NDT 2020 Webinar Week exceeds expectations
30/11/2020
This year, the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (BINDT) was delighted to host the inaugural NDT 2020 Webinar Week – Your virtual conference experience. The event took place from 14-18 September 2020 and featured a series of themed webinars covering the latest advances in NDT and related technologies, along with plenary presentations, technical and industry Q&A sessions, papers from the UK Research Centre in NDE (RCNDE)’s Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Quantitative Non-Destructive Evaluation and exhibitors’ industry sessions.Due to the continuing situation with regard to the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, BINDT made the difficult decision to postpone this year’s NDT conference, which was due to take place from 15-17 September 2020. As a consequence, it became appropriate to organise a virtual event, not as a replacement for a live conference but as a transition to an online alternative, to encourage participation from the NDT and condition monitoring communities in a safe and effective way.
Mark Freeman, Vice Chair of BINDT’s Trade and Industry Executive Committee, commented: “Whilst it was hugely disappointing to have to cancel the NDT 2020 conference, thanks to improvements in technology and the fantastic work by the Conferences and Events team in preparing both session chairs and presenters, a credible, effective and affordable alternative was delivered in the form of the NDT 2020 Webinar Week. From the perspective of the Trade and Industry Executive Committee, this provided trade exhibitors with a platform to share their products to a worldwide, targeted audience without leaving their office or front room. The Awards Ceremony also offered an opportunity to experience a lighter, less transactional and more human side of video conferencing that could easily be missed without the face-to-face element of a conventional conference. Overall, I feel that the event worked very well and provided useful learnings that we can take into future events.”
Chris Simmonds, Trade and Industry Executive Committee Chair, added: “I found the NDT 2020 Webinar Week an exciting change to the normal. Although brought on by an unwelcome situation, I feel the event gave trade exhibitors a new platform to share their products to others. As Trade and Industry Executive Committee Chair, I felt it was great that BINDT members, and non-members, could join in through the week and listen to presentations that perhaps they could not get to view when the annual conference is held at a physical location. Although a webinar could not replace the face-to-face element of a conventional conference, overall I felt the event worked out very well and provided some useful insight to perhaps holding some future events this way. The BINDT staff worked very hard to bring this event for 2020, aided by improvements in technology, so well done to them and to all the Chairs of the different sessions.”
During the five-day virtual conference, over 260 individual registrants from more than 20 different countries attended the event. The full programme featured ten sessions that included 55 presentations from over 70 speakers, exhibitors’ industry sessions from over 15 exhibitors and daily technical and industry Q&A sessions, all with an average audience of 120 delegates. Additionally, the BINDT Annual General Meeting (AGM), Benevolent Fund AGM and Awards Ceremony took place on Wednesday 16 September and were free to attend for all registrants.
Kevin Pickup, Chair of BINDT’s NDT Technical Committee, said: “If asked what the definition of success was, my answer would be ‘making the best of the situation at hand’, and this year’s BINDT Webinar Week did exactly that. Yes, we missed out on the personal interaction of a physical event but, from my own perspective, new ideas have been collated, discussions continued and contacts and avenues of interest established from within the trade arena – all from the comfort of my own home. Some may have referred to the event as ‘virtual’, but for me this was real and ticked all the boxes a conference should.”
David Gilbert, CEO, BINDT, concluded: “The talks showed that industry and research & development are responding to the challenges and, throughout this Webinar Week, we listened and learnt about new and advanced technologies that are being developed and are transforming NDE to meet the new demands of industries. Whilst we cannot replicate face-to-face meetings and networking, we encouraged audience participation and attendees responded by posting questions using the Q&A facility. This worked very well and we had some excellent Q&A sessions.
“We are very grateful to our presenters and special thanks go to RCNDE and students from the Centre for Doctoral Training in Quantitative NDE, who presented the latest state-of-the-art in NDE technology. We are also indebted to our internationally recognised plenary speakers. Last, but not least, thanks go to our exhibitors, who presented their latest products and services in special industry sessions.”
Although the NDT 2020 Webinar Week was a result of unprecedented circumstances, it has given BINDT a totally new model for delivering events. The positive feedback received regarding the professional and well-timed delivery can be developed to create a solid foundation for the future whilst also benefiting from any lessons learnt. Whilst BINDT continues to have a full calendar of events scheduled, the health and safety of its delegates, partners and employees is of highest priority. Therefore, due to the current climate in light of the ongoing coronavirus situation, all future events will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and the latest developments will be continually updated at: www.bindt.org/events
