Last time when the conference was held without fear of virus was 2019 -- 4 years ago! Naturally, therefore, the ISMRM annual meeting in Toronto was teeming with smiles and laughter, excitements and curiosity. While fully in-person, the conference allowed on-line participation in oral sessions, many of which were also recorded live for off-hour viewing. Such recording effectively allowed to circumvent the limitation of massively parallel sessions. The general organization of the meeting, on the other hand, left some room for improvement, something to be desired. Maybe the committee needs a little bit of time to catch up and adjust in the post-Covid conferencing environment? A few not-so-great things that come to my mind were the following.
- Session assignment for some abstracts was questionable. For example, a magnet development poster (compact 7T, #4586) was put in an RF coils section.
- Three of my poster presentations (#4560, 4566, 4569), were put into a single, one-hour digital poster session.
- Digital poster presentation using muted pre-recorded video was difficult and annoying. A ppt file should have been available for viewing and presentation instead.
- Navigating digital poster session floor was very difficult. There was no easy way to match computer numbers (displayed physically) and program numbers (how citations were done).
- Moderator instruction/guideline was inadequate. A first-time moderator would not have known what to do. A clearer guidance should have been given regarding handling of questions submitted on-line.
[PS] In terms of fear of virus, unfortunately several participants that I know got COVID during/after the conference. The new reality defined by the pandemic certainly made itself known this time.
