Whether it’s networking, professional development or biotech industry news you seek, here’s a list of leading organizations, publications and conferences to help you and your bioresearch marcomm team stay inspired and ahead of the game.

Since I started the Kelp-beds blog in 2011, this post continues to be one of the most popular. Here’s a update including an even broader list of subjects and industry experts I’ve come to know or follow.

I’m often asked about marketing resources by our life science, biomedical and biotech clients. There are few online sources that has compiled this type information in one location, so I decided to create my own list that I hope you find helpful. I’ve included a brief synopsis of information, along with web links for each. I’ve also include resources specific to my state, Maine, and the New England region.

Feel free to share others you would like to see included.

Biotechnology Organizations + Conferences

BIO (Biotechnology Industry Organization)
http://www.bio.org
BIO is the world’s largest biotechnology organization, providing advocacy, business development and communications services for more than 1,100 members worldwide.

BIO International Convention
http://convention.bio.org 
With more than 17,000 attendees, the annual BIO International Convention is the world’s largest gathering of those in the biotechnology industry.

New England Biotech Association
http://www.newenglandbiotech.org
NEBA is a non-profit, member driven organization comprised of state biotech associations, biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and other organizations with a collective mission to support and grow the biotechnology industry in New England.

Mass Bio
http://www.massbio.org
The leading advocate for this premier life science cluster, the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council is an association of more than 600 biotechnology companies, universities, academic institutions and others dedicated to advancing cutting edge research.

Maine Bioscience
http://www.mainebioscience.org
Maine Bioscience provides a forum for companies and non-profits to network and exchange ideas, to develop biotechnology and facilitate the formation and growth of biotech enterprises in Maine. 

Maine Technology Institute
http://www.mainetechnology.org
MTI is an industry-led, publicly-funded, nonprofit corporation offering early-stage capital and commercialization assistance in the form of competitive grants, loans and equity investment for the research, development and application of technologies that create new products, processes and services, generating high-quality jobs across Maine.

New York Biotech Association
http://www.nyba.org
The NYBA is a non-profit trade association dedicated to the development and growth of New York State based biotechnology related industries and institutions, and to strengthening the competitiveness of New York State as a premier global location for biotechnology/biomedical research, education and industry.

National Center for Biotechnology Information
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

Council for Biotech Information
http://www.whybiotech.com
The Council for Biotechnology Information is a non-profit organization that communicates science-based information about the benefits and safety of agricultural biotechnology and its contributions to sustainable development.

Few Upcoming Events:

BIO Convention
June 6-9, 2016, San Fran, Actor, Will Smith is the Tuesday keynote!
http://convention.bio.org

10^th Asia-Pacific Biotech Congress
July 25-27, Bangkok, Thailand
http://www.biotechnologycongress.com/asia-pacific/

World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology
http://go.bio.org/WorldCongress2016.html

Biotech Showcase 2017
http://www.ebdgroup.com/bts/index.php

Biotech CEO Summit, Europe
June 28-30, Ireland
http://www.biotechceosummit-eu.com/

Biotech CEO Summit, US
July 12-14, Napa
http://www.biotechceosummit-eu.com/

Trans-Pacific Health Dialogue
Sept 28-29, Boston
http://transpacifichsd.com/

Life Sciences Summit
Dec 2-3, NYC
http://lifesciencessummit.org/

Advertising/Design/Marketing

The 4As
https://www.aaaa.org/
Founded in 1917, the 4As is primarily a resource for ad agency members. That said, their blog and daily eNewsletter cover subjects that bioresearch marketing teams may find useful. Here’s one: 3 Insights for Finding Consumer Insight Gems

Ad Club
http://www.adclub.org
Serving the New England marketing industry, the Ad Club presents over 30 events every year focused on networking, education, and professional development. Membership represents the best in class advertising agencies, media companies, and brands in the New England region.

AIGA
http://www.aiga.org
AIGA, is the national professional association for design, and one of the leading organizations providing professional development and resources for business owners, marketers and designers alike. Check your local AIGA chapter website for ongoing events.

• Maine Chapter: http://maine.aiga.org
• Boston Chapter: http://boston.aiga.org
• RI Chapter: http://ri.aiga.org/
• NY Chapter: http://www.aigany.org
• DC Chapter: http://www.aigadc.org

Gain: AIGA Design and Business Conference
http://gainconference2010.aiga.org
“Gain” is the premier biennial event for business and design leaders.

HOW Design Conference
http://www.howconference.com
Presented by the publishers of HOW magazine, this intense three-day annual design conference includes sessions on just about everything today’s marketers and designers face.

inHOWse Design Conference
http://www.inhowseconference.com
Also presented by the publishers of HOW magazine, this conference focuses on in-house marketing teams and designers.

Life Science Marketing Radio
http://words2wow.com/podcast/
LSMR is a podcast hosted by Chris Conner that interviews marketing leaders on the inside and outside in the life science industry. Check out my interview with Chris on the importance of branding for biotech start-ups and really any bioresearch brand. More specifically we discuss the importance of your brand narrative which applies to any pitch whether for profit or non, start-up or legacy brand.

POP Tech Conference
http://poptech.org/
This annual conference brings together a global community of cutting-edge leaders, thinkers, and doers from many different disciplines, to explore the social impact of new technologies, the forces of change shaping our future, and new approaches to solving the world’s most significant challenges.

Juice Conference
http://juiceconference.org
Juice 2.0, “Building Maine’s Innovation Networks”, will gather entrepreneurs, artists and statewide leaders to discuss the power of creativity and innovation in transforming Maine’s economy.

Maine Advertising Club
http://www.adclubofmaine.com

Digital Marketing

Act-On Marketing Automation
https://www.act-on.com
Act-On is a marketing automation software platform with email marketing, lead nurturing, lead scoring, CRM integration, social media & tracking tools.

BrandWatch
https://www.brandwatch.com/
Powerful social media listening and analytics tool that is subscription based but also provides a lot of free intel. Deep insights into public opinion on any topic across the social web. The Brandwatch Blog is a great resource for those internal digital marketing teams. Telling the Right Stories and Reaching the Right Audiences, is part of interview series with leaders at brands to unearth their stories and share how social is changing their worlds. Life science, pharma and biomedical marketing teams will find the Brandwatch Report for Pharmaceutical industry and case studies helpful. The post Pharma Industry must change its view on Social is another good post many can relate to.

Neil Patel
http://neilpatel.com/blog/
Neil Patel is a serial entrepreneur, blogger, and investor. He is considered a content marketing authority covering the hottest issues in digital marketing today such as conversion optimization, SEO, social media marketing, etc.

Hubspot
www.hubspot.com
Founded in 2006, Hubspot is an inbound marketing company offering an integrated approach to marketing automation, social media management and more. Platform is intuitive and easy to use so can spend more time delivering experiences that are relevant, helpful, and personalized. Support is great too.

Mashable
http://mashable.com
A global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe.

Manage Flitter
https://manageflitter.com/
ManageFlitter provides you with a set of easy to use tools to empower you to work smarter and faster with Twitter. Sort your followers, track keywords, manage multiple accounts etc.

Social Oomph
https://www.socialoomph.com/
Boosts your social media productivity with easy bulk uploads to multiple platforms, automatically shortend post URLs suing bitly, and tools for optimizing Twitter handles and other social platforms. Junior team members can master easily.

Hootsuite Pro
https://hootsuite.com
One of the most popular social media dashboards on the market.HootSuite is a web and mobile social media dashboard that helps individuals and organizations spread messages, monitor conversations and track results across multiple networks including Twitter, Linked In and Facebook. Manage and schedule posts to multiple social profiles, although bulk post uploads are not as simple if you don’t care about exact publishing times.

Mail Chimp Email Marketing Service
http://mailchimp.com
Online email marketing solution to manage subscribers, send emails, and track results. Easy to use, keeps your messages out of the spam box and offers integrations with other many programs like SurveyGizmo and Google Analytics and the reporting great. By June 2014 it was sending over 10 billion emails per month on behalf of its users.

2106 Social Media Image Size Cheat Sheet
http://makeawebsitehub.com/social-media-image-sizes-cheat-sheet/
Great resource for internal marketing teams who need to streamline the creation of social assets. Diagrams for eight different social media channels.

Traditional Marketing/PR

American Marketing Association
http://www.marketingpower.com

Cision
http://www.cision.com/us/
PR and social software with rich analytics and in-depth insights to help public relations teams make data-­driven decisions and manage workflow.

Maine Marketing Association
http://www.mainemarketingassociation.org

PR Council
http://prcouncil.net/
The PR Council is a trade association designed to connect the present and next generation of PR professionals, industry innovators and business leaders through education, events and industry resources.

PR News Wire
http://www.prnewswire.com
Comprehensive news distribution network – more than 19,000 news outlets and 9,500 websites.

PSRA, Public Relations Society of American
https://www.prsa.org
Chartered in 1947, the PRSA is the world’s largest organization of PR professionals with more than 22,000 public relations and communications professionals, in addition to more than 10,000 university and college students.

PSRA Boston
https://prsaboston.org/
With over 350 members from all levels, the Boston Chapter of the PSRA provides professional development and mentoring programs.

Non-profit

National Council of Nonprofits
http://www.councilofnonprofits.org
Helps to organize group purchasing programs, informational services and technical support to members.

Maine Association of Nonprofits
www.nonprofitmaine.org
MANP is a membership organization offering professional skill development programs, affordable healthcare and benefits plans, discounts on programs and services and advocacy resources, and is part of a national network of state associations.

Maine Successful Thinkers
http://www.mainesuccessfulthinkers.org
Open to all MST is dedicated to helping small businesses grow through effective networking and relationship building, while supporting local non-profit organizations.

New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits
http://www.nhnonprofits.org
It is our vision that the non-profit sector of New Hampshire will have high-quality, easily accessible capacity building resources, a variety of consistent opportunities for learning, and the support needed to sustain strong leadership that adapts creatively to change. As a result, the people, communities, and the environment of New Hampshire will thrive.

New York Council of Nonprofits
http://www.ccsnys.org
NYCON supports nonprofits and communities working to enhance quality of life in New York State. Providing a wide range of specialized technical assistance services, help with group purchasing, insurance, and help building long-term service relationships.

Sean Triner
http://www.seantriner.com/
Based in Australia, Sean has dedicated his career to testing and developing fundraising strategies with some of the world’s most successful causes. He believes that development teams are most effective when they focus on cultivating major and mid-value donors verses traditional mass marketing. In fact, Sean is a pioneer of face-to-face fundraising and data-driven hyper-personalization in direct marketing. He is the co-founder of Pareto Group companies.

Tom Ahern Donor Communications
http://aherncomm.com/
Tom is a copywriter by trade and an authority in helping large non-profits increase revenue through donor communications. He has written several books on the subject and publishes a blog regularly.

Project Management

Asana
https://asana.com
Founded in 2008 by Facebook co-founders, web and mobile application designed to help teams manage workflows. Teamwork without email so they say. But like Basecamp we still find creep outside of this project management tool. Similar to basecamp in that you receive updates when a task is complete, etc. Integrates with Google Drive and Drop Box is it does not offer the storage capability of DropBox. That said, has a greater ability to control, organize, and manage teams and assignments than Basecamp.

Trello
https://trello.com
Online project management tool that is infinitely flexible and very easy to use and includes a digital app. If you are a visual learner and like lists this is your tool. Uses cards to move Helps manage teams and projects from the big picture to details. Unlimited collaborators. Great for personal use. Integrates with DropBox.

Basecamp
https://basecamp.com
For years, the go to online project management tool but now faces more competition. Offers unlimited projects and lots of storage. Still use it, yet, we often share complaints. Mostly about not being able to find things easily within larger teams.

Advertising/Creative Trade Publications

Fast Company Magazine
http://www.fastcompany.com/about-us
Unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, ethonomics (ethical economics), leadership, and design. They have several sub-brands that serve up daily content. CO.DESIGN is a daily exploration of the intersection of business and design, from architecture to electronics, consumer products to fashion. CO.EXIST is a daily tour of the latest world changing ideas and innovations in transportation, energy, education, food, and health. CO.CREATE is a daily exploration of creativity in the converging worlds of branding, entertainment, and tech.

Communications Arts Magazine
http://www.commarts.com/aboutus
Founded in 1959, a premier source of inspiration for designers, art directors, corporate design departments, advertising agencies, interactive designers, illustrators and photographers—everyone involved in visual communication. Publish a coffee-table magazine that also serves as one of the most respected juried annuals for creatives. Onlines resources (some with subscription) includes daily inspiration, galleries and book reviews.

Creative Hotlist
http://www.creativehotlist.com/
Dedicated career resource for creative professionals in visual communications and sister company to Communication Arts. Individuals can post resumes, job-wanted listings and online portfolios. Companies and organizations can post job openings, information about their capabilities and services, and manage a hiring search through their website.

How Magazine
http://www.howdesign.com/
Founded in 1985, HOW brand began as a print magazine and but has grown to encompass design competitions, online design courses, design books (available at MyDesignShop.com) and more. A source for agency and in-house creative department’s their mission is to serve the business, creativity and technology needs of graphic designers.

Market Research

Pew Research
http://www.pewresearch.org/
Nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research.

Qualtrics
https://www.qualtrics.com/
Founded in 2002 and based in Utah, this quantitative online survey platform enables users to do many kinds of online data collection and analysis including market research, customer satisfaction and loyalty, product and concept testing, employee evaluations and website feedback. This subscription based platform is a significant step up from survey monkey in cost, hands-on support and the number of question types that can be posed.

Survey Monkey
https://www.surveymonkey.com/
For its easy of use, Survey Monkey is the most popular online survey platforms today. Create and publish online surveys in minutes, and view results graphically and in real time. Junior team members can learn and manage easily. Question types are limited but for those conducting simple surveys SM may be all you need.

Welcome your opinion and favorites.