Conferences in the time of COVID: notes on organizing and delivering the first Brain Conference

• Published in: Brain communications 2021-01, Vol.3 (3), p.fcab142-fcab142
• Main Authors: Li, Lucia M, Bourke, Niall J, Lai, Helen H L, May, Hazel G, Zimmerman, Karl A, Bell, Joanne, Riches, Eleanor, Abu-Sway, Safa, Sharp, David J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Field Potential
• ISSN: 2632-1297; 2632-1297
• DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcab142

Abstract To further fulfil their missions of promoting teaching, education and research in neurology and related clinical-academic disciplines, the Guarantors of Brain and the Brain journal family invited delegates to the first Brain Conference in Spring of this year. This event aimed to deliver excellent teaching and scientific presentations across a broad spectrum of neuroscience fields, with the key aim of making the content as accessible as possible. We hoped to capitalize on the benefits of an online format, whilst trying to capture a little of the joy of the in-person meeting. This article reports on the approach and practical choices made to achieve these goals, and we hope this will provide some guidance and advice to others organizing their own online conference. Li et al. report on what went on ‘behind the scenes’ of the first Brain Conference, which took place in March 2021. Programming, technology and organizational choices are described, as well as reflections on what went well and what should be improved for future events.