SurgeryU and #AAGL20: Your Ultimate On-line Learning Experience

I have attended the AAGL Annual Congress every year since 2003.  It’s one of the highlights of my year.  The meeting provides me with information regarding new technology and techniques, insight into the latest research occurring within our field, and a chance to see old colleagues and make new friends.  That being said, the highlight of the meeting for me has always been the Videos and Live Surgeries.  As a fellow in 2003, I had already watched every video on SurgeryU multiple times.  I couldn’t get enough!  The annual meeting was a goldmine for me.  It was at this meeting that my journey with SurgeryU and surgical videos began.  Within a few years, I was grading videos for the coveted Golden Laparoscope Award and then was named Chair of the Video committee.  I literally have watched every video submitted for the Annual Congress within the last 10+ years as well as all of the live surgeries.

 Given the above, I am super excited for this year’s Annual Congress.  As someone who is an avowed visual learner and the Editor-in-Chief of the largest video archive in our field, I can attest to the efficacy of on-line learning.  On-line or “virtual” learning is a powerful tool that has been proven to be an engaging and impactful method for disseminating information.  Yes, I will miss our alumni dinner with all of my past fellows and catching up with old friends, but I look forward to all that this new paradigm has to offer.  One of the downsides to the “in-person” meetings was that I wasn’t able to be in two places at once.  If I wanted to watch a certain video and it was occurring at the same time as an interesting Abstract Presentation, I was forced to choose.  The Annual Congress has so much great content, but unfortunately, I left every meeting knowing that there were some things that I missed.  This year’s meeting will address my FOMO (“fear of missing out” for the non-millennials).  With the Annual Congress going virtual, much of the content (Post Graduate courses, etc.) will be prerecorded and available starting October 19.  These courses will then have live Question and Answer sessions to allow for participants to view the material at their convenience and then log on to have their questions answered live by faculty.  Now I can watch all of the content that interests me without having to check a schedule to see if it conflicts with another presentation.  No more FOMO!  The feel and character of the meeting will be preserved with live events throughout the Congress such as Surgical Tutorials, live Tele-Surgeries (about 20…much more than any previous meeting!), Panel Sessions, Open Communications, etc.  The line-up of surgeons chosen for the Tele-Surgeries is truly a world-wide cast of some of the best surgeons in our field.  This new meeting model is a win-win!

I hope to “see” everyone at the 2020 AAGL Virtual Global Congress November 6-14, 2020.  To register visit http://congress.aagl.org.