APACRS 2021 Daily News (Friday, 30 July 2021)

APACRS, SNEC hold historic first virtual meeting Today marks a historic first for both the Asia-Pacific As- sociation of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (APACRS) and the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) as they kick off the scientific program of the 33rd APACRS–SNEC 30th Anniversary International Meeting—their first ever virtual meeting at this scale. Last year, organizers from SNEC were reluctant to cancel the 2020 meeting as it was a significant year for the eye center. “Before COVID-19, SNEC had plans to celebrate its 30th Anniversary in 2020, since its founding in 1990. One of the celebratory events would have been the joint 33rd APACRS and SNEC 30th Anniversary Meeting,” wrote Wong Tien Yin, MD, Medical Director, SNEC, in correspon- dence. “Both the association and SNEC were founded by the late Prof. Arthur Lim, who contributed significantly to ophthalmology in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region and we are thankful to the APACRS for bringing the annual meeting to Singapore and partnering us.” “It was really a difficult decision as the APACRS and SNEC organizing committee were looking forward to holding the conference in Singapore,” wrote Mohamad Rosman, MD, Organizing Chairman, SNEC. “Much of the groundwork and preparation for the conference in July 2020 was al- ready done and we were cognizant of the fact that many delegates were looking forward to come to Singapore.” For APACRS, cancelation was unprecedented. “It was a very difficult decision to cancel the 2020 APACRS/SNEC annual meeting as we had never canceled any APACRS meeting before,” wrote Ronald Yeoh, MD, Scientific Chair- man, APACRS, in correspondence. “However, tough deci- sions had to be made and ultimately although the hunger for learning in cataract and refractive surgery was huge, we had to make the most appropriate decision with the safety of our delegates, exhibitors, and speakers foremost in mind. The decision was obvious once this principle was formulated. So, we did cancel for the first time in our histo- ry.” Going OnAir Planning the virtual meeting was certainly a challenge. “The biggest challenge is that we had never organized a virtual meeting before!” wrote Chan Wing Kwong, MD, Organizing Chairman, APACRS. “While we have gained some experi- ence with doing some webinars in 2020 and 2021 (which was also a first for the APACRS), we know that a virtual meeting can never equal the experience and interactive ed- ucational opportunities compared to an in-person meeting. The organizers decided on the OnAir meeting platform as they believe it “best satisfies our virtual meeting objec- tives,” wrote Dr. Chan. There are some innovations that give virtual meetings an advantage over the old in-person format. One such indi- cated by Dr. Chan is that the platform will be open from 25 July, giving delegates early pre-meeting access to the eposters, Film Festival videos, and exhibition; delegates can then continue to access this content through to 30 Au- gust, with the addition of the recorded sessions and cours- es that will first stream through the platform on the actual meeting days, 30–31 July 2021. Asia-Pacific Association of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons Friday, 30 July 2021 EWAP Daily News - 1