Last weekend I chaired an International online symposium with 6 speaker hubs (Melbourne, Beirut, Ljubljana, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Bern), ~40 listening hubs and 100's of individual attendees logging-in via an app or their browsers from all continents on the globe. The technology worked remarkably well with no time delay when switching between speakers and answering questions. One of the observer's in my speaking hub brought his daughter, Charlotte, along to the event and she took the liberty of drawing a picture of the stage in Bern. As you can see I am standing at the lectern speaking: 'Blah, blah, blah, ......". There is another speaker on the screen from one of the remote hubs and then their are two empty chairs. I simply love the picture hence my urge to share it with you.
This meeting was a revelation to me and I can't stop thinking about how many air miles, and carbon emissions, were saved by using new technology. The experience has buzzed me up so much that I am now exploring the option of launching OCTRIMS (Online Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis). I envisage OCTRIMS being short themed online scientific conferences with short pecha kucha presentations in place of posters, a few keynote talks from leading experts, these will be TED-like talks no longer than 15 minutes in length, a sponsored online mini-symposium and a session for people with MS and their families. The idea would be to run OCTRIMS conferences live and to then put all the presentations on the web for asynchronous viewing. All the presentations will be open for Q&A for 1-2 week period to allow proper scientific discourse.
OCTRIMS conferences will be short, succinct, high-value, high-quality, themed, free and most importantly environmentally friendly. If technology is changing the world why shouldn't it change the way MS researchers share knowledge? What do you think?
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| Drawn by Charlotte, Saturday 5th November 2016, Bern, Switzerland. |