May 28 to June 1st sees Spineweek being held in Amsterdam, quite an occasion for this once-every-four-year coming together of the main spinal societies.
According to its organisers, the idea behind Spineweek is to synchronise the annual meeting of leading scientific spine societies in one location, thus simplifying meeting logistics both for delegates and participating industry.
Spineweek was held in Porto in 2004 and in Geneva in 2008. These meetings were considered successful not only by the participating societies and attending delegates, but also by the sponsoring industry.
The event is set up in such a way that each participating society keeps its own scientific and social identity. Each society selects its own papers, has its own business meeting, presidential address, guest lectures and award sessions as during its normal annual meeting. However participants are encouraged to attend sessions of all societies and the programme is structured in such a way that papers of similar interests accepted by different societies appear in the same section. As always, industry and society workshops will again be organised during lunch breaks.
Delegates will be encouraged to attend the industry exhibition during breaks. There will also be society booths and relaxation areas where it will be possible to meet and interact with colleagues. This opportunity to meet people with similar interests, but whom one does not usually see at ones own annual meeting, is one of the aspects that was so appealing during the first two Spineweek meetings.
It’s a sensible idea, combining as it does the benefit of a clinical congress with the pragmatic needs for cost reduction and efficient use of time.
More info here.
Source: Spineweek
published: May 22, 2012 in: Congresses and Meetings, Spine