The Royal College of Ophthalmologists Annual Congress

ACC Liverpool’s production team successfully provided technical support for the venue’s first fully virtual event.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologist’s Annual Congress has been held on-site at ACC Liverpool six times but this year organisers took the decision to deliver a virtual event to 1,300 delegates.

Despite the 2020 conference being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, delegates were still able to access the same programme with new updates and speakers. 

A total of six sessions featuring 300 different speakers were hosted by Glisser, a virtual and hybrid event platform that engages delegates by turning events into experiences.  ACC Liverpool’s production team created a bespoke website for ‘on demand’ videos of the presentations.  Delegates were able to view the sessions live during the conference or for three months after the meeting.

Content included a wide range of ophthalmic research from pre and post covid – combined with video and aural content so delegates were able to get a full sense of the projects. 

The interactive sessions were a mix of both live and pre-recorded.  The virtual platform allowed for a live Q and A between presenters with questions submitted via Glisser.

Julie Hodgkinson, events manager at rhe Royal College of Ophthalmologists, said: “We were extremely pleased that the ACC Liverpool team were able to suggest a number of solutions to enable us to deliver our conference this year.  While we were disappointed that the 2020 conference couldn’t take place and restrictions this year meant that all of our delegates could not attend the venue in person, the virtual event was a great success.

“The combination of Glisser and the on-demand website created by the ACC Liverpool team allowed for greater flexibility and means that members can continue to access high quality education content on demand for three months which will be of enormous benefit.”

Nicky Norman, head of production and ICT services, said: “As soon as it was evident that the RCOphth Annual Congress couldn’t go ahead in its traditional format, we were happy to provide a number of solutions.   We have continued to invest in our technology services and develop our products such as offering hybrid and virtual events which now, more than ever, is important for us to deliver an event effectively.

“For example, any of our venue spaces can be converted into a professional hybrid studio, using our onsite high-spec equipment, experienced technicians and reliable internet connections. We can securely stream sessions live to Glisser, from a single session with one presenter to a virtual panel session with presenters in different locations – or multiple sessions at the same time. 

“Nothing can replace face to face meetings but we pride ourselves on our flexibility and innovation and by offering a range of different options we feel we can offer association and corporate clients a wider variety bespoke to each conference which we feel is very important in the new meetings landscape.”