Editorial Article: A Day in the Life of SLAS CEO Vicki Loise

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Vicki Loise, CEO of the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS,) takes us through a typical day in the run up to the SLAS2019  international conference 

Ever wondered what it might be like to run a huge international science conference? Here, Vicki Loise takes us through a typical day – from quenching her thirst for news on a global scale to team building and tackling the varied challenges of mounting an international science show.

7.30am:

I start my day for SLAS before I get into the office. Usually I spend my drive into work listening to the morning's news, both here in the U.S. and on the BBC. We’re a global organization and for at least the past five years we’ve had a strong focus to really grow in Europe — so it's important for me to hear what is on the news outside the United States, what's important to people in Europe and how they hear the American news as it’s reported by the BBC. It helps to give me that different perspective.

8.00am:

I try to go through my email and pending Slack communications first thing. My days often start with a barrage of meetings, so tackling emails and any other pertinent communications, gives me a leg up on the day. 

9.00am:

Typically, especially Monday through Wednesday, the mornings are very much filled with meetings. They could be meetings with SLAS committees, or councils, they might be one-on-ones with particular members of the board, or chairs of committees or councils just to run through questions, planning, that sort of thing.

11.30am:

I have standing calls with a few of our professional team members who report to me. Our COO and I speak every Monday morning and run down what's going to be happening that week and what's coming up that we need to pay attention to. Other days, I might have a standing call with our scientific director; he’s new and I want to make sure he is set up for success and feeling like he’s very supported and knows the direction he should be going in. We're really excited that he's on board — it's giving us a new and fresh perspective on our scientific direction and how we deliver the scientific content that we create, so I'm always excited to have a conversation with him.

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2.00pm:

After the more formal meetings are out the way, my day could involve anything from having informal one-on-ones with the professional team — to check in on how they're doing with things, do some quick brainstorming, answer questions, that kind of thing — to having the opportunity to do some planning myself. This could be preparing for an upcoming board meeting, or looking at and evaluating our strategic plan and making sure that we are all moving that forward. I might take a look at our operational metrics to track our progress and consider whether there are any areas which might need more attention than others — so as to get a jump on that before it becomes a problem.

3.30pm:

Later in my days is when I try to do most of my reading. I am much better at writing and creating in the mornings, so I try to save the latter part of the day for reading. Every day I have a quick read of the New York Times as well as scanning through a range of science email bulletins.

4.30pm:

On the other side of things, I also keep up-to-date with the association management world — I belong to a couple of associations for people who work in association management. I scan through articles or online discussions to see what sort of issues and exciting things are happening in the world of association management, and whether there's anything there that we can capitalize on or adapt for our own use.

5.30pm:
After hours, I head to the gym. It's always amazing to me how I can see a solution and be creative while swinging a kettle ball.

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