Which Conferences Will Still Be Virtual in 2021?

Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center.

When the COVID-19 pandemic exploded this past spring, medical conferences worldwide had to pivot quickly to online, virtual formats. Next year appears to be another year of transition, with the landscape of medical conference formats dotted with "virtual," "in-person," and "hybrid" meetings as the pandemic is expected to wane with the availability of effective vaccines.

Varied choices made by medical societies that have announced formats for next year reflect the struggle to safely bring large numbers of experts together nationally and internationally while preserving collegiality and an easy exchange of ideas.

Medscape's review of nearly 70 conferences scheduled in 2021 finds that most meetings in the first quarter of the year will remain virtual. Beginning in March and April, more meetings are shifting either to a hybrid of in-person and virtual or in-person only.

However, organizers are also ready to change plans as the pandemic evolves, even for those conferences planned late in the year.

Mark G. Watson, MD, executive director for one of the largest conferences, the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), told Medscape Medical News that, for now, its conference is scheduled to be an in-person meeting in Chicago in December 2021, with a planned virtual component as well.

"However," he said, "RSNA will continue to monitor the global situation and will be ready to provide a high-quality experience for our attendees and exhibitors, whatever the forum."

Philip Masters, MD, vice president of membership for the American College of Physicians (ACP), told Medscape Medical News that pandemic uncertainty pushed ACP to go virtual for its late-April 2021 meeting. The conference typically draws between 10,000 and 15,000 people.

"There's a huge amount of uncertainty about the trajectory of the pandemic even if we do have a vaccine," he said. "Bringing that many medical professionals into one place where they could infect each other or bring [the virus] back to their patients is not a good idea."

Moving large numbers of people from room to room with social distancing also presents huge space and time challenges, he noted. In addition, some major academic institutions have asked faculty not to travel. Even where travel is permitted, some medical professionals may simply feel unsafe traveling.

Some large meetings haven't committed either way. The American Medical Association website for its 2021 House of Delegates meeting, for instance, says, "More details to follow. Dates and locations subject to change."

Readers, would you go to an in-person medical conference in 2021? Tell us how you would make that decision by submitting a comment below.

Marcia Frellick is a freelance journalist based in Chicago . She has previously written for the Chicago Tribune, Science News, and Nurse.com, and was an editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, the Cincinnati Enquirer, and the St. Cloud ( Minnesota ) Times. Follow her on Twitter at @mfrellick

For more news, follow Medscape on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube

Medscape Medical News © 2020 

Cite this: Which Conferences Will Still Be Virtual in 2021? - Medscape - Dec 15, 2020.