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Convention
ECU2020 – The Lockdown Series
WHEN THE Covid-19 virus
closed Europe, and the ECU2020
Convention was cancelled, some of
the scheduled speakers and researchers
generously agreed to record presentations
from lockdown for us to share with you,
as a step towards a brighter future.
We will be releasing one of these
presentations on the ECU app and
website every other Monday from 2
November, to offer you inspiration
and thoughts for a way forward and to
support you in your practice.
You can download the ECU App
from the App Store (IOS) or
https://tinyurl.com/y38cvowq (Android)
Date Speaker Title
2 November 2020 Greg Kawchuk How Big Data is Transforming Chiropractic
16 November 2020 Michael Freeman Medicocausation in Auto Litigation
30 November 2020 Mark Thomas Incident Reporting and Learning Using CPiRLS
14 December 2020 Cecilie K Overås Objectively Measured Physical Behaviour
and Neck and/or LBP
28 December 2020 Casper Nim Pain Sensitivity following SMT for chronic LBP
11 January 2021 Dave Newell The Therapeutic Encounter
25 January 2021 Robert Silverman The Gut-Brain Axis
8 February 2021 Simon Billings Vitamin B12 : An Epidemic of Misdiagnosis
and Missed Diagnoses
22 February 2021 Rikke Krüger Jensen Chiropractic Website Claims about non-MSK
conditions in Denmark
Kristina Boe Dissing MSK pain in Danish schoolchildren aged 8-16
Corrie Myburgh Chiropractors and Elite Danish Football Clubs
8 March 2021 Jamiu Busari United We Stand – Divided We Fall: The need
for greater interprofessional collaboration
22 March 2021 Vasileios Gkolfinopoulos Closing speech
Greg Kawchuk Robert Silverman Casper Nim
Dave Newell Simon Billings Jamiu Busari
ECU 2020 cancellation
On 11 March the World Health Organization (WHO) declared
Covid-19 to be a global pandemic as the number of identified
cases passed 120,000 in over 110 countries. Once a pandemic has
been declared by the WHO this triggers governments to activate
preparedness plans and possibly take emergency procedures to
protect the public, such as more drastic travel and trade restrictions.
EARLY IN the preparations for ECU 2020
– long before the outbreak in Wuhan had
been declared – the Executive Council had asked
its engaged professional conference organiser,
Your Conference Support of Amsterdam (YCS),
to obtain a quote for event insurance. The ECU
had never before taken out event insurance and
initially the EC was minded not to take up the
quote. But after reports began to emerge of a
serious outbreak of a flu-like illness in Wuhan
in China, immediate instructions were given to
YCS and they were able to secure the original
quote shortly before the curtain came down on
new events insurance packages that would cover
cancellation because of Covid-19.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which
was due to be held in Rotterdam one week
before the planned ECU 2020 Convention, was
cancelled on 18 March. On the evening of 23
March the Dutch Prime Minister announced
the tightening of previous restrictions to prevent
the spread of the virus (which were valid until 6
April) with new measures valid until 1 June that
required the immediate cancellation of all public
events with very few exceptions. The following
day the sad decision to cancel ECU 2020 was
announced on ECU media and immediate
action was started to refund attendance fees to
the 309 delegates already registered. With 11
weeks to go, bookings were high and well on
track with the budget for the event, reflecting
the exciting programme put together by Gitte
Tønner and the Netherlands Chiropractors’
Association in the 21st-century Jaarbeurs venue.
By the planned opening day of the convention,
the Executive Council was able to report that over
two-thirds of delegates had already been refunded
in full and the remainder would receive their
CONVENTION 22-24 MAY
UTRECHT THE NETHERLANDS
payments just as soon as administrative information
such as the remaining recipients’ bank accounts
was available. The exercise was completed well
in advance of settlement of the claim against the
event insurance policy, and in due course, the ECU
received over 99% of the unrecoverable convention
costs. It was a timely reminder that, in an
increasingly unsettled world, action to safeguard its
financial position is effort (and money) well spent.
As we go to print, the future of physical
conventions looks highly uncertain, at least in the
short-term. Many organisations are experimenting
with virtual conferences and the ECU is exploring
such options for 2021. But there will undoubtedly
come a time when travel is less onerous and
the urge for fellow professionals to get together
across national boundaries will be irresistible.
The renowned ECU Convention will rise,
phoenix-like, from the ashes of the pandemic.
10 BACKspace www.chiropractic-ecu.org October 2020
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