1st Virtual TCTAP & AP VALVES 2020!

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the international academic conference TCTAP & AP VALVES 2020 hosted by CVRF will be held fully online from August 6th to 8th.

In last March, as COVID-19 pandemic became a reality, large-scale events at home and abroad were canceled one after another. Due to the nature of the infectious diseases that spread rapidly, every country limits the events that large numbers of people gather, and accordingly it is difficult to hold academic conferences normally. That is, it is actually impossible to hold an offline conference in the existing way of the face-to-face method. Worse yet, the COVID-19 era is expected to be prolonged, as there is a warning for the second wave of the pandemic this fall, while there is no promise for the end of COVID-19 and the completion of vaccine development. In the present situation, as demands for online consumption and education increase, and the contactless culture emerges as a trend, online academic conferences are being proposed as an alternative.

The biggest advantage of online academic conferences is that the accessibility to high-quality content can be strengthened with no restrictions on time and place. Attendees can save travel time and freely participate by selecting the area that they are most interested in. When attending offline conferences, it can be regrettable that attendees cannot hear lectures conducted in different spaces at the same time, but this temporal and spatial limitation can be solved as well by the online method.

On the other hand, it is pointed out that communication is not as smooth as offline events while the technical completion of video conference programs, live chat, VOD, etc., which are mainly used in online academic conferences, has somewhat improved. For speakers, they need skills to transfer their knowledge as well as to attract audiences online. However, it is difficult to immediately check reactions of thousands of connected audiences, so it seems necessary to build a system that allows many to communicate interactively. As the convenience and merit of online conferences are great, in the future, a hybrid-type conference applying 'Blended Learning', a concept that combines on/offline education, is expected to develop by complementing the shortcomings.

Likewise the online conference is no longer a temporary phenomenon but a new normal after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the wind of change is also blowing in the institutional aspect. Overseas conferences including ones held in the United States, Europe, and Japan are expanding the recognition of training credits through online conferences, and as the recent discussions with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korean Medical Association have made it possible to recognize the training credits and support e-booth in Korea, detailed guidelines are being prepared at the government level.

In the light of the current trend of the academia and the social situation, CVRF decided to hold a new non-face-to-face online conference, instead of the previous face-to-face type, to overcome the discontinuity of academic exchange in the field of cardiovascular intervention. TCTAP and AP VALVES conferences, which were originally scheduled to be held in April and August this year respectively, will be held simultaneously in the name of TCTAP & AP VALVES 2020 Virtual in August.

The coming conference will begin with addressing various issues related to COVID-19 with experts from around the world, and a discussion session on LM PCI vs. CABG and a highlight session examining Tape Case, TAVR, CTO, Pharmacology, CHIP & HBR, Stent technology, and Bifurcation will be prepared. In every session, experts on each subject will be invited to exchange questions and answers with participants via live chat. After the session ends, it is possible to watch the preferable session again through the VOD. In addition, abstracts and case sessions will be posted in electronic document form so that attendees can freely browse and share their opinions online. Moreover, TCTAP & AP VALVES 2020 Virtual Conference is spurring the construction of a convenient registration system for participants and a technical system to understand practical participation in sessions so that attendees can receive training credit for online education.

As it is a new attempt based on the purpose of a wide range of academic exchanges, the registration fee of this conference is all free. For more information and details of the conference and programs, please check on the website (www.summit-tctap.com). For smooth session participation , it is recommended to register in advance on the website until August 5th.

* Since 1995, CVRF has made continuous efforts to raise the level of medical and research on cardiovascular treatment to a global level through research and academic exchanges on cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular interventions at home and abroad. By holding academic conferences including TCTAP, AP VALVES, Complex PCI Society, etc., it has been developed into the international academic conference representing the Asia Pacific region.