Virtual Conferences..

"PACS In Age of Change.." was the title of the first virtual conference by Auntminnie.com. The event was held online on November 17, 2010 at 11 a.m. USA Eastern Time.


This was my second time to attend a conference. My first chance was during SIIM 2009.


At that time I have logged-in to website. Logging in was much easier than reaching the Charlotte Convention center during SIIM2009. In Charlotte, I had to pay for car parking lot .. i got ticket on first day :).. and I was lost in down town Charlotte .. but this time loggin in was in a minute (of course I had to give my kids some candy to keep them away from me) !!

After logging in was the menu page, which is similar to SIIM2009 lobby floor. From there I had the choice to go to different sections of the event (i.e, lounge, auditorium, helpdesk, exhibit hall, etc..) 

Thereafter, I wanted to catch the first talk by my favorite speaker:  Eliot Siegel Chief of Imaging services at University of Maryland Medical Center and Professor; Vice Chair, University of Maryland School of Medicine Department of Diagnostic Radiology. The title of his talk was "Redesigning Your Radiology Department to Save Body and Mind"

Mr. Siegel's talk was about design of radiology reading rooms and design elements which insures proper reading of digital images and improve productivity in service. He started with design of reading room in old days (analogue) and from there he compared to reading rooms in digital era. 

Dr. Siegel pin-pointed at several issues; i.e, effect of ambient light on reading productivity, Room temperature, integration with information system, acoustics (i.e, noise due to MR machine)

Affect of ambient light on fatigue

Effect of monitor brightness on reading time

Later I have attended the exhibit hall where I found medical software/hardware vendors. See below. In the exhibit hall I had the chance to chat with representatives of those vendors specially McKesson and Barco. McKesson is a very well known Healthcare, and Imaging IT vendor in NorthAmerica. Barco is top manufacturer of medical grade monitors. Barco representative gave his view on Q8PACS case study about monitors in Kuwait.

Exhibit Hall

Chatting at the exhibit hall.

Later, I decided to take a virtual beverage; so, I had to visit the lounge. At the lounge I met many participants who were chatting like real lounge. I exchanged my views about the virtual conference and about the talks..

Chatting with other participants at the lounge

My overall impression was great about this event and hope that Auntminnie will repeat this experience again.

This event was organized by Auntminnie.com and virtual service provided by InXpo.com 

This experience was very good that we in Kuwait should think about organizing such event which (I'm sure) saves a lot of money which normally goes for the venue and Catering :(  .. Hope we can see Kuwait Imaging Informatics events in virtual world on 2012.