"We were convinced that our innovative concept would be well received by the global pipeline community, but the success surprised even us. This shows that crisis situations not only present challenges, but also lead to meaningful innovations. We will build on this success and work out new offers that take up the advantages of digital services, such as online ptc 2020", says Dr. Klaus Ritter, President of the organizing EITEP Institute.

Technical presentations available as full papers or video

The three-day-event took place at the same time as the original Pipeline Technology Conference was planned, therefore allowing many of the already registered participants, sponsors and exhibitors to shift smoothly to the digital edition. The core feature of the online ptc 2020 were the technical presentations, that were accessible as full papers or video files as well as the opportunity to connect and chat with other participants and exhibitors. The central activity feed allowed for the real-time posting of questions or information, contribution to an overall success of the digital event.
During the first day of online ptc, video presentations were available to the audience along with the full papers of all presenters, totaling in more than 100 topics that were presented and discussed during the event. The second day was dedicated to networking, enabling participants to connect with each other and have private chat conversations with business partners and potential clients. The last day was under the motto Throwback Thursday. Highlight video presentations from previous ptc-events were available that day and up for discussion.

Exhibition

A challenging aspect of this innovative project was the exhibition-part. The traditional ptc attracts every several exhibitors. "Exhibitors want to be seen and want to be able to present themselves and their capabilities to their clients and potential customers. Therefore, we have established a special section within our conference app, giving every exhibitor the opportunity to be seen by the participants and to describe their services. Of course, this lacks the personal aspect of a trade fair, but it was a good compromise as company representatives were available for questions and requests from their digital visitors", says Marian Ritter, Director Exhibitions at EITEP Institute.
An additional service for the presenters and exhibitors of online ptc 2020 is the publication of all the conference papers in several special issues of the Pipeline Technology Journal. The digital journal is also capable of including the video presentations, thus enabling its readers to consume all relevant information delivered by the online event.

Online seminars

Like the original ptc event in Berlin the online ptc 2020 was preceded by a series of seminars on Monday, this time held as online seminars. The topics were "Pipeline Defect Assessments" and "In-Line Inspection of Pipelines and Difficult to Inspect Pipelines". Both the lecturers and the participants appreciated this format, especially in a time were professional training programs are limited by the current pandemic.
"Online ptc 2020 was an overall success, but the upcoming Pipeline Technology Conference 2021 of course will return to the established and accepted physical format our participants and exhibitors appreciate the most. The opportunity to engage in intense exchanges of experiences with pipeliners, face-to-face, with people from all over the world, is what defines our ptc (…)", says Dr. Klaus Ritter. "We are very grateful for the overall support our community gave to us in such challenging times. This encourages us to deliver an even greater event experience next year", he added.
All papers and videos from the online ptc 2020 will be available for free via the ptc Pipeline Open Knowledge Base on the official ptc website shortly.

Upcoming (online) events

The success of the online ptc 2020 has prompted the organizer to create new offers for the global pipeline community. "It has become clear to us that online events have a future in our modern digital world (…)", analyses Rana Alnasir-Boulos, head of EITEP Institutes Business Development department. "We will therefore analyze the market needs and come up with fresh ideas to supplement our Pipeline Technology Conference and Exhibition with additional services."
The 16th Pipeline Technology Conference will take place from 15-18 March 2021 at the Estrel Congress Center in Berlin, Germany.