The European Society of Radiology (ESR) based in Vienna pulled out all the stops and had a great success with the European Congress of Radiology (ECR), one of the largest medical congresses in the world. The congress of around 15,000 participants was held in a completely virtual format and impressed with numerous innovations.

It was "broadcast" live over the ESR's own streaming platform "ESR Connect" on five channels from a studio inside Palais Hansen Kempinski on Vienna's Ringstrasse boulevard. The program included hundreds of sessions with almost 2,000 individual presentations and more than 1,400 electronic poster presentations by 2,421 speakers. Although the congress was held entirely in a virtual format, a clever COVID-19 prevention concept was developed for presenters and employees on site to ensure everyone's safety.

The video contains some exclusive insights

Vienna as a global, virtual interface

While channels 2 to 5 were used for scientific exchange, channel 1 acted as a central information and entertainment hub, and served up a new feature: selected guests and speakers from around the world addressed the participants of the ECR as part of the "Pop-Up World Tour". This format turned Vienna into a global, virtual interface dedicated to radiotherapy, with value added that extends far beyond the medical discipline. Also on the agenda: physical and mental well-being as part of the newly developed In Focus program. Interdisciplinary presentations dealt with topics such as resilience, attention and stress, and included interactive courses on yoga, qigong and aikido.

Comeback in Vienna 2022

Hopefully, we'll get to see each other again at the ECR. If coronavirus permits, there should be hybrid ECR Summer Edition in Vienna from July 1 to 3, 2021. Ultimately, the ECR wants to return to the Austria Center Vienna as a physical event in 2022.

www.myesr.org/congress