It’s that time of year again where the research team at the Association are counting down to the start of the largest scientific and medical conference specific to MND, the International Symposium on ALS/MND. This year marks the 33rd Symposium and we will be posting blogs throughout November to give you an insight into what’s being discussed at this year’s event.
Once again, the Symposium is being held virtually this year from the 6th– 9th of December and we are looking forward to hosting this global event which gives the MND research community the chance to share their work, exchange knowledge and foster new collaborations. Last year the symposium was attended by over 1500 delegates from 44 different countries, including researchers, healthcare professionals and people from the wider MND community. Registration is open now and costs £60.
Each year we invite several plenary speakers who are experts in their fields to provide an overview on a variety of topics across MND research and clinical practice. This year we have 15 plenary speakers who will discuss a wide range of topics from clinical trials to metabolism to assistive technology. You can find out more about this year’s plenary speakers here and read abstracts (brief overviews) of their presentations in the abstracts book here.
Alongside the invited plenary speakers, other MND researchers also get the chance to present their work at the Symposium. Researchers are asked to submit abstracts of their work and the Programme Committee meets to judge the content and decide whether they will accepted and be offered the chance to present via an oral presentation or a poster presentation. This year we have 13 researchers presenting oral presentations and over 250 people presenting posters.
Registered delegates will get access to all of the plenary and oral presentations with live Q&As and the live poster sessions. In addition, delegates can view the ePoster hall where they can access all the posters being presented this year on demand, talk to the presenting authors and watch short ‘lightning explainer’ videos about the work being presented in the posters.
This year’s Symposium will see the return of many popular features from last year and some new features, including:
- Sponsor/Exhibitor Hall– which gives the opportunity to talk with sponsors and exhibitors or schedule meetings.
- Meeting hub – which enables people to meet and connect with other attendees to chat, call and hold meetings.
- Gamification – which allows delegates to earn points for taking part in various aspects of the event and to be entered into a prize draw each day.
- On-demand access– which lets attendees view the content after the event for at least 30 days.
- Photobooth- where delegates cantake photos with a choice of different backgrounds
- Ice Breaker- which is an interactive session where you can get to know more about your fellow delegates.
- Networking event- where people can chat with other attendees, build new relationships and spark new ideas for research.
Stay Informed
You can find out more about the International Symposium on ALS/MND on the website and view the full programme for this year’s event.
If you have come across this blog through the Symposium website, or a general search please subscribe (see top right-hand corner of page) and you’ll be notified every time we upload a new article.
Take a look at the schedule of blogs for November as we continue counting down to the 33rd International Symposium on ALS/MND with our Symposium Blogathon.
You can follow our research account on Twitter. We tweet about up to the minute research and will be tweeting throughout the Symposium using the hashtag #alsmndsymp.
