BSW 2021 Lookout
Brussels, 16th December 2020.
Dear all,
2020 has been a horrendous year, no doubt about that.
Our life has been put on hold in a blink. The frailty of our whole society has been brutally exposed. Everything we took for granted has been questioned. One million and a half lives -and counting- have been lost while virologists, epidemiologists, politicians, real and would-be experts kept on quarrelling about the necessary measures.
Our social life has been reduced to nothing and more than ever, the threat of economical tragedies is lurking around the corner.
We thought we did rather well after having controlled the first wave but we were naïve; we are nowhere. Maybe the worst is yet to come.
We hope you and your loved ones are safe.
We are very happy to announce that the first virtual version of the BSW was a success : 533 surgeons and trainees attended, the free papers were followed by a multiple of the usual crowd, the plenary session gathered a number of world-class speakers and the technical platform functioned very well. So we are very satisfied. I want to thank all of you who presented, moderated, attended and supported this project.
But…..
We all miss the real thing, don’t we?
I do. I miss the social contacts, I miss talking to the experts, to our mentors, our peers, to our sponsors, to our trainees. I miss the receptions, the real sessions and the social events in a beautiful venue. And I think most of us do, even some of us who might have looked down on congresses at large and the BSW in particular. You often just don’t realize what you got until it’s gone. Anyway, I am sure that most of us are thus craving a “real “ congress now.
It might have seemed strange to make big plans in these uncertain times, but nonetheless we were proud to announce a REAL Belgian Surgical Week in Antwerp, May 5th- 8th, 2021.
The venue would have been be the one we booked last year: the beautiful Flanders Meeting & Convention Centre (FMCCA), aka the Elisabeth Centre, in the heart of Antwerp.
Things unfolding like they are now we decided however to postpone the BSW to next fall. The decline in infections came to a halt and there is not that much time left. No way to be sure of the sponsoring, attendance, international guests with only 5 months left to go. Of course, we could have gone for a virtual meeting again but we really rather fancy the real thing.
The meeting will probably be planned as a hybrid one, including as many real sessions as possible but also embracing the advantages offered by a number of virtual sessions. If COVID is still as prevalent then as it is now, we will easily be able to turn it into a completely virtual meeting. Since the virtual free paper sessions were a big success, we consider having them in the same format anyway again for these in next year’s BSW.
The BSW 2021 hopefully being the first REAL post-COVID congress, we have a hunch that it might attract much more attendees than it used to in the past. A nice prospect. Let’s cross fingers.
I hope to meet you - in the flesh - in Antwerp next autumn.
We will keep you posted as soon as possible to update on the date and venue, very probably in September 2021, 8-11th.
Yours,
For the RBSS board,
Charles de Gheldere MD FEBS Gen Surg
President RBSS
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Dear colleagues,
You are cordially invited to follow our virtual 'BSW light' from November 25th to November 27th, 2020.
We decided long ago to cancel the « real » BSW but we want to give all of the colleagues whose abstract was selected the opportunity to to present their work initially submitted for BSW 2020 in May.
This is what we offer you:
- November 25-26th, 2020 : two parallel online rooms: virtual, 2 parallel free papers sessions, the BAST trainer-trainee session and the video sessions, from 17.00 until 21.00h
- November 27th : one “plenary” session, from 17.00 until 20.00h, also virtual
- November 28th, 2020 : BGES-BAST-RBSS hands-on workshop, a classic by now is cancelled despite all efforts undertaken, due to the recurrent surge of the COVID 19 pandemic. Registered trainees will be contacted individually.
The program is now online available on the conference website www.belgiansurgicalweek.be.
The ever-changing restrictions, the uncertainties, the questions, the fear, our health, our loved ones, our career, our finances, the future........ I am fed up with COVID and I am aware that most of you are too.
However, we can’t ignore COVID’s impact on our surgical practice. Even being tired of it, we considered it our task to address it in the only plenary session of the congress on Friday Nov 27th. We have invited surgeons from different countries and specialties as well as local 'Belgian heroes' to explain how they manage their work during COVID-crisis in their countries.
We sincerely hope we will be able to organize a « real » BSW in 2021. More info to follow soon !
As such: the only thing left to do is register for this extraordinary online gathering!
Please join us on the first - and hopefully last - virtual BSW !
Yours,
In name of the RBSS Board,
Charles de Gheldere
President RBSS 2019-2020
