For the first time the registration desks and the preview centre open already on Friday, May 20, from 15.00 - 19.30 hrs. So in case you are already in Barcelona, pass by and avoid queuing on Saturday morning.

Opening hours
Friday, May 20, 2016: 15.00 - 19.30 hrs
Saturday, May 21: 08.00 - 20.00 hrs
Sunday, May 22: 08.00 - 19.00 hrs
Monday, May 23: 08.00 - 19.00 hrs
Tuesday, May 24: 08.30 - 14.30 hrs

Do you always want to be up-to-date? The ESHG Congress App will guide you through the programme day by day or by session type, will make available profiles of speakers and delegates, help you to find exhibitors by name or by service provided. Add papers or entire sessions to your mobile calendar, receive push messages with important reminders and give feedback on talks or sessions.

Available for iOS and Android in your App and Play Stores. More information here.

Do you have a specific comment on the running presentation? Submit your opinion by twitter using the hashtags #eshg2016 #sessionnumber (e.g. #eshg2016 #S01) in selected sessions. These are marked with a twitter icon in the programme.

The chairs will monitor these comments and present the most relevant ones to the audience and the speakers during discussion time. 

For all sessions, remember to use the discussion microphones in aisles of the lecture halls.

For the first time, a number of posters will be presented as e-Posters at 20 e-Poster stations in the poster area of the exhibition hall. The list of available posters can be viewed on any of these screens. From there, they can be selected for viewing. Use the zoom-in, zoom-out function to focus on specific parts of the ePosters and the navigation icons to browse though the multiple slide posters. 

For the first time all Educational Sessions will be available as webcast after the meeting. So in case you are interested in a Symposium and a parallel Educational session, no worries, you can watch it at home or whenever you have time.

As usual, the Plenaries on Tuesday as well as the Building Bridges Symposium (joint with the ASHG) and the Symposium joint with the European Society of Cardiology will be available as live webcast and as on-demand streaming after the conference.

The following sessions are planned to be available:

•  E1-E8

•  PL3, PL4 and PL5

•  S09 & S16

Note that the actual availability of the talks depends on the consent of the speakers.

Is your lecture hall crowded? All lecture halls are equipped with a live transmission possibility to the overflow area in the exhibition. The programme of the room with the highest demand will be transmitted to this area. In case no rooms are crowded, the programme of the plenary lecture hall will be shown. 

The EMPAG meeting has a dedicated overflow room (124+125)

Note that only the slides and the audio signal will be transmitted.

The SPC has decided to double the number of poster discussions ('Poster Viewing with Authors'). Posters will now be discussed in 4 groups, 10.15 - 11.15 hrs and 16.45 - 17.45 hrs both on Sunday and Monday.

We hope that this will facilitate interaction at the posters and increase convenience for the presenters.

All posters will remain on display from Saturday to Monday.

Two new workshops ('W02 . Career development and funding opportunities for young investigators' on Saturday and 'W09. How to get published' on Sunday) aim directly at young investigators attending the conference.

Two new types of fellowships for young investigators from European and (new) Non-European countries. See here for all details.

You might also be interested to know, that the Scientific Programme Committee decided to have at least 30% of its members aged under 40 years.

Another novelty: Post-doc Young Investigator Award Winners of the last meeting will be invited to co-chair a session at the next conference.

Have a look at this year's candidates here.