Disrupted medical conferences: Lessons learnt

The COVID-19 pandemic has radically disrupted traditional medical society conferences in a way that could scarcely have been imagined in 2019.

The vast majority of societies were able to transition their planned physical events to virtual formats within remarkably short periods of time, and some delivered impressive attendee experiences. To anyone unfamiliar with the medical conference world this phenomenon might be described as revolutionary, however, to those who have been following the slow but steady shift towards the integration of more and better digital options at society events it is far better described as evolutionary.

And the evolution continues. Towards the conclusion of 2021 many societies announced another shift in format; 2022 conferences would be hybrid, or increasingly and more realistically described as ‘physical with virtual participation options,’ or similar.