Despite the Corona pandemic, Basel Congress Center just hosted the fifth consecutive Annual Meeting of the German, Austrian and Swiss Societies for Hematology and Medical Oncology. From 9 to 11 October 2020, the biggest physicians’ congress in the German-speaking world actually altered its format; most of the speakers were on site, but participants were able to take part virtually.
As physicians take an extra risk if they get together, but cancellation was never an option due to the innovative aspect of the conference, a virtual event was an obvious choice. “Analogue conferences will always have a value that virtual encounters cannot replace” said Congress President Prof. Dr. Markus G. Manz. “But since it is not yet clear how long the restrictions are going last, we have acquired valuable experience for the future in Basel”.
One of the most important features of the conference is interactivity. That’s why the hosts employed a chat function which allows the participants to link in. This works on the basis of the multi-streaming principle, meaning participants could leave or join a stream whenever, but still have access to all the content of every stream since it’ll be available to them until 31 October 2020.