WIROC GLOBAL: A Mega-Event

Journal of Clinical Orthopaedics | Vol 7 | Issue 2 |  Jul-Dec 2022 | page: 06-07 | Dr. Sangeet Gawhale, Dr. Vishal Kundnani, Dr. Ashok Shyam

DOI: 10.13107/jcorth.2022.v07i02.507


Author: Dr. Sangeet Gawhale [1], Vishal Kundnani [2], Ashok Shyam [3]

[1] Department of Orthopaedic, JJ Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India,
[2] MS Ortho, Consultant Spine Surgeon at Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai, India,
[3] Department of Orthopaedics, Sancheti Institute for Orthopaedics and Rehablitation, Pune, India.

Address of Correspondence
Dr. Sangeet Gawhale,
Department of Orthopaedic, JJ Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
E-mail: sangeetgawhale@hotmail.com


WIROC GLOBAL: A Mega-Event 

WIROC GLOBAL was a fantastic experience for all three of us, and we hope it was for all the delegates and faculties. It represented a change and a transition from the virtual world into a physical conference. It had the best of both worlds included in one which did full justice to the presidential theme of Dr Sangeet Gawhale; ‘Adapt & Evolve.’

The entire event was planned in 3 months! Yes, just three months is what was needed to plan and execute a conference of such a massive scale. And we thank the entire team with us that has helped us realise this dream.
The first proof of concept was the balance of Virtua l and Physical components and the involvement of National and International Societies on One Single Platform. The concept and term ‘WIROC Global’ was suggested by Ashok Shyam and was readily accepted by the other pillars of WIROC and thus began a journey of partnership, friendship, and comradeship among all of us three. The first step was creating a Team for WIROC GLOBAL. We received full support from the entire academic fraternity of the Bombay Orthopaedic Society. The scientific program planning started in January 2022 and was completed by mid of February under the guidance of Dr. Sangeet Gawhale, Dr. Vikas Agashe and Dr. Anil Karkhanis. All the convenors did a fabulous job of bringing together a fantastic program.

The virtual part of WIROC Global was planned to include a 36 hours program which will be 12 hours running after the physical conference. We had scheduled 2 hours slots with societies and started approaching them. To our amazement, most of the organisations were delighted to participate. This was a unique concept to them. The most remarkable part was that we off e red members of all participating societies Free Access to the Virtual Platform and content of all other organisations. We also asked the societies to add a small introduction to their societies so that members of other societies visiting the platform can know more about their activities. This was to be given by the presidents of the societies, and we are delighted to have the presidents of prestigious organisations like the British Orthopaedic Association, Canadian Orthopaedic Association, AO North America, SLARD, SICOT, SPOT, and many more personally participate and spoke about their associations. It was such a delight to see the inclination to share and collaborate among the entire orthopaedic community from across the world. We have a total of 87 societies participating, with more than 258 speakers from more than 104 countries. That shows the spirit of companionship that the orthopaedic community enjoys. Massive technology infrastructure was required to record, process, and schedule the entire Global part of WIROC Global. The team of Ashok Shyam and Neeraj Bijlani executed this. This was a massive task of organising recordings with each society and coordinating with a vast list of faculty. A lot of faculty send pre-recorded videos which were to be stitched together to make a comprehensive program. The shape of the program looked terrific and diverse. Speakers and viewpoints from Africa, the middle east, Europe, Asia, North America, Canada, Latin America, and Australia presented various views on seemingly similar topics. This was another revelation of how differently we deal with our problems depending on the resources and infrastructure.

One of the essential highlights of WIROC GLOBAL is the Live Surgery Platter which was entirely Dr. Vishal Kundnani’s brainchild. Again it required tremendous technology support, and the audiovisual expertise of Mr Anand Peter came into play in the area. Five centres of ex cellence offered their help in conducting the Live Surgeries and stirred the entire nation’s excitement. Meet the master program was conceptualised to present the best surgeons with the best surgical techniques. More than 60 surgeons responded to our call, glad to share and demonstrate their expertise. The physical days of WIROC GLOBAL are start studded with Plenary sessions, Orations, CME, and fantastic research presentations. All these fulfilled the traditional WIROC Element, which is graded as one of the highest levels of academics in the country. The hospitality of VAMA Events with Mr Vikram Patwardhan’s team and designing of the Event structure by Mr Rajesh Menon adds immensely to the delegate’s experience and the meeting’s success.

We had some fantastic facades at the venue, with a Walk of Fame including all past president secretaries and EC of BOS. The façade included the participating societies too, and highlights of WIROC Global. One of the unique features of the WIROC Global program was the inclusion of free research papers in the scientific sessions. Rather than cornered into empty halls, the young researchers could present their papers to a panel of experts in related fields.

WIROC Global has extended its invitation to all academic bodies worldwide and provided free access to the global program for all its members. More than 70,000 surgeons visited the platform in the next three months and took advantage of the academic deliberation. With this huge responsibility, the WIROC GLOBAL Virtual platform was made to be one of the best in the world with every conceivable feature on it. It is made to specification from the WIROC Tech team and aims to make it user-friendly and to take such massive traffic.

We also have the feature of ‘WIROC-on-Demand’ where visitors can view the WIROC Physical event, Live Surgery platter, and Meet the Master Session on payment. This was helpful for anyone wishing to attend WIROC but could not participate and for members of other societies who want to see the entire conference virtually.

WIROC FOREVER is the Last stage of WIROC Global which is envisioned to give back to the orthopaedic community in a huge way. We are still working out the details, but WIROC FOREVER will be initiated in the first month of 2023, and we plan to open the entire WIROC Content for everyone to watch and enrich themselves.

In short, WIROC GLOBAL has been a global phenomenon with huge academic repercussions. We learned that there is a great sense of partnership and wish to collabor ate among orthopaedic surgeons, societies, and the entire community. And also, as we saw the diverse application of principles, we realised that there is a huge need to learn from each other. WIROC GLOBAL is the beginning of a more collaborative Future, and we hope and wish we can organise more such events in the future too.

We received a tremendous response from the industry that helped and supported us in manifesting this Mega Event. On WIROC Global’s behalf, we made certificates and handed them over to every stall during WIROC. This marked our deep gratitude and appreciation for each and every participating industry Lastly, we would like to thank the entire BOS Executive Council for helping immensely in every aspect of this GLOBAL meeting. We want to thank all the scientific and organising committee members for supporting us and creating this resource for the orthopaedic community. Ultimately, we would like to thank our 1100 delegates and more than 300 faculty whoparticipated wholeheartedly in making WIROC GLOBAL a tremendous success.

 

Dr. Sangeet Gawhale
Organising Chairman WIROC GLOBAL

Dr. Vishal Kundnani
Organising Secretary WIROC GLOBAL

Dr. Ashok Shyam
Organising Secretary WIROC GLOBAL.


How to Cite this article: Gawhale S, Kundnani V, Shyam A. WIROC GLOBAL: A Mega-Event. Journal of Clinical Orthopaedics Jul-Dec 2022;7(2):06-07.

 


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