Simply Online? Lessons from Virtual Scientific Conferences for the Post-COVID-19 Era

The 2021 Annual Meeting of the Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis Research (GTH) is over, and we have witnessed the first GTH online congress. From a conference participant's view, what are the impressions of and experiences with the online-only format in comparison to traditional face-to-face conferences on-site? Which memories of the Lausanne event do we share and which are the perspectives for future GTH meetings?

The Congress President had designed an outstanding scientific program, in which this year's multifaceted congress motto “Across Borders” was elucidated and discussed from various perspectives.[1] The plenary, state-of-the-art, and keynote lectures were presented by excellent invited speakers, each of whom an expert in his/her field. These sessions and the newly established category of master classes covered a broad spectrum of interdisciplinary or specific topics related to basic science, translational research, and clinical research. Oral and poster presentations, educational sessions and workshops, and satellite symposia sponsored by industrial partners completed the comprehensive congress program. In this respect, the Lausanne congress was, on a high scientific level “business as usual” but, by contrast to all other GTH meetings, simply online.[2]

Publikationsverlauf

Eingereicht: 16. März 2021

Angenommen: 16. März 2021

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
15. April 2021

• References

• 1 Alberio L. GTH 2021: Across Borders. Hamostaseologie 2021; 41 (01) 5-8
• 2 Alberio L. GTH 2021: simply online … worth experiencing. Hamostaseologie 2020; 40 (05) 558-559
• 3 Alberio L. GTH 2021: The first online experience! useful for future meetings?. Hamostaseologie 2021; 41 (02) 100-102
• 4 Sarabipour S. Virtual conferences raise standards for accessibility and interactions. eLife 2020; 9: e62668 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.62668.
• 5 Scharf RE. Virtual scientific conferences: challenges and opprotunities (submitted). 2021
• 6 Scharf RE. How the COVID-19 pandemic impacts lives of life scientists. Hamostaseologie 2021; 41 (01) 9-13