CHEST (the American College of Chest Physicians) postponed its planned global congress in Italy from June 2020 to June 2021. In order to fill the educational gap and give the opportunity for accepted abstract submitters to publish their research in 2020, a one-day educational congress was created, focusing on the most recent discoveries on COVID-19, pulmonary, critical care, sleep medicine, and more.
Challenge
Due to COVID-19, the planned CHEST Congress to take place in Italy, June 2020, was postponed to 2021. In order to fill the educational gap and give the opportunity for accepted abstract submitters to publish their latest research in 2020, a one-day educational congress was created. The challenge was to find the perfect format to deliver the content while reaching the maximum number of delegates and doing all that while providing an engaging educational meeting.
Solution
26th June 2020 turned into a true celebration for chest physicians. CHEST and Kenes Group organised a 6-hour event that would be ideally fitting the time zones in the US and Italy. In order to create it, Kenes Group created the perfect mix of platforms to support the event, followed by a number of rehearsal meetings. Orchestrated by 10 people at Kenes, with a 3-week lead time for marketing, the congress was successfully produced with overwhelmingly positive feedback from delegates and speakers alike.
Outcomes
The CHEST Virtual Congress was free for participants, supported by an educational grant received by Elsevier – the publisher of the journal CHEST. This enabled 2,100 participants to attend the event live and have the opportunity to claim 5 CME points afterwards. With all sessions and meeting materials being hosted online for three months, delegates can register late, consume the content at their own pace, and upon completion also claim CME points.
CHEST Virtual Congress featured:
- Live panel discussions followed by Q&A with the speakers
- Topic presentations with live Q&A
- Interactive breaks, including polls, games, trivia
- Special panel on COVID-19 with personal testimonials from leaders from USA, Italy, and Turkey
- ePosters, including audio descriptions
- Opportunity to register, view the content on-demand and claim credits until 26 Sept 2020
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