CVOT Summit – relaunch of the virtual congress platform.

The CVOT Summit is the international annual congress on cardiovascular, renal and metabolic outcomes – organized by Sciarc GmbH and broadcast live from Munich to the whole world since 2015. Cardiologists, endocrinologists, diabetologists, nephrologists and general practitioners follow two days of talks, panel discussions and current study data. We have been developing the congress’s virtual event platform since 2020 – the first Corona year, in which the congress moved entirely online. For the 12th edition on November 19 and 20, 2026, a complete relaunch followed: a new design, a new technical foundation on WordPress and a range of features that puts the congress in a modern position for the years ahead.

The task: relaunching a proven platform

The previous platform had proven itself over several congress years since 2020 – now it was to move into the next years visually and technically, without losing the established workflows for organizers and participants. A virtual congress is more than a website with a video player. The platform has to run itself during the event: it shows which talk is currently on, fades suitable content in and out, manages participant accounts and, in the end, issues legally compliant continuing education certificates – without anyone having to switch things by hand in the background.

The implementation

• Design and WordPress implementation: a custom child theme based on Kadence, a clear congress design with countdown, program overview, abstract submission and partner areas.
• Registration and login: participants register free of charge and, with their account, get access to the live stream, the program and their certificates.
• Live stream with real-time program: next to the stream, the platform shows the current talk in real time, including the speaker.
• Program-driven elements: many areas of the website are shown and hidden automatically to match the running program – such as session-related content, notices and actions.
• Custom feedback plugin: for rating the sessions, we developed our own WordPress plugin that collects viewers’ feedback.
• CME certificates as PDF: the platform automatically generates viewers’ CME continuing education certificates as a PDF to download.

The result

A proven platform became a modern one that largely runs by itself during the congress: the program controls the website, participants always find the right content at the right time, and the certificates are created without manual work. Many of these functions only become visible at the congress on November 19 and 20, 2026 – until then, cvot.org shows registration, abstract submission and the countdown.