All these societies are planning in person meetings for the spring and early summer of 2022. CNS will be from April 23-26 in San Francisco, ISMRM will be from May 7-12 in London, and OHBM will be from June 19-23 in Glasgow.

While there were some differences in strategies used by each society, there was a strong convergence in the approaches. All the meetings will have a virtual component but the precise logistics for how to best simultaneously put on the virtual and in person meeting, all agreed, are tricky and still being ironed out. All the meeting directors understand the need to maintain a high quality in-person and virtual component. No one would want to fly out to a meeting and then listen to predominantly pre-recorded talks, so the directors are encouraging as much as possible for presenters to be in-person and then to commit as much as possible to being physically at the meeting. Of course, given fluid Covid landscape, such virtual and in-person presentations are unavoidable. Either way, real time Q/A sessions, both virtual and in-person will be available.

We start the discussion by going over how these societies had to quickly pivot then scramble once Covid hit, and then we talked about the challenges and lessons learned from this experience. We discuss what they anticipate and look forward to for the meetings in the spring, as well as some of the benefits that have come out of this deeply challenging time. Even after Covid is a distant memory, a virtual component (both streaming in-person presentations as well as virtual presentations to in-person attendees) is very likely here to stay, as the benefits associated with a wider inclusivity, lower carbon footprint, and more extensive outreach appears to be well-worth the added costs.

This was a fun, honest, and informative discussion but also was a glimpse into how the leaders are all struggling with this new landscape of hybrid meeting planning. There are no easy answers to many of the logistics as all the leaders acknowledge that we are entering uncharted territory with each new meeting a new experiment. We will learn much from these meetings going forward and adjust accordingly.

Guests:

Fernando Calamante (president of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine) is the Director of the Sydney Imaging Core Research Facility at the University of Sydney.

Randy Gollub (president of the Organization for Brain Mapping) is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry with a secondary appointment in Radiology at MGH.

George (Ron) Mangun (leadership board member of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society) is director of the Center for Mind and Brain and Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neurology at the University of California, Davis.