State of the Art Conversations: A chat with Dr PJ Zolfaghari

About this episode

A behind-the-scenes look at organizing the UK's biggest critical care conference with Dr PJ Zolfaghari.

Ever wondered what it really takes to pull off the UK's biggest critical care conference? In this behind-the-scenes episode, I sit down with the legend himself — Dr Parjam (PJ) Zolfaghari, past Programme Director of the ICS State of the Art 2025 meeting in Birmingham. From sleepless nights and last-minute speaker dropouts to epic programme clashes, heated controversies, and the sheer chaos of herding hundreds of intensivists into one unforgettable event, PJ spills all the gory (and hilarious) details. We dive into the triumphs, the near-disasters, and the sheer madness of creating a meeting that's still delivering incredible podcast content months later! If you've ever organised anything big — or just love a good war story from the trenches of medical conference planning — this one is packed with laughs, lessons, and proper insight. Pure gold for anyone curious about what goes on behind the curtain of #SOA25.

People in this episode

Host: Intensive Care Society

Guest: Dr PJ Zolfaghari

Topics covered

• critical care conference
• medical planning
• event organization
• intensivists
• conference insights

Keywords

• critical care
• conference planning
• medical events
• intensivists
• event management

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Intensive Care Society

Places: UK, Birmingham

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