P96 Evaluation of the 1st AStretch Digital Conference

• Published in: Rheumatology (Oxford, England) Vol. 59; no. Supplement_2
• Main Authors: Gregory, William J, Martindale, Jane, Martin, Melanie, McDonald, MT
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 01.04.2020
• ISSN: 1462-0324; 1462-0332
• DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/keaa111.094

Abstract Background The physiotherapy AStretch committee promote excellence and education in axial spondyloarthritis. One channel for providing this is though the bi-annual conference. An average of 50 delegates attend these conferences. The planned 2018 conference was deferred and we took the opportunity to replace this with a digital version. A mid-November date was agreed for 'go live' of the digital conference; this was advertised on the AStretch website and on our social media channels in advance. Digital resources in the form of presentations and interviews were accessed via our website with some resources additionally held on our YouTube page. Conference access was open for a month from the 'go live' date. This papers aim is to evaluate engagement with our first digital AStretch Conference. Methods Qualitative and quantitative data was captured from YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and our AStretch emails from the 'go live' date until 1 month after. The quantitative data captured were the numbers of YouTube watches, twitter impressions, twitter engagements and the numbers of Facebook likes, comments and shares. In addition, qualitative data by means of free-text comments were recorded. Results We had several live questions on the night; answered across the team. There were 7,600 impressions on twitter with a 4.7% engagement rate, 137 link clicks, 41 retweets and 105 likes. The YouTube channel averaged 80 watches per video. Facebook had 54 likes, 6 comments and 18 shares. Examples of comments: “this has been excellent, well done to all involved”, “absolutely brilliant...a great CPD event”, “EULAR talk was great...interviews were good too”, “my NASS physios loved it”, and “what a great evening”. Conclusion We have shown that there is a high level of interest in a digital version of our AStretch conference. We have reached more people via this digital version of the conference than our average attendance at the in-person conference. We have observed far reaching engagement and sharing of knowledge in a cost-neutral and user-convenient method, which has the potential to ultimately improve patient care nationally and internationally. Disclosures W.J. Gregory: Honoraria; W.G. has received speaker fees from Novartis and received Conference attendance fees from Pfizer. J. Martindale: Honoraria; JM has received honoraria from Abbvie Ltd, Novartis, Pfizer and UCB. Grants/research support; JM has received a research grant from Pfizer. M. Martin: Honoraria; MM has received honoraria from Novartis and Abbvie. Grants/research support; MM has received a research grant from NASS. M. McDonald: None.