It's episode 450 of Diabetics Doing Things — a milestone Rob almost forgets to mention until he's three topics deep. Fresh off Friends for Life in Orlando, he lays out what he calls the diabetes conference pyramid: the industry side (ADA, ADCES, ATTD, EASD) built for HCPs and brand messaging, and the community side, where Friends for Life stands alone as the one event he'd choose if he could only pick one. He also previews the upcoming Diabetes Legends Dallas clinic and makes his now-recurring case for why kids with diabetes belong on a team.
Then Rob shifts from the conference circuit to something he's been quietly building: a searchable AI archive of every Diabetics Doing Things episode — all 450 of them — that surfaces clips, timestamps, and quotes on demand. He walks through a live demo, asking it about diabetes and mental health and watching it pull exactly the right moments from years of the show's back catalog. It's his first real answer to a question he's been sitting with: what do you actually build for people with diabetes when you have this much lived experience and the tools to use it.
The back half gets more personal. Rob is wrapping a 90-day clinical trial on an unreleased insulin pump algorithm — a strange experience in handing over control of his own management — and talks candidly about what "locking in" has looked like lately: earlier mornings, journaling, lower-carb meals without the guilt spiral, and a real 30-day discipline streak. He closes with an unguarded account of the Diabetes Sangha meditation retreat he attended this spring, why the "woo-woo" label doesn't scare him off, and a new mental health resource from Omnipod and Calm worth knowing about.
If you're weighing whether diabetes conferences are worth your time, curious what an AI trained entirely on this show can actually do, or just want to hear someone talk honestly about discipline and burnout without the performance — this one's worth the full listen.
Chapters
00:00 Episode 450 and fresh Friends for Life recap
02:22 Mapping the diabetes conference pyramid: industry side
05:41 Why Friends for Life beats every other conference
08:20 TCOID, Connected in Motion, and Camp Diabetes
11:07 Diabetes Legends Dallas and youth sports advocacy
14:41 Insulin Sensitivity Playbook recap and fan-favorite guests
17:02 Unveiling the DDT AI archive (live demo)
22:00 Personal update: the 90-day clinical trial
25:51 Locking in: mornings, journaling, and low-carb peace
28:21 Inside the Diabetes Sangha meditation retreat
30:52 Omnipod x Calm partnership and mental health resources
32:46 What's coming next and how to find Rob
