So Indu is on stage, introducing the Health 2.0 "Unconference"–user-led
discussions around tables, all happening at the same time. Whoever
submitted a topic gets to "hold court" at a table.

So you are reading The Health Care Blog’s liveblog of an Unconference. This is so front-edge, high-wire techno-virtual I think I may get a nosebleed. 

Enoch Choi, a very 2.0 physician and veteran leader of
unconferences, is leading the show. "Very reality TV"–if you’re bored,
pick up and go to a table that’s more interesting. Topics are being
submitted as we speak.

• Enoch is giving out topics
• Social media and pharma!
• Genomics!
• Extending patient-physician relationship!
• The future of alternative sales channels in pharma!
• Increasing patient engagement!

I’m using exclamation points, but we’ll see how exciting these topics
actually turn out to be. People are finding tables now. We’ll see how
many wind up bolting–and what precisely the I’m-leaving-your-table
etiquette is.

***********

The biggest crowd, curiously enough, is at the table discussing "information overload." David Sobel holds court. Interesting point: More information actually "disempowers" people due to confusion and excess. Information is not always power. It’s often annoyance, noise, even harmful.

*********Over at the table of the estimable Esther Dyson, there’s a hand-written sign "The Impact of Genomics Info." This is heady stuff: one discussant talks about the sensitivity of an individual’s genomic information, and that the system isn’t prepared for dealing with that.

"And doctors," it’s pointed out, "are not trained in genetic medicine."

Benjain Heyward of PatientsLikeMe seconds the motion: Doctors aren’t set up to deal with the information that patients often want about their genetic risks, etc.

******

BIG crowd over at the Pharma-and-social-networking table. Great point made: "What would pharma have to gain from trying to create and own their own social network?"

If you’re a patient with Crohn’s, it’s asked, where are you going to go to find support? A forum run by a drug company? Or one with more independence and credibility.

Something called GroupLoop is mentioned. It’s described as a network that has the ability to become a "cross between MySpace and health." We’ll have to check that one out.