Whew! What a whirlwind of 5 days from the time that I landed in Chicago on Wednesday April 26 to flying out on Monday May 1. The experience reminds me of how lucky we are to be able to have in-person conferences once again. 

A fantastic opportunity to teach a few instructional courses, mentor presentations by students and residents, see friends and colleagues, have some valuable face to face conversations, and check out some of the new devices and technology in the exhibit hall. As I leave, however, I think about the enormous volume of content that I was unable to see just due to physical time constraints. In this regard, I am excited and thankful to be able to access much of the AUA 2023 content even after the meeting.

One of the (very few) positives from COVID-19 pandemic is learning how to harness digital education even as we return back to in-person meeting format. For example, at AUA 2023, the learning opportunities continue long after the meeting is over with the ability to access 60% to 70% of the annual meeting content on the online platform. Valuable? Incredibly! Why? Few reasons:

1. Content retention: Taking time to digest material often helps with learning and retention of material. Thus, I can now supplement live programming that I attended on site with recorded content that is available to access until August 31, 2023. This spaced format really allows the opportunity to take a deeper dive into the presented material.
2. Convenience: The plenary sessions, many instructional courses, and even some sub-specialty society meetings are available as recorded content which allows access at convenient times when I can listen and absorb the material. It is always hard to predict downtime … but the access for the next 3 months gives me ample opportunity to access recorded content later. It also presents a great resource for those who were unable to physically make the trip to Chicago and can now digest the meeting content virtually.
3. CME Credit: Because a repository of on-demand content will be available, the amount of CME credit I can earn is three to four times greater than what it was historically, when attendees could only claim credit for the CME lectures they attended in person. When considering CME requirements, I can get an entire year’s worth of CME simply by registering for a single AUA meeting! All recorded live-streamed and on-demand content will be accessible through the AUAUniversity mobile app until August 31, 2023. 

The AUA 2023 annual meeting had so much to offer, with over 80 instructional courses, 7 hands-on courses, plenary and subspecialty meetings. It’s impossible to be in more than one place at a time, but having access to virtual content decreases the chance of missing out on stuff. I encourage everyone to do so!

Dr. Raman has received travel support to AUA Meeting from AUA as Chair of Education for organization.

Image by DrAfter123 / Getty