Designing Par-Con 2021
Neil Morrison shares his experience of being part of the team developing the Research Support Network Conference and what we can expect from the event.
Par-Con 2021: the Research Support Network Conference, is being organised by the Research Communications and Engagement Team at Parkinson’s UK, with the support of a working group. The working group is made up of staff members from Parkinson’s UK and volunteers who have been affected by Parkinson’s.
I am one of these volunteers and I would like to introduce myself. I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s three and a half years ago. Home is Thurso on the north coast of Scotland, just to the west of John O’Groats. My wife and I live there with our two Labradors Meg and Pippa.
Back in December last year an email appeared in my inbox looking for volunteers to help organise the Research Support Network (RSN) Conference. As I had been involved previously in academic conferences, I felt I might be able to make a useful contribution. As the conference was going to be organised online geography would not be a problem either.
Initially we met together as a group to decide how the conference should be delivered and what topics should be covered. The overall aim of the group was to make the conference as relevant and accessible as possible. Together, as a group, we were very much feeling our way and the pandemic created uncertainty on how Par-Con was to be delivered and when. Was it going to be a live, in person event? Was it going to be a purely online event? Was it going to be a mixture of both in person and online?
We worked with the Creative team to come up with options for the naming, theme and branding. After some lively discussion the working group made the decisions on what was to be used. We were also kept informed on work being done by other teams at Parkinson’s UK getting sponsorship for the event.
The program for the conference was produced in draft by the whole working group. We then broke down into small subgroups to design each session — outlining who were the speakers and how it was to be done. One thing we wanted to avoid was “death by PowerPoint”, as a result some of the sessions are being done as interviews and others as discussions.
The conference is taking place “live” from the 19th to 21st October. Some of the content will be pre-recorded due to having international speakers and to help avoid any technical difficulties. There will be live questions and answer sessions at the end of each session. There will also be the ability to catch up later as the sessions will still be available online for a month after the conference.
Here are some of the sessions I am particularly excited about and to give an idea of what is on the cards during Par-Con 2021:
- What new treatments are currently in development?
- Making the most of your relationship with your care team.
- The future of clinical trials.
- What will treatment look like in the future?
In summary, this is a conference about research but aimed directly at people affected by Parkinson’s, designed by people affected by Parkinson’s.
I hope you will all be as excited as I am by this new format of conference.
You can find out more about Par-Con 2021 and register to join here.
