This conversation gets our coverage of the Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine, World Congress, (EBPOM) 2024 off to a great start. Shared decision making is a topic which cuts right to the centre of perioperative medicine with a focus upon patients and patient perspectives. Presented by Andy Cumpstey with his guests, Bob Evans, a retired Chartered Town Planner and local authority director, a board member of the Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC), founder member of the Patient, Carer and Public Involvement and Engagement (PCPIE) group, Debra Leung, staff specialist anesthetist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia and Alf Collins, Freelance health consultant, communication skills trainer and former National Clinical Director of Personalized Care and Shared Decision Making for NHS England.