Adjusting to the Reign of Webinars: Viewpoint.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: With the integration of COVID-19 into our lives, the way events are organized has changed. The Cerrahpasa Neuroscience Days held on May 8-9, 2021, was one of the conferences that was affected. The annual conference of the student-based Cerrahpasa Neuroscience Society transitioned to the internet for the first time and had the premise of going international. OBJECTIVE: With this study, we aim to both discuss how a virtual conference is organized and perceived, and where our conference stands within the literature as a completely student-organized event. METHODS: The conference was planned in accordance with virtual standards and promoted to primarily medical schools. During the execution, there were no major issues. The feedback was collected via a form developed with Google Forms. RESULTS: Out of 2195 registrations, 299 qualified to receive a certificate. The feedback forms revealed a general satisfaction; the overall quality of the event was rated an average of 4.6 out of 5, and the ratings of various Likert scale-based questions were statistically analyzed. Open-ended questions provided improvement suggestions for future events. CONCLUSIONS: The virtual Cerrahpasa Neuroscience Days was a success in organization and received positive feedback from the participants. We aim to ground future events on this experience.