note: Activity Book has a list of who is assigned to each session and if someone is already set to introduce the
speaker. Please note the Start & End times for each session and send to Professional Development.

Moderator Responsibilities:
 Check Attendee badges.
 Ensure that the RFID gates are operating correctly.
 If the room is almost full, help attendees find available seats
 o Because of fire code, if the session is full attendees cannot stand in the room.
o If someone is there from the Press, they are permitted to stand, but must have a Press
badge with: the individual’s name, company name and the word “Press.”
 Introduce yourself to the speaker:
o Assist speaker in getting ready for their session or find the AV staff to help them.
o Check on pronunciations.
o Report any issues to AV and/or Meetings and Conferences staff
 Introduce speaker(s) – if no one is setup to do the introduction.
o Sponsored sessions usually have someone there to do the introduction.
 Start the timer as soon as you finish the introduction. Timer should always be set to 55 minutes
o Close the doors at the beginning of the presentation and sit near the classroom entrance
o Please note the Start and End times for each session for Professional Development
 Keep the course on time. (see Session Timing section below)
 Give directions to attendee and assist with questions.
 Distribute handouts - if needed.
 Course evaluations - in the conference app - no paper evaluations are provided.

Session Timing:
 Before the session begins set timer to 55 minutes
 If the session is running fast and ends before 50-minutes,
o Let attendees know that they will need to fill in the remaining time with questions to get full
credit for the session.
o Let Professional Development know which session(s) ended early and how much time the
attendees had to fill with questions.
 If the session is running long – signal to the speaker to wrap up the presentation.
 If the session goes over the time limit,
o Alert the speaker that the time is up
o Open the doors so that attendees know they can leave.

CE and Attendance:
 Direct people without ASRT badges (except ASRT or hotel employees) to the registration desk;
attendees must have a badge to enter the classroom.
 Attendees arriving 10+ minutes after the session has begun (after the introduction) may not receive
full CE credit for the course. Let them know they can stay to listen, but be sure they understand they
may not receive any CE credit.
 Make sure attendees who leave the room for any reason have their badges - attendee needs to be
in the room for at least 50 minutes to receive CE credit