Challenges

• How to design an exiting programme for on-line viewers.  And how to get participants involved?
• How to reduce technical problems?
• How to make a virtual conference interesting for the industry partners and sponsors?

Solutions

• A virtual conference shifts the focus away from networking towards a purely scientific event.  If direct personal exchanges are not possible, extended breaks can be left out, and the online content should be concise and attractive.  To meet the changed requirements, the congress duration should be reduced (half days instead of full days, less parallel sessions should be planned and the presentation time has to be shorter.  To get the participants involved, live voting and discussions are a rewarding tool.
• A virtual congress requires a very good preparation (pre-recording, briefings, testings, trainings) and a competent technical partner.  A live support system during the event is indispensable so all (technical) questions can be solved right away during the event.
• Because the industry partners (mainly pharmaceutical and medical technology companies) use conference exhibtions to present in person and to showcase new products live., they are holding back from participation to virtual events.  It is important to identify new sponsorship opportunities, propose new creative sponsorship packages and to ensure sponsor visibility in the virtual setting.

With these challenges and solutions in mind, we succeeded in organizing multiple virtual conferences.  The personal support of our team proved to be of great value to our clients. A thorough preparation and no expense spared on technical support is a must for a succesful online event.