Chen Foster, Cho Woojin, Kim Han Jo, Levine David B
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Montefiore Medical Center, 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, NY 10467, USA.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Montefiore Medical Center, 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, NY 10467, USA; Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Ave, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Spine Deform. 2017 Jul;5(4):238-243. doi: 10.1016/j.jspd.2017.02.001.
Descriptive, respective.
Although overall membership in Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) has grown over the years, we were curious to see the effects of changing event venue location and timing on conference attendance.
Every year, the SRS hosts two major meetings: the Annual Meeting (SRS AM) in the autumn, and the International Meeting on Advanced Spine Techniques (IMAST) in the summer. Sites have alternated from within and outside North America. Often, these meetings have also overlapped with several holidays in certain countries.
This was an observational study of attendance from past SRS AM and IMAST meetings. Fourteen years of AM and 8 years of IMAST data were made available from the SRS. Participation based on delegate type and countries were tallied. Details from the 10 most represented nations and host nations per year were also tallied, and their national holidays were reviewed for overlaps with the AM.
Membership in AM and IMAST increased from 820 in 2003 to 1,323 in 2016. Attendance at the AM has increased, whereas attendance at IMAST has declined, even after adjusting for membership size. Trends in participation were highly influenced by location. Participation by attendees from the host continent, and especially the host country, is generally high. The negative impact of distant meetings is profoundly seen with North Americans, whereas the positive impact of a nearby meeting was mostly clearly demonstrated by South Americans. Although SRS AM overlapped with holidays in China, Japan, or Korea nearly 50% of the time, this did not influence participation by delegates from these countries.
Participation in the AM is highly influenced by location. Although North Americans represented the largest constituency, their presence was not needed to drive total attendance and was not sufficient to turn around the downturn in IMAST attendance. Choice of location can encourage the participation of delegates from the host and neighboring nations; through strategic selection of location, a balance can be reached between participation and global representation.
描述性、回顾性研究。
尽管多年来脊柱侧弯研究学会（SRS）的总体会员人数有所增加，但我们很想了解会议举办地点和时间的变化对会议出席情况的影响。
SRS每年举办两次主要会议：秋季的年会（SRS AM）和夏季的先进脊柱技术国际会议（IMAST）。会议地点在北美境内外交替。而且，这些会议常常与某些国家的多个节假日重叠。
这是一项对过去SRS AM和IMAST会议出席情况的观察性研究。从SRS获取了14年的AM数据和8年的IMAST数据。统计了基于代表类型和国家的参会情况。还统计了每年代表人数最多的10个国家和主办国的详细情况，并查看了它们的国定假日与AM的重叠情况。
AM和IMAST的会员人数从2003年的820人增加到了2016年的1323人。即使在调整了会员规模之后，AM的出席人数有所增加，而IMAST的出席人数却有所下降。参会趋势受到地点的高度影响。来自主办大洲，尤其是主办国的参会者的参与度通常较高。北美参会者明显受到远程会议的负面影响，而南美参会者则最清楚地显示出附近会议的积极影响。尽管SRS AM近50%的时间与中国、日本或韩国的节假日重叠，但这并未影响这些国家代表的参会情况。
AM的参会情况受到地点的高度影响。尽管北美代表是最大的选民群体，但他们的出席并非推动总出席人数的必要条件，也不足以扭转IMAST出席人数的下降趋势。地点的选择可以鼓励主办国和邻国代表的参与；通过地点的战略选择，可以在参与度和全球代表性之间取得平衡。
