Is science proven in the lab or sealed over a drink? Everyone who has ever been to a life sciences conference knows the script. Weeks of prep, highlighted abstracts, and the promise that this year you’ll stay focused on the science.

But the reality always catches up. The program says panels and posters. The outcomes say receptions and side meetings. The slides fade into the background while the conversations continue.

You sit through talks, hoping a mention will lead to a follow-up, but the real connections happen in the lobby. Investors laugh with competitors at the bar. Collaborations spark in places never listed on the agenda. The balance was never even.

In the sketch, Scienz imagines the conference as a temple of science. Lives and Celline remind us it’s also an arena where relationships shape what happens next, and the liver quietly pays the price.

It’s a truth that everyone in this field has experienced. Data gives credibility, but people give momentum. Posters explain, but receptions decide. The science matters, yet it rarely moves forward without the business that follows.

The winners are those who can do both. Deliver the data on stage and still be remembered when the lights dim. Treating every interaction as part of the work, even if it doesn’t look like work on the surface.

That’s the paradox. Companies invest more in preparation, while the real outcomes are decided in the margins. Science fills the schedule. Networking fills the future.

Until the rules change, conferences will continue to run in two parts. Science by day. Business by night. And the liver is left to deal with the aftermath.