34th Annual Meeting of Taiwan Association of Orthodontists (TAO) December 2021

The 34^th Annual Meeting of Taiwan Association of Orthodontists (TAO) was our first ever fully virtual meeting. It was hosted by Kaohsiung Organizing Committee, held on December 4^th and 5^th, 2021. The Annual Meeting was originally arranged on-site for our local members and virtually for overseas international speakers and registrants. However, in July, facing the unpredictable pandemic condition and following our government’s quarantine guidelines in Taiwan, we had to make the important decision and changed the meeting into all-online format.

Although there were challenges in various situations during the process of hosting a virtual meeting, I am deeply honored and grateful to TAO's strong organizing team. We have succeeded in keeping the whole essence and spirit of the event unchanged. In the opening ceremony on the first day, a special screening of the Presidents’ blessing videos from 11 esteemed associations/societies was shown to express the mutual support and friendship of each other. The full schedule of scientific lectures, virtual exhibitions and e-Posters were presented over two days and the speech recordings were available for an additional week’s reviewing after the event.

To adapt to the current climate, the main theme of the Annual Meeting was “Rise Up to New Challenges in Orthodontics”. This was aimed at seeking concept stimulation and inspiration in order to overcome the future challenges in the field of orthodontics.  We have had brilliant lectures from 7 International speakers who are from Denmark, India, Japan, Korea, and the USA: Professor Birte Melsen, Nikhilesh Vaid, Isao Saito, Chooryung Judi Chung, Jeffrey P Okeson, Peter H. Buschang, and Won Moon, and 22 National orthodontic experts from Taiwan. Every speaker delivered up-to-date knowledge and responded to questions from the audience. The highlight was the opinion sharing in the dialogue discussion in order to make the lectures vivid and inspiring.

In the end, this unprecedented online conference ended successfully. We believe that all attendees had an invaluable experience full of real-time interaction. Every attendee’s participation and support has been indispensable to giving this meeting an even more profound meaning during this unique moment. With gratitude, we are looking forward to seeing everyone in the upcoming The 3^rd Taiwan International Orthodontic Forum (TIOF) & The 35^th Annual Meeting of Taiwan Association of Orthodontists to be held from 5^th-7^th December 2022 in Taipei. It is going to be a hybrid Conference (on-site meeting to local members and virtually for the overseas international attendees). We look forward to seeing all our APOS friends then!