Organized in association with the Mexican Society of Biomedical Engineering (Sociedad Mexicana de Ingeniería Biomedica, SOMIB), BE-Talks has been a tradition for several years at UDEM. Professors and students are invited to participate, making it a collaborative and enriching event.
Planning BE-Talks involves extensive communication with the BME program director, professors, and senior students. We start with an open call to senior students to see how many presentations we will have. Then, we coordinate with the program director to select a date that allows freshmen and sophomore students to attend, ensuring an inclusive experience.
Once planning is complete, we publicize the event through social media, institutional emails, and printed posters around campus. To ensure smooth transitions between speakers and minimize technical issues, we collect presentations in advance, allowing for more audience interaction and Q&A time.
In 2019, BE-Talks was a single-day live event. However, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 required us to shift to a virtual format. Thankfully, our prior experience with virtual presentations, including accommodating time zone differences for students in Spain, helped us navigate this transition smoothly.
The growth in the student body led to an increase in the frequency of the event. Starting in 2020, BE-Talks became a biannual event, held in both the fall and spring semesters, to accommodate all senior students.
The pandemic also prompted changes in our publicity strategy. We enhanced our social media presence and design to emphasize the formality and importance of the event. Going virtual meant we could “visit” online classes with the lecturers’ permission to invite students directly, which significantly boosted attendance. We even saw students from different majors and other universities joining in because they found us online.
To make the virtual event feel more like an in-person experience, we played music at the beginning to avoid that awkward silence when people join. Instead of skipping coffee breaks, we scheduled them to match class times, encouraging students to grab a snack and chat with each other. We left the mic and chat open so students could interact, request songs, and leave messages, making it a fun and engaging experience.
Organizing BE-Talks in 2019 and 2020 during my sophomore years was a valuable experience. In 2022, I had the opportunity to participate as a speaker, presenting my graduation project on neuroresearch. To read more about my project, click here.
To further broaden the students’ perspectives on what a biomedical engineer can achieve during and after college, we organized a Career Panel. This panel featured professionals at different career stages and from various fields. The invited speakers included Wendy Garcia, a UDEM Cum Laude graduate working at Celestica as a Project Manager; Carlos Manuel Pérez, an ITSM graduate working as a Clinical Coordinator at Ghunther Pharmaceuticas; and Emilio Sacristan Rock, a renowned biomedical researcher and entrepreneur, founder of Endeavor A.C. Their insights provided students with a deeper understanding of the diverse career paths available in biomedical engineering.
Note: I designed all media used for the events in 2020.
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