After we came out of the lockdown, new normal supposed to occur. In my experience, new normal we define every day and what was ok yesterday, today is not and the other way around.
Also, we can often hear that we have learned a lot about the virus so far, so it will be easier to fight against it, without a lockdown. Maybe I’m learning slowly, but nothing new I’ve heard about the virus didn't last a week or two of the new normal. It was thermolabile and now it’s not, it weakened then again it's not, it mutated to adapt to people as carriers and yet it didn’t.
The only thing that has withstood the test of (short) time is the way it spreads, and here I mean the knowledge that it is not transmitted over surfaces but only by droplets, but I probably didn’t follow through.
As everyone scratch where it itches, I will share my view of healthcare events after a lockdown.
The basic sentiment, as in other elements of business, is uncertainty and variability. In addition to the measures and recommendations issued by the headquarters, there are also recommendations of professional associations, company regulations, and instructions, and of course, the personal concerns of anyone who is in various ways associated with the event or simply decided to come and then change his mind.
To reduce uncertainty and offer clients more options, we opted for the concept of a hybrid conference - an event that combines live, in-person elements with digital, online components. In that way, some participants are present physically and some online. This allows each visitor to decide at the last minute whether to come to the event physically or follow it online.
Also, the idea is a hybrid way to avoid flaws solely online or by physically tracking and consuming content. The disadvantage of online monitoring would be the monotony and saturation of this type of content consumption.
Followers who are at too high a risk of being physically present at the event can follow it online.
The benefit is that the physical unfolding of the event gives a much greater dynamic than when the event takes place exclusively online. On the other hand, people who physically follow the event, while respecting epidemiological conditions, are at lower risk because the number of participants is smaller due to the possibility of following online.
Our experience of this way of organizing an event is very positive. We successfully organized the Data4Oncology event on July 2nd. The topic of discussion was the usage of digital technologies and health data in the fight against cancer and the impact of the COVID-19 virus epidemic.
In addition to participants who could watch the event live, Tomislav Sokol, a member of the EU Parliament, joined the program directly from Bruxelles, which confirms another important feature of hybrid conferences - participants can join the program of the event directly wherever they are.
Besides, anyone who wanted to ask questions to the lecturers and panelists could do so quickly and easily via chat. In this way, all participants, whether present physically or online were able to get involved and be part of the conference.
Author: Mladen Kovaček