I didn’t know what to expect when I logged in to the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions earlier this month but having attended I’m definitely a fan of this new virtual format. As a trainee, the largest barriers to attending conferences are usually finding the funding and arranging the time off from work. Not having to worry about missing work on Friday and the cost of a roundtrip flight and hotel for the weekend was a huge positive.
In the couple of weeks since the conference, it’s also been great having access to sessions I missed. With so much going on during the live scientific session, it’s easy to miss a lot of really interesting new research being presented. Being able to go back a couple of weeks later and look through the content has made it much more digestible and eased any fear of missing out I had.
It did take me a little bit to get comfortable navigating the HeartHub (https://www.hearthubs.org/qcor), but then again I usually get turned around at in-person conferences too. Once I was in virtual sessions, I was surprised by how interactive the chats were and how relaxed they felt. Not sure why it felt less formal than an in-person conference but “attending” while having a coffee in my living room, rather than wearing a suit in a conference room sure didn’t add any stress.
Looking forward to #AHA20 online!
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