How to:

Client challenge

The 2021 edition of the International Congress of Pediatric Radiology (IPR) was held in a hybrid format from 10 to 15 October 2021, in Rome, Italy and online. The congress is held every five years, alternating between Europe and North America.

For this edition, there were 220 speakers, of which 100 were connected remotely. It gathered 350 people in Rome and 650 participants online: so, a truly hybrid audience was engaged at the same time.

The challenge IPR faced was how to connect the two audiences and create a real, concrete collaboration among digital and in-person attendees: making the event interactive, engaging and productive, able to foster the knowledge sharing of scientific content.

To facilitate the collaboration and active engagement of both the online and onsite audiences, it was decided to organise a ‘special’ hybrid scientific session, the IPR Olympics, a competition about the most important and updated studies and findings in the sector.

The delegates were divided into two teams representing the European Society of Pediatric Radiology versus the American Society of Pediatric Radiology.

The teams were comprised of six people chosen from the speaker faculty. The teams met not only in person but also online: all the team members connected from their computers (from a separate room at the congress centre in Rome or from elsewhere) and were projected on two big screens in the plenary room.

A quiz master moderated the game, based on multiple-choice questions, most of them on the scientific content related to the congress but it also included some cultural questions about the hosting city, Rome. The audience in the plenary room and online were asked the same questions of the competing teams and had to answer before the answers were revealed.

This engaging format, conducted with an informal and spontaneous style, resulted in active participation and was really appreciated because it encouraged interaction and fun while stimulating discussions about important scientific content.

All the scientific sessions were uploaded to the congress website and are available on-demand until next year, extending the duration of the congress and the possibility for other people to access the content.

The congress presidents, Andrea Rossi and Damien Grattan-Smith, said: “Everything was just flawless. The room was as full as could be under the circumstances, and the audience reacted enthusiastically and with real participation”.

AIM Italy congress department managing director, Rosangela Quieti, added: “The client was really satisfied with the results and very happy to be able to organise the event in-person while fostering the engagement of both digital and onsite delegates.

“Over the last two years, we have been discovering new ways to communicate scientific content and facilitating collaboration among delegates. Despite social distancing and remote participation, we have learned not to be afraid of proposing new, unusual activities, taking inspiration with creativity from other sectors such as gaming, TV shows or social media. The more you develop the ideas, the more effective your format will be”.