Developing a Web-Based Congress: The International Web-Based Neurosurgery Congress Method.

Ruiz-Barrera, Miguel A; Agudelo-Arrieta, Mariana; Aponte-Caballero, Rafael; Gutierrez-Gomez, Santiago; Ruiz-Cardozo, Miguel Angel; Madrinan-Navia, Humberto; Vergara-Garcia, David; Riveros-Castillo, William M; Saavedra, Javier M

BACKGROUND Continuing Medical Education (CME) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) have been affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, the authors developed the 2020 International Web-Based Neurosurgery Congress (2020-IWBNC), which became the first successful virtual neurosurgical congress. The current article aims to describe this experience in designing and organizing a web-congress by the 2020-IWBNC method. METHODS The 2020-IWBNC was organized by the Center for Research and Training in Neurosurgery (CIEN in Spanish) in a record time of four weeks. Eight committees were created and assigned with a specific task to fulfill. The event followed a strict protocol based on the double-room method, which consisted of two virtual rooms (A and B) hosted from four different physical locations to avoid lecture overlapping and connection drops. Quality and impact were measured by videoconferencing platform and social media parameters, and an audience perception survey. RESULTS High-quality was achieved in academic standards, worldwide assistance, schedule adherence, and security. The 2020-IWBNC hosted 25 internationally renowned speakers and offered 30 top-of-the-line multidisciplinary conferences. A total of 3,096 participants were reached from 125 countries and 22,266 live-stream views were registered. No technical or cybersecurity-related issues occurred. CONCLUSION Web-based academic meetings will continue to be a helpful educational tool for CME and CDP. The 2020-IWBNC method (the double-room method) represents an alternative design that may be replicated by the academic community planning web-congresses and similar events.